PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla -- Both the Rays and outfielder Cedric Mullins could use some power.
For the club’s outfield corps, it comes via the long ball that Mullins can provide. After all, the Rays’ outfield combined for the fewest home runs in the Majors last season with 29.
For Tampa Bay’s 31-year-old new center fielder, the power he’s looking for comes in the form of redemption.
It was, to say the least, a forgettable stint in New York for Mullins, who spent all of his eight-year career in Baltimore until being dealt to the Mets last July.
After the down second half of 2025 for the Mets (who missed the playoffs) and Mullins, he’s ready to return to form after signing a one-year, $7 million deal with the Rays.
When asked if 2026 can be a redemption season, Mullins said, “100 percent. I’m always trying to better myself. … I always look at myself and say that I can do better. It’s a matter of taking the offseason, reflecting on how the season went, and trying to make adjustments to be better every day.”
The road to redemption officially began Monday for Mullins, as he took a trip to the batter’s box in a game setting for the first time this spring.
“Today, I just wanted to have the mindset of being aggressive on both sides of the ball, and I felt like I did that,” Mullins said.
After a breakout 2021 season that saw Mullins earn an All-Star nod, take home a Silver Slugger, and a top-10 finish in American League MVP voting, 2025 brought the worst year of his career.
Across 133 games with Baltimore and New York, Mullins hit .216 and posted a 94 OPS+, his lowest in a season in which he played more than 45 games. In 42 games following the trade to the Mets, Mullins hit just two homers, had 10 RBIs and hit .182.
Admittedly, it was a difficult transition for Mullins -- going from the team that drafted him to one of the bigger markets in Major League Baseball in the blink of an eye.
“It was one of those things where I truly thought that I might have been an Oriole my whole career,” Mullins said. “But things fell into place where there was change needed with the organization, and I was part of that change. Tough adjustments, but now that I’m kind of acclimated to what it feels like to be with a new team and getting to know guys outside of the surface level in a short period of time, the adjustments are coming around.”
As for his struggles at the plate, Mullins called it a “timing thing” that he has worked in the offseason to correct.
“It was pretty obvious I was getting beat inside consistently towards the second half of the season,” Mullins said. “Made some adjustments to make sure the body is in a good place to be in a power position to hit.”
One thing Mullins has always provided is power, as he’s hit 15-plus homers each season since 2021. The Rays outfield struggled in 2025 to hit the long ball, making Mullins’ bat a welcomed addition.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Mullins has had a “steady presence” with the club. “He’s always kind of been that from the other side of the field. Being in Baltimore, we got to see him come up as a young player and establish himself as a really good big leaguer, and that’s really all we’re asking him to do this year. I know last year leaving Baltimore [and] going to New York, that was definitely new for him.”
In a mostly youthful outfield, Cash said having a veteran in Mullins, who has the second-most service time on the team for position players other than Yandy Díaz, is a great thing.
“We want his leadership skills and the way he’s gone about it [his career], to take shape and a lot of our younger players can probably benefit from watching him,” Cash said.
Mullins, who called his defensive ability his “plus-tool,” made a great play on a liner to right-center field off the bat of Boston's designated hitter, Carlos Narváez that traveled 100.1 mph. Mullins tracked down in the gap for the first out of the top of the fifth.
“We didn’t see a decline,” Cash said of Mullins’ defense last season. “I give Cedric a ton of credit. Corey Dickerson is a new [first-base/outfield] coach here. Cedric is going to be a guy that leads by example out here. His route efficiency is as good as anybody in baseball just being so direct to the ball.”
Of Mullins, Dickerson said, “He’s very open to learning. Everything that we’ve brought to the table -- how to make him better, he’s already a great player, but he’s open to listening. He made a great play today doing things we asked him to do, and it speaks volumes about who he is as a person.”