Tampa Bay Rays Minor League Roundup: Week 7

Tre’ Morgan receives a promotion to a crowded High-A roster

Every Monday during the regular season, each minor league team has the day off. This serves as an excellent check point system to check in on how each team and individual prospect is performing. We are now seven 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 one of the top prospects in the Rays system, 20-year old Carson Williams (his season statline can be found further below).

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 sevens starts, Seymour has a 2.78 ERA | 3.29 FIP with a 32.6 K% and 6.5 BB% over 35 2⁄3 innings pitched.

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

• Tre’ Morgan, the Rays 2023 3rd round selection out of LSU, is getting promoted to High-A Bowling Green. This creates an interesting roster puzzle as the Rays already have Xaiver Isaac manning first base for Bowling Green. Morgan is known as being one of the best defensive first baseman in all of the minor leagues. Morgan had been hitting .320/.398/.440 with 2 HR and 9 SB over 115 plate appearances this season.
• Brendan McKay was recently promoted to Triple-A Durham as he continued to make his way back from several season costing surgeries. Unfortunately, before pitching for Durham, he has been placed on the 60-day IL for an undisclosed reason.
• The Rays have signed RHP Connor Lunn to a minor league deal and assigned him to Double-A Montgomery.
• Victor Munoz, a long time farmhand that was originally signed in 2017, has been released.

Let’s break it down by team; the offensive players must still be at that level and have at least 50 plate appearances; the pitchers must have at least 15 innings logged, excluding the FCL which just began play. All stats were recorded prior to the start of play on Tuesday.

Durham Bulls

Record: 16-23, 11.5 games back (8th place in the International League East)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .344, Jake Mangum
OBP: .391, Jake Mangum
SLG: .554, Junior Caminero
HR: 7, Ruben Cardenas
wRC+: 140, Junior Caminero
SB: 13, Kameron Misner

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 3.10, Michael Gomez
FIP: 2.94, Michael Gomez
K%: 33.3, Michael Gomez
BB%: 4.4%, Joe Rock
WHIP: 0.93, Justin Sterner
AVG: .194. Justin Sterner
WHIFF%: 15.8%, Edwin Uceta

Top 10 Prospects

• Junior Caminero:
  .304/.379/.554 | 20.4 K% | 10.7 BB% | 6 HR | 1 SB | 140 wRC+ | 103 PA
• 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 fracture wrist suffered on 4/16
• Shane Baz:
  11.57 ERA | 10.46 FIP | 4.2 K% | 25.0 BB% | .235 AVG | 4 2/3 IP.
  On a rehab assignment with Durham recovering after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2022.

Montgomery Biscuits

Record: 18-15, 2 games back (2nd place in the Southern League)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .330, Carson Williams
OBP: .400, Carson Williams & Nick Schnell
SLG: .542, Heriberto Hernandez
HR: 5, Dom Keegan & Heriberto Hernandez
wRC+: 182, Carson Williams
SB: 14, Dru Baker

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 2.40, Alfredo Zarraga
FIP: 2.97, Alfredo Zarraga
K%: 34.8%, Alfredo Zarraga
BB%: 6.3%, Loan Workman
WHIP: 0.79, Ian Seymour
AVG: .153, Patrick Wicklander
WHIFF%: 21.1%, Austin Vernon

Top 10 Prospects

• Carson Williams:
  .330/.400/.536 | 26.4 K% | 8.8 BB% | 4 HR | 9 SB | 182 wRC+ | 125 PA
• Dom Keegen:
  .237/.372/.423 | 23.1 K% | 15.7 BB% | 5 HR | 0 SB | 142 wRC+ | 121 PA

Bowling Green Hot Rods

Record: 17-16, 1 game back (Second place in the South Atlantic League South)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .336, Chandler Simpson
OBP: .421, Brayden Taylor
SLG: .495, Xavier Isaac
HR: 6, Xavier Isaac
wRC+: 153, Brayden Taylor
SB: 27, Chandler Simpson

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.95, Alex Cook
FIP: 2.63, Duncan Davitt
K%: 31.7%, Duncan Davitt
BB%: 4.7%, Trevor Martin
WHIP: 1.06, Duncan Davitt
AVG: .162, Yoniel Curet
WHIFF%: 15.5%, Alex Cook

Top 10 Prospects

• Xavier Isaac:
  .257/.350/.495 | 27.4 K% | 12.0 BB% | 6 HR | 5 SB | 142 wRC+ | 117 PA
• Brayden Taylor:
  .253/.421/.440 | 26.4 K% | 23.1 BB% | 3 HR | 9 SB | 153 wRC+ | 121 PA

Charleston River Dogs

Record: 13-18, 4 games back (5th place in the Carolina League South)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .290, Angel Mateo
OBP: .433, Noah Myers
SLG: .484, Angel Mateo
HR: 4, Angel Mateo
wRC+: 141, Noah Myers & Angel Mateo
SB: 12, Noah Myers

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.31, Chandler Murphy
FIP: 3.00, Santiago Suarez
K%: 29.5%, Adam Boucher
BB%: 1.8%, Santiago Suarez
WHIP: 0.90, Santiago Suarez
AVG: .143, Hayden Snelsire
WHIFF%: 17.5%, Hayden Snelsire

Top 10 Prospects

• Adrian Santana:
  .204/.269/.235 | 23.1 K% | 8.3 BB% | 0 HR | 11 SB | 57 wRC+ | 108 PA

FCL Rays

Record: 5-2, (First place in the Florida Coast League South)

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .391, Jose Monzon
OBP: .519, Brailer Guerrero
SLG: .762, Brailer Guerrero
HR: 1, Brailer Guerrero & Enzo Paulino
wRC+: 220, Brailer Guerrero
SB: 4, Jose Monzon

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 0.00, Maikel Hernandez
FIP: 2.10, Jonathan Russell
K%: 41.2%, Alexander Alberto
BB%: 3.2%, Roberto Medina & Jonathan Russell
WHIP: 0.82, Jeremy Pilon
AVG: .056, Roberto Medina
WHIFF%: 30.2%, Alexander Alberto