Heading into the 2025 MLB season, it was unclear who the Tampa Bay Rays would feature in their outfield.
In 2024, a disjointed year filled with plentiful mid-season trades, the Rays started 25 different postion players. Of those 25, the bulk of the starts in the outfield went to Jose Siri (116 starts in centre field), Randy Arozarena (84 starts in left field, five in centre), Jonny DeLuca (40 starts in right field, 37 in centre, 10 in left) and Josh Lowe (73 starts in right, 12 in left, 2 in centre). From there, the final few starts went to Dylan Carlson (23 in left, 2 right), Amed Rosario (18 in right), Richie Palacios (25 in right, 16 left), Christopher Morel (11 in left), Harold Ramirez (3 in right, 2 left), Niko Goodrum (1 in left) and Kameron Misner (3 in left, 2 in centre).
By the time opening night 2025 rolled around, Siri, Arozarena, Carlson, Rosario, Ramirez and Goodrum had already left the Rays. Lowe, Palacios, Morel, DeLuca and Misner remained, but Morel had played more infield than outfield to that point in his career, Misner had only eight career Major League games, and Palacios was to begin the season on the injured list.
Very quickly, Lowe and DeLuca joined him. Lowe pulled up with an oblique strain halfway through opening day, returning only this week, and DeLuca remains out with a shoulder injury that has as of the time of writing caused him to miss 41 games. To compound it all, Palacios played only one game before reinjuring himself, and he too remains on the DL.
Essentially, then, the Rays needed a whole new outfield. And they found a trio of reinforcements from within – all of whom are rookies.
Misner And Mangum Dial M For Hits
Initially optioned back to the Triple-A Durham Bulls for what would be his age-27 season before Palacios’ first injury saw him return, Misner has become a regular for the Rays this season. And he started with a bang, hitting a walk-off home run as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of the Rays’ opening day win over the Colorado Rockies. For a player sent down to the minors only one week before, it was quite the statement piece.
On the season to date, Misner has hit .233 for the Rays with four home runs and five stolen bases, good for a 0.7 Wins Above Replacement mark. He has cooled off somewhat over recent weeks, as his career sky-high strikeout rate returns to normal, yet Misner offers power, speed on the bases and defensive range, especially at the all-important centre field position. He has all of the tools except for contact rate.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jake Mangum is all about contact rate. The 29-year-old outfielder, acquired as a player-to-be-named-later from the Miami Marlins in exchange for Calvin Faucher and Vidal Brujan, was added to the Rays’ 40-man roster over the offseason, but again figured to start in the minors. With the injuries opening up playing time, though, Mangum soon got his shot, and did the thing he does better than most – he put bat to ball.
In 68 big league at-bats, the supreme contract hitter Mangum has struck out only seven times. And while he had no home runs in that span, his high level of contact and speed on the bases saw him record a .338 batting average with eight steals and a 0.7 WAR of his own, before he too went on the disabled list in April.
Because Mangum lacks for the power tool that corner outfield prospects are expected to have nowadays, he is an old rookie; the concern about his status as a prospect was whether his excellent contact rates in the minors would carry over once he faced big league pitching every night. The answer, it seems, is yes.
Blazing Speed Meets The Rays’ New Need
When Mangum went down, yet another outfielder was needed. And although journeyman Travis Jankowski was picked up off waivers from the Chicago White Sox, the Rays instead opted to give the bulk of the availed playing time to a rookie whose timeline they decided to speed up.
Having stolen 101 bases in the minor leagues in 2024, Chandler Simpson would play in the majors one day. That day was however brought forwards by the injuries, to the point that Simpson is currently an every-day player. On the year so far, the 24-year-old dynamo is hitting .290 with 13 stolen bases, despite only having 100 at-bats to date
A converted infielder, Simpson is still relatively new to the outfield, and his defence at all positions needs work accordingly. Nevertheless, his speed is a transcendent quality. Even when he does not run, he might, and that constant peril plays on the concentration of defences and pitchers. As long as that “something” is understood not to include extra base hits, it can agreed upon that when he is in the game, Simpson makes things happen.
The Rays are 24-26 on the season to date, and as is often the case, their offense has not shined. They are just 22nd in the majors in home runs, 20th in hits, 24th in runs and 20th in team batting average. Nonetheless, they are being kept afloat by their rookie outfield, who have contributed in the much-needed areas in three distinctly different ways.
Only one is young, but all are new, and all have had positive impacts from minimal investment. Which is the very definition of Rays baseball.
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