Tampa Bay Rays Minor League Roundup: Week 10

The leading hitter on the Durham Bulls might suprise you

Every Monday during the regular season, each minor league team has the day off (excluding the Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League). This serves as an excellent check point system to check in on how each team and individual prospect is performing. We are now 10 weeks into the 2024 campaign and some prospects have certainly continued their ascent up the organizational ladder while others are off to less than stellar starts.

According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), the overall top hitter in the Rays farm system right now is outfielder Chandler Simpson. The 23-year old has usurped Carson Williams, as he has been relentless since his promotion to Double-A. Thus far in his 10 games at Double-A, Simpson is hitting .409/.435/.432 with 11 stolen bases; Simpson is also maitaining a 4.3 BB% and 6.5 K%.

Meanwhile, the top pitcher is still 25-year old southpaw Ian Seymour. After dealing with injuries throughout the start of his professional career, Seymour is finally healthy and is dominating in Double-A. Over 10 starts, Seymour has a 2.35 ERA | 2.76 FIP with a 34.1 K% and 5.4 BB% over 53 2/3 innings pitched.

Before we get to the statistical breakdowns. Here is some news from around the Rays system.

• 3B Junior Caminero, 20, is on the Injured List following an injury to his quad suffered after running out a groundball; this is the same quad that afflicted him earlier this season. Caminero is expected to miss at least two months with the injury.
• The Tampa Bay Rays released RHP Sandy Gaston, who at one time was considered one of the best pitching prospects of his international class aided by his ability to reach triple digits.
• RHP Andrew Lindsey, 24, has been placed on the full season IL. The hurler was acquired by the Rays this past offseason in the Vidal Brujan trade and had been in Single-A.
• SS Taylor Walls, 27, is hitting .417/.500/.833 in 14 plate appearances since his rehab assignment moved to Triple-A Durham.
• LHP Colin Poche, 30, has been on the IL since April 23rd. He began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Durham on June 2nd and retired all three batters faced in an inning of work.

Let’s break it down by team; the offensive players must still be at that level and have at least 80 plate appearances; the pitchers must have at least 80 batters faced, excluding the FCL which just began play. All stats were recorded prior to the start of play on Tuesday.

Durham Bulls

Record: 26-31, 14 games back (Tied for 6th place in the International League East)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .292, Logan Driscoll
OBP: .388, Logan Driscoll
SLG: .525, Ruben Cardenas
HR: 11, Ruben Cardenas
wRC+: 120, Logan Driscoll
SB: 16, Kameron Misner

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 3.45, Joe Rock
FIP: 3.11, Michael Gomez
K%: 32.0%, Michael Gomez
BB%: 5.0%, Joe Rock
WHIP: 1.21, Joe Rock
AVG: .213, Enmanuel Mejia
WHIFF%: 15.9%, Edwin Uceta

Top 10 Prospects

• Junior Caminero:
  .261/.333/.478 | 22.9 K% | 9.2 BB% | 8 HR | 1 SB | 107 wRC+ | 153 PA
  Placed on the 7-day IL on 5/29 with a quad strain.
• Osleivis Basabe:
  .224/.270/.276 | 22.2 K% | 1.6 BB% | 1 HR | 1 SB | 42 wRC+ | 63 PA.
  Currently on the 7-day IL with a fractured wrist suffered on 4/16
• Shane Baz:
  6.20 ERA | 6.20 FIP | 13.3 K% | 15.3 BB% | .275 AVG | 20 1/3 IP

Montgomery Biscuits

Record: 30-21, (1st place in the Southern League)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .299, Carson Williams
OBP: .387, Kenny Piper
SLG: .557, Carson Williams
HR: 8, Carson Williams
wRC+: 181, Carson Williams
SB: 19, Dru Baker

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 2.19, Sean Hunley
FIP: 2.76, Ian Seymour
K%: 34.1%, Ian Seymour
BB%: 2.2%, Sean Hunley
WHIP: 0.69, Sean Hunley
AVG: .167, Ian Seymour
WHIFF%: 21.4%, Austin Vernon

Top 10 Prospects

• Carson Williams:
  .299/.385/.557 | 26.6 K% | 10.4 BB% | 8 HR | 13 SB | 181 wRC+ | 192 PA
• Dom Keegen:
  .276/.369/.455 | 21.6 K% | 12.5 BB% | 5 HR | 0 SB | 145 wRC+ | 176 PA

Bowling Green Hot Rods

Record: 27-24, 2 games back (2nd place in the South Atlantic League South)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .284, Xavier Isaac
OBP: .400, Brayden Taylor
SLG: .543, Xavier Isaac
HR: 9, Xavier Isaac
wRC+: 157, Brayden Taylor
SB: 11, Brayden Taylor

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.69, Alex Cook
FIP: 2.45, Nate Dahle
K%: 30.5%, Nate Dahle
BB%: 5.5%, Trevor Martin
WHIP: 1.02, Duncan Davitt
AVG: .180, Yoniel Curet
WHIFF%: 17.4%, JJ Goss

Top 10 Prospects

• Xavier Isaac:
  .284/.372/.543 | 27.7 K% | 11.7 BB% | 9 HR | 10 SB | 154 wRC+ | 188 PA
• Brayden Taylor:
  .267/.400/.516 | 24.5 K% | 17.5 BB% | 8 HR | 11 SB | 157 wRC+ | 200 PA

Charleston River Dogs

Record: 21-29, 10 games back (5th place in the Carolina League South)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .248, Angel Mateo
OBP: .423, Noah Myers
SLG: .409, Angel Mateo
HR: 5, Angel Mateo
wRC+: 140, Noah Myers
SB: 20, Adrian Santana

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 0.98, Chandler Murphy
FIP: 2.99, Chandler Murphy
K%: 29.0%, Adam Boucher
BB%: 2.3%, Santiago Suarez
WHIP: 0.90, Chandler Murphy
AVG: .167, Dalton Fowler
WHIFF%: 16.8%, Hayden Snelsire

Top 10 Prospects

• Adrian Santana:
  .212/.287/.250 | 20.7 K% | 9.8 BB% | 0 HR | 20 SB | 66 wRC+ | 174 PA

FCL Rays

Record: 15-7, (1st place in the Florida Coast League South)

Team Offensive Leaders (min. 50 PA):
AVG: .381, Brailer Guerrero
OBP: .500, Brailer Guerrero
SLG: .540, Brailer Guerrero
HR: 1, Brailer Guerrero & Jose Contreras
wRC+: 181, Brailer Guerrero
SB: 8, Brailer Guerrero

Team Pitching Leaders (min. 25 TBF):
ERA: 1.08, Joel Canizalez
FIP: 2.60, Michael Saturria
K%: 32.7%, Roberto Medina
BB%: 3.1%, Trevor Harrison
WHIP: 0.78, Joel Canizalez
AVG: .125, Joel Canizalez
WHIFF%: 20.5%, Jeremy Pilon