My Frustrating Start Digging Into Rays Prospects
Okay, so this week I got kinda bugged thinking about the Tampa Bay Rays 2024 draft picks. Feels like nobody’s really talking deep about them, just the usual fluff pieces, y’know? Decided screw it, I’ll do my own grunt work. Started simple: just pulled up the list of every single guy they picked this year. Easy enough, MLB’s site has the basics.
Right off the bat (pun intended), I realized I needed more than just names and positions. How good are these kids really? Gotta understand what they were doing before Tampa grabbed ’em. So I started diving into college stats for the big names – batting averages, home runs, strikeouts for the hitters; ERA, strikeouts per inning, that kinda stuff for pitchers. For the high schoolers, scouting reports were murkier, like trying to read tea leaves. Spent hours just clicking around different college athletics sites and prospect databases. Found myself yelling at the screen once or twice when some site wanted money for “premium” stats. Nah man, ain’t happening.
The Deep Dive into the Tape
Stats only show so much. Needed to see these guys. Hit up YouTube hard. Searched stuff like “Carson Williams swing 2024” or “James Shields pitching prospect”. Found a few decent highlight reels, but man, finding full at-bats or extended pitching sequences? Like finding a needle in a haystack. Settled for bits and pieces.
- Watched Carson W. at the plate – swing looks smooth, gotta say, but that timing seemed off sometimes against good pitching.
- Tuned into some college games featuring that big outfielder they got, Davis something. Raw power is obvious, saw him crush a few, but man, the swing-and-misses… oof.
- Tried finding footage on those high school pitchers… mostly just shaky phone videos filmed by proud parents. Could barely see the ball sometimes! Hard to judge that way.
Also dug into injury histories. Seems every other prospect these days has some kinda Tommy John scar or shoulder thing. Spent an annoying afternoon trying to piece together tweets and old news blurbs about surgeries or missed time. Annoying work, felt like detective crap.
Putting It All Together
After all that gathering – the stats, the shaky videos, the injury gossip – sat down with a giant, messy Word doc full of notes and links. Honestly, it looked like a conspiracy theorist’s murder board. Started trying to make sense of it for my review.
Felt stuck at first. Had pages of numbers and random observations. How do I figure out who’s likely to make it and who’s a bust waiting to happen? Ended up leaning heavily on comparing them to other prospects and past Rays picks. Like, “Okay, this shortstop’s arm strength reminds me a bit of Wander Franco when he was drafted… but his hit tool seems weaker.” Also looked hard at the type of player the Rays keep signing – they love those athletic, versatile guys even if the polish isn’t there. Found myself asking “Does this guy feel like a Ray?” Weird question, but kinda true.
Had to pause for a coffee break halfway through. My eyes were crossing from staring at spreadsheets.
Finished up feeling… mixed? Maybe a bit underwhelmed?
- The Good: Got a couple potential stars. That college pitcher with the nasty slider? Could move fast through the minors. Love the international signings too, some real speed demons.
- The Meh: A bunch of solid, not spectacular guys. Maybe a couple become decent big leaguers, maybe they’re just trade chips later. Fine, I guess.
- The Worrisome: Some of these picks felt like total lottery tickets. High school players with great bodies but questionable skills, guys already dealing with significant injuries. Huge question marks.
Ended my note document thinking: The Rays drafted some exciting upside but also some serious gamble projects. Will need to track these kids closely over the next few years to see how much of that potential shows up. Right now? Hard to get super hyped compared to past drafts. Feels like more of a wait-and-see situation. Took a deep breath, saved the file, and closed like twelve browser tabs. Done.
