PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Rays optioned shortstop Carson Williams and outfielder Jacob Melton to Minor League camp on Tuesday, sending down two of their top Major League-ready prospects with the hope that both will be ready to make an impact when they return.
The news was not necessarily a surprise. Tampa Bay has been expected to begin the season with Taylor Walls at shortstop, and the club has a bunch of options in the outfield, including Cedric Mullins in center and Jake Fraley in right.
Williams and Melton are the kind of talented young players who deserve to play on a regular basis, and their best opportunity to do that at the start of the season will be with Triple-A Durham. But both have played in the big leagues, and both made a positive impression in Spring Training.
“Want to see them get off to good starts in Durham, for sure. Impressed with both players,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Carson is an improved player. Worked hard this offseason. Getting to know Jacob, I mean, [he’s] super talented.”
Williams, the Rays’ top-ranked prospect, went 8-for-22 (.364) with two doubles, one walk and five strikeouts in 24 plate appearances this spring. He consistently hit the ball hard, and while it’s generally unwise to dig too deep into Spring Training statistics, he cut back on the strikeout concerns that have followed him during his ascent through Tampa Bay’s system.
COMPLETE RAYS PROSPECT COVERAGE
Cash commended Williams over the weekend, noting that hitting coach Chad Mottola was “really pleased” with the work he did coming into Spring Training. The 22-year-old shortstop spent last offseason at the Symbiotic Training Center in San Diego, which is owned by Padres starter Joe Musgrove.
After learning a lot on the fly as the Rays’ regular shortstop down the stretch last season, Williams said he worked to apply those lessons to his training.
“That was the goal the entire time,” Williams said recently. “I worked harder than I ever have before, and it was on hopefully the right things, the things that we came up with while we got that time in the big leagues.”
Acquired from the Astros in December as part of the three-team trade that sent Brandon Lowe to the Pirates, Melton (the Rays’ No. 4 prospect) immediately turned heads in his first Spring Training with Tampa Bay. He’s extremely athletic in the outfield, and his triple-digit exit velocity readings in the batting cage caught a lot of people’s attention.
Like Williams, Melton came with the reputation of having everything in place athletically. Both are skilled defenders with strong arms. Both run well. Both have plenty of raw power. But both struck out quite a bit in their limited Major League experience.
That was still an issue for Melton this spring, as he whiffed 12 times while going 5-for-31 (.161) with two walks in 13 games. But he made loud contact when he connected, launching two homers and hitting a double. And his defense was as advertised, so he will move around the outfield in Durham to stay ready for whatever opportunity arises with the big league club.
There are 41 players remaining on the Rays’ Spring Training roster.
Game notes
• Junior Caminero returned to the Rays’ clubhouse on Tuesday morning after putting on a show for the Dominican Republic throughout his first World Baseball Classic experience. He wasted no time getting back in Tampa Bay’s lineup.
After the Dominican squad’s 2-1 semifinal loss to Team USA on Sunday night in Miami, Caminero drove across the state on Monday and told bench coach Rodney Linares that he wanted to play the next day. Sure enough, he batted third and played third base in the Rays’ 3-2 loss to the Yankees, going 0-for-3 while playing six innings in the field.
“Yesterday, coming here to Port Charlotte, I said, ‘I gotta go early tomorrow and continue working, come back to my team and be ready for Opening Day,’” Caminero said early Tuesday morning.
• Starter Ryan Pepiot built up his pitch count in a big way Tuesday, throwing 76 pitches (44 strikes) over five innings while allowing just one run on four hits and three walks. He then retreated to the bullpen to throw another 15 pitches in a simulated sixth inning. He and Nick Martinez are expected to carry heavy workloads to start the season.
“I felt like I was still able to be strong going into the fifth and sixth up and not dwindle down as the game went on,” Pepiot said.
• Joe Boyle had an eventful outing, needing 74 pitches (44 strikes) to get through three-plus innings out of the bullpen. The hard-throwing righty allowed two runs on two hits and four walks while striking out six.