NORTH PORT, Fla. -- The prospect hype has come and gone. At the very least, it’s taken a brief timeout. But the hope still remains.
A year ago, Brayden Taylor looked like a big part of the Rays’ future. A first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Taylor was ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 67 overall prospect, third-best in Tampa Bay’s system behind only athletic shortstop Carson Williams and slugging first baseman Xavier Isaac.
Taylor was coming off an excellent season for High-A Bowling Green that earned him a late promotion to Double-A Montgomery, where he joined a promising group with real lineup-of-the-future potential. As one of the youngest players in big league Spring Training last year, he quickly made a positive impression with his defensive versatility and all-around ability.
Then, something strange happened. Taylor returned to Double-A, and everything went wrong. He hit just .173 with a .575 OPS in 108 games. His home run output dropped from 20 to eight. He stole 12 fewer bases and hit 13 fewer doubles. His wRC+ went from 144 in 2024 to 77 in ’25.
He rebounded with a better performance in the Arizona Fall League, but by midseason he had fallen out of the Top 100 and down to No. 26 in the Rays organization, according to MLB Pipeline. This spring, he went unranked in a deep system. What happened?
“Last year, I would say it was just a fluke,” Taylor said recently. “I'm back to who I am, and I'm just excited to go through it this year.”
“We always talk about how development is rarely linear. Brayden went though it a bit last year, but it allowed him to make some adjustments along the way that we think will translate into more surface-level success this season,” assistant GM Kevin Ibach said. “The AFL allowed him to have a reset of sorts, and we think that was really beneficial heading into the offseason. And I think it’s carried over here in camp.”
Naturally, after such a frustrating season, this camp began in painful fashion. Taylor said he “got a little too competitive” in a bunting drill, trying to drop the ball as close to the plate as possible, but he missed one and wound up with a fractured left thumb.
That temporarily sidelined him and made his availability a matter of pain tolerance, but he worked his way back and wound up going 4-for-16 with three walks, a double and a homer while playing second and third base.
“Definitely wasn't fun, but I kind of kept a pretty positive mindset,” Taylor said. “I think, honestly, that's what helped it heal even faster.”
Taylor has adopted a similar outlook on what went wrong last season. Rather than get caught up in the numbers or the rankings, he said he accepted the struggle as “a part of me now” and expects he’ll be better for having gone through it.
“Obviously, last year wasn't what I had hoped for, but I think it was necessary for me to go through something like that, to kind of grow and mature that way and obviously make the physical adjustments I needed to make,” Taylor said.
Camp notes
• Isaac’s successful return after life-saving brain surgery last summer was a highlight of Spring Training for the Rays. The club eased him back into action and encouraged him to not focus on his performance, but he wound up playing a lot -- and quite well -- as he went 6-for-15 with three walks in eight games.
“What he went through last year, you appreciate that he's putting a uniform on. Separating that, he had a tremendous camp for us,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He's got to be feeling good about himself.”
• Left-hander Ian Seymour, who pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings on Sunday during a 6-1 win over the Pirates, will remain in a role in which he’ll pitch two or three innings at a time. That could create a path for him to make the Opening Day bullpen as a multi-inning arm.
“I’m just happy to do whatever they need me to do,” Seymour said, smiling.
• Cash was proud of two standout performances in Sunday night’s World Baseball Classic semifinal game between Team USA and the Dominican Republic: Junior Caminero’s second-inning homer and Griffin Jax’s scoreless sixth inning in which he retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Caminero, in order.
“That was awesome,” Cash said. “The confidence, the intent to get the ball over the plate as quick as possible, knowing how electric his stuff is -- good for him.”