Tampa Bay's secret weapon? No outfield is harder to get a hit against

Just over a year ago, after the Rays finished a disappointing 77-85 and out of the playoff picture, MLB.com’s Adam Berry shined a light on what seemed like a pretty obvious area of improvement headed into the offseason. It wasn’t just that the outfield didn’t add much on offense, though it hadn’t. It was that they were poor with the gloves, too.

“Their defensive performance was arguably more concerning,” wrote Berry. “Their outfielders ranked 19th in the Majors in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-6), 20th in Outs Above Average (minus-9) and 26th in Fielding Run Value (minus-12). Over the last 10 years, it was the lowest DRS total by nine for the Rays' outfield and their lowest OAA figure by eight.”

Quite right. It was a point of emphasis for the team last winter, hiring former outfielder Corey Dickerson as first base coach and outfield instructor, as well as bringing in defensive legend (and former long-time Ray) Kevin Kiermaier to help with instruction during camp. The roster changed too, as they moved on from Christoper Morel (minus-6 Fielding Runs last year) and Josh Lowe (minus-5) in offseason moves, while bringing in veteran Cedric Mullins, a once-excellent defender at his peak who had seen his performance slip in recent years.

Throw in the expected return of the defensively talented Jonny DeLuca, who had gotten into only 20 games last season due to injury, and there was plenty of reason to expect that last year’s unremarkable defensive group might improve. You could see it in Spring Training, or so they said, with manager Kevin Cash saying as early as March 16 that the outfield defense had been “probably the brightest spot of camp.”

How, then, did that work out? May we interest you in “the best outfield in Statcast history at turning batted balls into outs?” We thought we might.

If you prefer something a little more traditional, feel free to go with this: On (non-homer) balls hit in the air that went at least 220 feet, the 2026 Rays allowed opponents a .256 batting average, which is to say only one-quarter of those balls fell for hits. Of the more than 300 full team-seasons in Statcast tracking history, it is the lowest. No one has done a better job of keeping balls in the gloves and off the grass. (Or, we suppose in this situation, turf.)

In 2025, that mark was .301, which is to say 45 points higher, which is also to say that it ranked 21st.

Now: let’s be clear about what this is and is not. They’re not “the best defensive outfield in Statcast history,” because that’s a title that belongs to this year’s Cubs. The overall metric, Fielding Run Value, includes the value of throwing arms, an area where the 2026 Cubs were outstanding (+13 runs, best) and the 2026 Rays were not (minus-3 runs, 20th), in part because Tampa Bay’s arms on the grass just aren’t very strong.

Therefore, just stick to the “turning batted balls into outs” portion of this, Outs Above Average, which then flows into the overall Fielding Run Value score. This had been a hallmark of previous Rays teams; they’d been top-six in three of the previous four years, before sinking to tied for ninth-weakest in 2025. That, perhaps, was in some part due to the team’s unexpected detour to outside baseball at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay, a Minor League field that played like one, especially since the Trop has generally been a friendly place to catch a fly ball.

But it’s not just that, and perhaps not even primarily that. It’s about the return of DeLuca, who was excellent (+13 OAA) and the February acquisition of Victor Mesa Jr., who was also fantastic (+8). It’s about the departure of Morel and Lowe, as well. Of the dozen outfielders who took plate appearances for the 2025 Rays, only three remain in 2026, and that’s 99% about Chandler Simpson and DeLuca, because Richie Palacios’ four times to the plate barely count. (It’s not all wins; Tristan Peters, who had gotten into four games last year, was traded to the White Sox for cash last winter, and turned out to be an elite defender himself.)

So it’s new players, but it’s also about the fact that Simpson, who for all of his speed had been a negative last season (minus-5), took a massive step forward to +8. It’s about the fact that Mullins, who had declined to only average with the Orioles and Mets (+1), rebounded all the way to +11, making him once again one of the best outfielders in the game.

It is, essentially, about the fact that it’s across the board. Other than utilityman Ryan Vilade, who was just OK (minus-2), all four of the primary Rays outfielders ranked in baseball’s top 15, alongside some outstanding names.

How, then, is that kind of thing possible? The change in roster and ballpark is hard to miss, but so, to, is the change in coaching staff. It’s noticeable that the Rays center fielders moved back a full six feet, from last year’s roughly-average 324 feet to this year’s deepest-of-any-team-in-the-last-three-seasons 330 feet. (Road games only, so as to not let the home ballpark change affect the numbers.)

Mostly, it seems to be about what the new instruction has prioritized. It’s about getting off to good jumps, and having good reactions. You can’t really teach speed, but you can teach improved preparedness and reaction times. This is why, routinely, when we highlight another incredible play that Pete Crow-Armstrong made to look easy, it’s noted that great outfield play is about the first second – what you don’t see on television – as much as it is the final second, when the ball hits the glove.

“Just anticipation, that's what me and [Dickerson] have been preaching. Just playing offense on defense, being aggressive,” Simpson said in June. “Reading the ball, reading swings, reading situations.”

“Having some of the data come out and be like, 'Oh yeah, I'm getting good jumps,' it's encouraging,” DeLuca echoed at the same time. “[Dickerson] has played a major role in that.”

Back in March, Berry wrote that “Cash said it’s resulted in improved jumps, increased acceleration and other quantifiable steps forward.”

That was weeks before the year began. A full season later, we can show exactly what that means. “Getting a good jump,” in Statcast terms, is defined as how many feet you covered in the right direction in the first three seconds, and then presented as “vs. average,” for context. This is something that Kiermaier excelled at (as recently as 2023, he was No. 1 in baseball) and that Dickerson, in his 2018 Gold Glove season, was outstanding at as well (No. 3). It’s a list currently topped by Crow-Armstrong and Ceddanne Rafaela, generally considered the two most elite center fielders in the game.

It’s a list that has three of the four primary Rays, again, in the top 15 ….

… and the only reason Mesa isn’t there is because he didn’t play enough to qualify. If he had, his +6.3 feet better than average worth of “getting off to good jumps” would be number one.

Take, for example, Mesa's highlight-reel catch that robbed Rafaela of a likely hit in July. It’s not that Mesa got to elite running speed, because he didn’t. It’s because he got off to a jump nine feet better than average, which means that a fielder with an average jump doesn’t come close, and one with a below-average one might not even be shown on screen.

Sometimes, a jump can be so good that it prevents you from even realizing it in the moment.

In June, Mesa was in center field when Detroit’s Dillon Dingler laced a line drive towards left. The eye test said Mesa was moving, but also that he didn’t have to leave his feet to catch the ball. It was the jump of +13 feet better than average that allowed him to do it.

It’s something that each of the three regulars who had previous Major League experience improved upon in 2026.

• Mullins: +1.9 feet, up from minus-0.6

• Simpson: +2.4 feet, up from +0.3

• DeLuca: +2.6 feet, up from +1.6 (in 2024)

It’s something, too, that the Rays are doing better than any other team since Statcast came online back in 2015. This is the best team at getting to good jumps, and it hasn’t happened by accident. It was intentional. It’s paid off.

During the Rays' Division Series against the Yankees, you’ll hear a great deal about their excellent pitching and their best-in-class ability to avoid strikeouts. That’s all fair, and well-earned. But don’t forget about this part, either. At no point in the last decade (and, so, potentially ever, though we can’t say for sure), has an outfield been more effective at turning batted balls into outs. Keep that in mind when Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice, and friends rope one past the infield. There might just be an unexpected glove waiting for it.