PRESIDENT, BASEBALL OPERATIONS
Erik Neander (nee-ANN-der) was named president, baseball operations on Sep 8, 2021 and enters his fifth season as the club’s top-ranking baseball official. As the leader of baseball operations, Erik collaborates with all areas of the department to set the vision and expectations for the entire operation. In addition to working to sustain a people-first culture, he directly oversees functional areas, including player evaluation and procurement, the major league coaching and support staff, and roster and staff management.
Neander, 38, begins his 16th season in the Rays organization. He joined the Rays in January 2007 as a baseball operations intern and was hired full-time in October 2007. He was later promoted to manager, baseball research and development in November 2009, director of baseball operations in November 2011, vice president of baseball operations in October 2014 and senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager on Nov 4, 2016. One year later, Matt Silverman shifted to team president after a three-year stretch as president of baseball operations.
With Neander as the club’s top-ranking baseball official, the Rays have clinched a postseason berth in three consecutive seasons and won the powerhouse AL East in back-to-back seasons, both of which are firsts in franchise history. He and his group assembled a club that finished with the best record in the AL in both 2020 and 2021, the first AL club to do so in back-to-back seasons since the 2011-12 Yankees. In 2021, the reigning AL champions went 100-62, setting a club record for wins in a single season over 2008 (97). For the second time in three years (2019), the Rays were recognized as Baseball America’s Organization of the Year.
“The fact that Tampa Bay is once again sitting atop baseball’s toughest division is a remarkable accomplishment,” wrote Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano last September. “It speaks to the genius of Erik Neander and the front office. It speaks to the culture created by Manager Kevin Cash and his staff. It speaks to the unselfishness of players willing to sacrifice stats for the greater good."
In November 2021, Neander signed Wander Franco to an 11-year contract through 2032, including a club option for 2033. The contract represented the largest commitment to a player in the history of the franchise and the largest in major league history for a player with less than a year of major league service time.
Under Neander over the past four seasons, the Rays own the 4th-best record in baseball at 326-220 (.597)—a 96-win pace over a 162-game season. In the shortened 2020 season, Erik assembled a team that went a league-best 40-20 and conquered the Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros in the postseason to reach the World Series. In 2019, the team’s accomplishments earned industry acclaim for both Neander and the organization. Erik was selected by his peers as the second recipient of Major League Baseball’s Executive of the Year Award and earned a similar honor as Sporting News Executive of the Year.
Of the current 40-man roster and 60-day IL, 35 players have been acquired since Erik was appointed the club’s top-ranking baseball official (and 25 via trade). Among those trade acquisitions are 2021 AL Rookie of the Year Randy Arozarena, 2021 AL All-Stars Andrew Kittredge and Mike Zunino, as well as Shane Baz, Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Díaz, Pete Fairbanks, Tyler Glasnow, Manuel Margot, Austin Meadows, Luis Patiño, Brett Phillips, Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Yarbrough.
Despite graduating Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, Shane McClanahan, Luis Patiño and Taylor Walls from prospect status during the 2021 season, the Rays enter 2022 ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 farm system in the game. “The Rays no longer have the best prospect in baseball like they did in each of the past two seasons with Wander Franco, but they still have one of the deepest farm systems,” Baseball America wrote. “Not only do the Rays have excellent homegrown talent, but they do as good a job as anyone at acquiring prospects in trades.” The publication placed five Rays prospects on its preseason Top 100 list: Shane Baz (No. 8), Josh Lowe (No. 44), Vidal Bruján (No. 56), Taj Bradley (No. 58) and Curtis Mead (No. 97).
Prior to joining the Rays, Erik worked for Baseball Info Solutions. The Oneonta, N.Y. native graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s of science in food, nutrition and exercise. He and his wife, Jessica, reside in Tampa with their sons, Penn and Corbin; daughter, Eden; and their rescue animals.