PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Assessing the Rays’ shortstop situation back at the Winter Meetings in December, president of baseball operations Erik Neander expressed the team’s appreciation for Taylor Walls and noted that the elite defender’s skill-set is “most appreciated when he’s not available.”
Unfortunately for the Rays, they’ve had time to properly appreciate it over the past few years.
Last year, a bilateral sports hernia prevented Walls from playing after Aug. 8. Before that, a torn labrum required right hip surgery in October 2023 and kept Walls on the injured list until June 7, 2024.
Lined up to be Tampa Bay’s Opening Day shortstop for the second straight season, Walls is seeking an end to that injury trend.
“I feel like, through obvious reoccurring surgeries, now it's at the point where it's kind of like, 'All right, dude. Now you're playing with kind of the length of your career,’” Walls said. “So, you've got to kind of figure something out.”
The slick-fielding 29-year-old has come to realize that the remarkable work ethic that’s gotten him to this point might be working against him in some ways. Specifically, the amount of pregame work he does on both sides of the ball may have taken a physical toll.
Walls noted the Rays have been “digging” at him to dial back the volume and intensity of his preparation since they drafted him out of Florida State in 2017. But that idea always felt antithetical to his sense of self.
“If you couldn't figure something out, or you weren't doing something as good as you wanted to do it, you need to do more, work harder,” Walls said. “Well, that's a great recipe for when you're younger, but then when you start getting to this level, it starts becoming more of working smarter rather than harder.”
Since he got to the Majors, the idea has also been at odds with his sense of urgency.
A month after Walls debuted with the Rays on May 22, 2021, Wander Franco arrived as the apparent shortstop of the future. In 2024, the Rays brought in José Caballero. Last winter, Tampa Bay spent big on Ha-Seong Kim. The Rays’ top prospect is Carson Williams, who debuted in Walls’ absence down the stretch last season.
It’s easy to see why Walls has always felt like he has something to play for and something to prove. He still does, but time and maturity have provided additional perspective.
“When you're in a position where you feel like you're kind of scratching and clawing to find a role or find a consistent role or find an identity on the roster in the big leagues, every day feels like it could be the last, even when that's not always reality,” Walls added. “Approaching every day that way -- it's necessary to win ballgames, but it's not necessary to be healthy for 162 games or really to get the best out of yourself that night and a week, a month, three months down the road.”
Walls believes that mentality will also benefit him at the plate. It took him a long time to shake the idea that he needed to get a hit every at-bat to play the next day or establish himself, and he’s hit just .195/.286/.298 in the Majors. Now, he’s accepting the Rays’ message to utilize his athletic abilities in the batter’s box like he does in the infield dirt.
And as the Rays aim to improve their defense this season, Walls is a key part of their plan. He was a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop last year, ranking third among all MLB infielders with 18 defensive runs saved and tying Mookie Betts for the most at shortstop (17) despite appearing in 54 fewer games.
“I'm a little biased, so I thought he should have won,” third-base/infield coach Brady Williams said. “He’s got another year to prove that again, with the goal being another Gold Glove.”
But Walls can only contribute when he’s healthy enough to play, so the Rays will be mindful of his workload -- much like they’ve asked him to be with his pregame routine.
“Some of these guys, you probably just have to take it away from them. Just the way they operate and the way their minds work, they're just always going to be going 100%,” manager Kevin Cash said. “That's what makes Wallsy so special on defense, but I think our job as a staff … we have to kind of sometimes get in the way a little bit.
“We know how important it is for these guys to get their work in and continue to improve. They also know how important it is to stay on the field.”