ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays have been open this offseason about what they want to see from the shortstop position heading into next year.
First, they want to see a healthy version of Taylor Walls. Club officials, coaches and teammates believe Walls is the best defensive shortstop in baseball, and manager Kevin Cash described his impact as “game-changing, what he does defensively for us.”
Unless they make a bigger move than expected this offseason, something like the Ha-Seong Kim signing last winter, Walls seems likely to be their starting shortstop come Opening Day.
Second, they want to add more depth at the position. That has thinned out considerably over the past few months. It started with José Caballero being dealt to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline, continued with Kim being let go and claimed by the Braves, then kept going this offseason with Tristan Gray shipped up to Boston and Tanner Murray traded to the White Sox.
Walls has missed time each of the past three seasons and hasn’t played more than 101 games since 2022, so the Rays know they could use another infielder capable of playing shortstop. It may not be a “headline-grabbing” move, president of baseball operations Erik Neander said, but “having a little more depth in that area would be, I think, the right thing to do.”
Finally, they want to see top prospect Carson Williams learn from his brief time in the Majors this past season, even if it wasn’t necessarily what they had in mind for his debut.
“Really happy about the experiences he gained in the last six weeks of the year,” Cash said. “Did some good things, and I know he's very motivated to come in and continue to do those things.”
Williams’ earlier-than-expected arrival was the result of Caballero’s exit, Walls’ season-ending injury, Kim’s departure and Tampa Bay’s fall from the postseason picture. In the Rays’ ideal world, he could have remained in Triple-A Durham to refine his offensive approach while they contended for a playoff spot.
But when that option came off the board, they decided to make the best of the situation.
“You learn a lot,” Neander said. “We brought him up for the experiences, to get the feedback. Young players … there's more attention and expectation on young players now than there's ever been, right? Like, everyone wants them in the big leagues. 'They're always ready. They're ready. They're ready.' It's really, really difficult, and very few are ready from the jump.”
The Rays weren’t going to put too much stock into his statistics, but they do illustrate some areas where improvement is necessary. A spectacular athlete with power at the plate, speed on the bases, impressive defensive instincts and a cannon of a throwing arm, Williams hit .172/.219/.354 with five homers and 44 strikeouts in 106 plate appearances over 32 games.
They saw the power. They saw the athleticism. And they saw the swing-and-miss tendencies that were always present in his scouting reports.
“This for him was just an opportunity to come up and play, learn it, learn the cadence of it. Learn the pressures, learn the stresses, learn the travel, learn the demands, learn the speed of the game,” Neander continued. “Learn the things that players at this level do that you might overlook the finer points when you're in Triple-A and you're thinking more big picture. Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn: That was our goal for him.”
The Rays reaped the benefits of that strategy with Jonathan Aranda, who benefited from his initial trips to the big leagues, and Junior Caminero, who learned what he needed to improve down the stretch in 2024 and put it on display this past season.
Will Williams make the same adjustments and, perhaps, the same leap? Even after his debut, that question makes him a prospect to watch.
“Making the most of a disappointing record was allowing him this look, to just give him as much feedback as he could to take it into the offseason, when he otherwise wouldn't have it,” Neander said. “You get first-hand feedback. The game tells you what you need to work on, where you can hang and where you need a little help.
“It really was all about learning and the confidence that [he can] handle himself. This level doesn't speed up, does it? No. He handled himself really well, and can he take a lot out of this? I think he did.”