This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The Rays struck out 18 times, didn’t score, walked just twice and managed only three singles in a 3-0 loss to the Yankees on Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. It was still a good day for Tampa Bay’s lineup.
Not because of anything that happened in Tampa, of course. Because of what was taking place simultaneously at Daikin Park in Houston and loanDepot park in Miami.
Rays sluggers Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda have provided some of the many highlights coming out of pool play in the World Baseball Classic. On Friday, Aranda swatted a tiebreaking, opposite-field homer in the eighth inning for Mexico against Great Britain. A few hours later, Caminero clobbered a tiebreaking, two-run homer for the Dominican Republic against Nicaragua and took an enthusiastic, entertaining trip around the bases.
Those weren’t one-off moments. Aranda and Caminero have kept hitting at a high level in the international spotlight, building off the breakout seasons they enjoyed last year.
It was a good reminder that the Rays have two of the best young hitters in baseball. Throw in Yandy Díaz, and you could argue they have three of the top hitters in the game. Among players who had at least 400 plate appearances last season, Aranda ranked 11th (146), Díaz ranked 27th (135) and Caminero was 36th (129) in wRC+.
“It’s no surprise that a lot of our success over time has been more run prevention-oriented … and I think in many ways, this team will resemble that,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “But having three guys that are top-of-the-lineup, impact-type bats certainly makes it a little easier.
“You’d like to have more of them, but if you don’t, you can play tight defense, you can bring a lot of athleticism to the table. That mix can keep you on the right side of outscoring your opponents more often than not.”
Once you get past those three, the Rays lineup does not look terribly deep on paper. But the value of having everyday anchors at first base, third base and DH is that it creates more flexibility with the rest of the roster. It's easier to dedicate multiple roster spots to one position -- or create space for players with complementary skill-sets -- when you generally don’t have to worry about three spots in the lineup.
That’s why you could see the Rays deploy platoons at a handful of spots around the diamond. The right-handed-hitting Ben Williamson could spell the lefty-hitting Gavin Lux at second base, for instance. Jonny DeLuca could jump in against left-handed pitchers in place of center fielder Cedric Mullins or right fielder Jake Fraley. Hunter Feduccia (a left-handed hitter) and Nick Fortes (right-handed) make sense as a pair behind the plate.
The other six spots in the lineup likely won’t bring the same level of production at the plate, but they have other attributes that should help. Left fielder Chandler Simpson puts the ball in play and runs the bases like few others in the game. Shortstop Taylor Walls is an elite defender, which is critical at his position, especially with the run prevention foundation Neander mentioned.
What could the Rays lineup look like to start the season? Let’s take a guess at what they could do against right-handed pitchers and lefties.
Vs. RHP
- Yandy Díaz, DH
- Jonathan Aranda, 1B
- Junior Caminero, 3B
- Cedric Mullins, CF
- Jake Fraley, RF
- Gavin Lux, 2B
- Hunter Feduccia, C
- Chandler Simpson, LF
- Taylor Walls, SS
Notes: That is a huge run of left-handed hitters after the top three. That’s by design. Mullins is coming off a down year, but he’s been an above-average hitter against righties (113 wRC+ vs. RHP) for his career. The same goes for Fraley (112 career wRC+ vs. RHP) and Lux (109), and Feduccia was a .283/.406/.460 hitter against righties in Triple-A last year. Simpson isn’t necessarily a platoon hitter, but he was better against righties (.686 OPS) than lefties (.629) last year. And if an opponent brings in a lefty reliever, the Rays can roll out all their right-handed-hitting reserves in a row.
Vs. LHP
- Yandy Díaz, DH
- Jonathan Aranda, 1B
- Junior Caminero, 3B
- Ben Williamson, 2B
- Jonny DeLuca, CF
- Ryan Vilade, RF
- Chandler Simpson, LF
- Nick Fortes, C
- Taylor Walls, SS
Notes: This is making a bunch of assumptions, starting with the idea that they will lean all the way into platoons to the point of not starting Mullins against lefties. That may not be the case, as they signed Mullins with the idea he’ll play a lot. It’s also banking on DeLuca and Vilade making the team, which isn’t guaranteed. While their left-handed hitters have longer track records to fall back on, you have to squint and hope a little more to see it with this group. The Rays hit just .234/.295/.372 against left-handers last season, with a .667 OPS that ranked 21st in the Majors, and it could be an issue again this year.
But when you can roll out Caminero, Aranda and Díaz atop the order every day, that’s a pretty good place to start.