Rays sign RHP Phil Maton

He’s already pretty good. Do the Rays need to tinker?

It took some time, as the Rays waited until they could use the 60-day injured list to open a roster spot, but quality reliever Phil Maton has opted to join the Rays on a multi-year deal, with a $6.25 million salary and a $250K buyout on a $7.75 million club option for the 2025 season.

Our own Daniel Vonderwalde had been circling Maton for our recent free agent reliever roundtable, and I know there are no points for being right here, but as the editor I want you to know he actually flagged Maton for an article in December, and I initially told him no chance, so shout out to Daniel. Here’s what he contributed to that roundtable:

The 31-year-old free agent is another guy who is coming from a career year. He ranked Top 10% in xWOBA (2.75) and xERA (3.14). Top 9% in xSLG (.324), top 5% in xBA (.192), and top 1% hard hit% (23.5) and exit velo (84.5 MPH) all of this in 66 innings of work.

Maton has one of the nastiest curves in the game; a big hook that is paired up with a 4-seamer, a sweeper, and an occasional sinker.

If those results were not enough, and you are looking for why the Rays are enticed about his profile and how the Rays might use him, look no further than when Tampa Bay appreciated about Colin McHugh, who made his sweeper his primary pitch the season before joining the Rays, and then utilized it more than 50% of the time under Kyle Snyder, making him one of baseball’s best that season.

Maton similarly traded his fastball for his curveball most overall in 2023 to phenomenal results, and it seems likely the Rays may try and see how much more they can get out of emphasizing the breaking ball further. And it will be further interesting to see if the Rays have Maton exchange his four-seam for a two-seam altogether, as they did with McHugh, as well — but because Maton’s third most-used pitch is a sweeper with enough distinction, that may not be necessary in this case.

McHugh became something else entirely after leaving Houston for the Rays. Maton is already pretty freaking good. Little tweaks should be expected more than a complete overhaul.

Maton will be in his preferred No. 88 jersey with the Rays, previously worn by Elvin Rodriguez, a reliever who appeared for one game for the Rays last season. Prior to that, the only other player in franchise history to wear 88 was catcher Josh Paul, who appeared in 98 games for the Devil Rays from 2006-07.