Rays fly up to No. 2 pick in Draft Lottery behind Phillips' magic

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Last year, the MLB Draft Lottery didn’t work out in the Rays’ favor. They had the 10th-best odds and wound up with the 14th overall pick. Looking to reverse their fortunes this year, they called in a former Ray who knows a thing or two about defying the odds.

Enter Brett Phillips, representing the Rays at the league’s fourth annual Draft Lottery on Tuesday night at the Winter Meetings.

The man behind the magical moment that ended the Rays’ walk-off victory over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the 2020 World Series took his seat on stage Tuesday and delivered. Despite having the 10th-worst record and the seventh-best lottery odds, the Rays wound up with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft on July 12 in Philadelphia.

“When Brett Phillips and the Rays get together, I don’t know -- crazy things happen,” Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “The ball bounced our way. If you’re going to be in this position, let’s root for the best, hope for the best, and we’ll take it.”

The White Sox, who posted the Majors’ second-worst record, had the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick and did exactly that. After their selection, the Rays will be on the clock with their highest pick since drafting No. 1 overall in 2007 (David Price) and ‘08 (Tim Beckham). It will be Tampa Bay’s first top-10 Draft pick since 2017, when they took Brendan McKay fourth overall.

The result created an odd mix of emotions for the Rays. Simply being in the room was frustrating, because it was a reminder that they didn’t achieve their goal of reaching the postseason.

“The reason you’re here stinks, so there’s that weird feeling. You’re sitting there, and it’s like you don’t feel like celebrating the position you’re in,” Neander said. “But if you’re in this position, might as well bring our good luck charm.”

But having the second pick in the Draft is a huge opportunity -- not just for who they can select with that pick, but for the corresponding bump to their bonus pool as well. While they’ve missed the postseason each of the last two seasons, one consequence of the Rays’ overall success dating back to 2008 is that they haven’t been able to pick anywhere near the top of the Draft.

“Really proud of the sustained success and giving that many teams a chance to compete. Not all of them work out the way you want, but that’s a big deal. We’re really proud of that,” Neander said. “But in doing that, you do cut off one of the access points to the best talent the game has to offer.

“Last year, we dropped back a few. That wasn’t a lot of fun. Wasn’t a big fan of the lottery system last Winter Meetings. Had to call in the reinforcements.”

And Phillips, the Seminole native who was asked to represent the Rays at the Draft Lottery, was as entertaining as ever.

“I just talked to Erik and the scouting department. I said, ‘You can work with that, right?’” Phillips said. “That’s awesome. I know last year didn’t go as planned with the percentages, but 3% chances of getting the No. 1 pick and we got No. 2. I’m excited for the squad and I was just happy to be a part of it.

“I didn’t do much, but I felt like I did something. I felt some butterflies there. It was exciting.”

The energetic former outfielder could hardly contain his excitement as the picks were revealed in reverse order, smiling and occasionally pointing to Neander in the crowd of onlookers as the Rays’ odds of landing a top pick became better.

“Game theory was really pulling the best out of me right there,” Phillips said, smiling.

He even vowed to do his famous airplane celebration, the one he broke out after his hit off Kenley Jansen in the World Series, live on the MLB Network broadcast if the Rays somehow got the No. 1 pick.

“I was really going to, of course,” Phillips said. “I already told the team: If we got the No. 1 pick, I’m airplaning. I’m sorry. And they’re like, ‘Yeah, we would expect nothing less from you.’”

Of course, the Rays hope they don’t have to break out their good luck charm again anytime soon. They’d rather play in October than pick second.

“They said that we don’t want to even be in this position in a year. [That's] fair,” Phillips said. “Let’s never even be in a position to do this.”