Brignac: “Just right now it’s not working out for them and I. I’m not disappointed, I’m eagerly excited about the opportunity to play for another organization, possibly the chance to get a little more playing time. So I’m really excited with the chance to play for somebody else but I’m super gracious what the Rays have done for me. I have nothing but great things to say about those guys, the organization is one of the best organizations in baseball. It’s a little bittersweet. It’s going to be different being in a different uniform and playing for a different team, but it’s going to be a great opportunity for me I believe. There’s no hard feelings.”

“I’m not really surprised. I pay attention to what’s going on and they’re signing infielders, signing infielders, signing infielders. I just knew I possibly could be one of the guys that gets designated. I’m not bitter, I don’t have any animosity toward the Rays, I have nothing but praise and respect for those guys. They gave me the opportunity to live my lifelong dream and play in the big leagues.”

Johnson:  ”I don’t think I’m too terribly surprised. I guess it’s just a matter of this team, the Rays are one of the best teams in baseball, and things like this happen… I feel good about how I played, it was a big improvement over 2011 offensively, so I’m looking forward to 2013 and getting the chanace to do it in the big leagues with somebody else.”

Thanks for all the love and support tweeps! Going to play the waiting game and find a new home soon enough. Thanks for everything Tampa Bay!

— Elliot Johnson (@ElliotJohnson9) February 6, 2013

Brignac and Johnson understand that the Rays gave them their chances to be starting players, Brignac in 2011 and Johnson in 2012, but at the end of the day things simply didn’t work out and the Rays had to move on. It’s been for Rays fans great watching both of them on the team (and also interacting with Johnson on Twitter), but unfortunately they watched both of them fall apart and the Rays had to look elsewhere. Best of luck to Brignac and Johnson wherever they end up- no hard feelings on our end either- and Rays fans can wish them nothing but success as look to continue their careers in other organizations.

Yesterday, the fine folks at Baseball America released their “32nd team,” which was composed of 28 scouting reports of players who had been in their team’s top 31 prospects according to Baseball America but were booted out because of trades. In the Rays case, the huge James Shields trade to the Kansas City Royals netted them Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard, and four players who had been considered top 31 prospects were displaced. On Tuesday, Baseball America talked about those four players, RHP Damion Carroll, OF Granden Goetzman, RHP Roberto Gomez, and LHP Alexander Torres. The entire piece is worth the read, but here are a few highlights about each player.

Carroll has a strong, physical frame with excellent athleticism and a low-90s fastball that touches 95. He should add more velocity as he refines his mechanics. All of his secondary pitches need work, though his curveball cuts diagonally and down through the strike zone when he has a good feel for it.

Goetzman is one of the top defensive outfielders in the Tampa Bay system. He has enough speed and arm strength to man any of the three outfield positions. He remains a raw prospect but has five-tool ability provided he can stay on the field.

Gomez has a tall, lanky frame with a live arm. He does a good job of pitching off his 92-93 mph fastball and commands it well to both sides of the plate. His mid-80s slider has a short, sharp break, while his changeup is inconsistent but shows promise.

Torres generates impressive velocity for a lefthander and flashes three pitches with the potential to be solid or better. His fastball sits in the low 90s at times and features nice sink. His cutter/slider has some bite to it, and his changeup sinks as well. Torres throws across his body, which creates deception and generates movement on his pitches but also leads to control issues.

All of these four have the ability to be top 10 or 15 prospects as soon as next year- although Torres is more likely to end up in the major leagues- with Carroll and Gomez looking to further their development on the mound, Goetzman fighting to stay on the field, and Torres striving to rectify his control issues. Other prospects appearing on the “32nd team” weren’t very impressive at all and were only their team’s top 31 because their team had little organizational depth. The Rays on the other hand, have an impressive minor league system stretching well beyond their top 31 prospects, and from top to bottom the Rays are expecting plenty of good things to come from their system in coming years.

Carroll has a lot of promise, but there is a lot of work still to be done before he can even think about fulfilling it. (Credit: Washington Post)

Damion Carroll, 18, is a 6’3″, 198 right-hander who was the Rays’ 6th round draft pick in 2012. Carroll’s results in his pro debut in the GCL were very mixed as he went 1-0 with a 2.33 ERA, a 9.3 K/9, an 8.8 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 10 appearances and 19.1 IP. His groundball rate was a nice 56.5% per Minor League Central*, but his walk rate was crazy-high as Carroll could not consistently find the strike zone. Carroll throws a fastball that reaches 95 MPH that shows nice nice run away from right-handed batters along with solid sink, although Carroll struggles to locate it in the zone. The bigger problem for Carroll is that he throws three secondary pitches, a curveball, a slilder, and a changeup, and all of them are complete works in progress as Carroll can’t throw any of them for strikes. Carroll may flash the good velocity on his fastball right now, but he’s extremely raw in terms of his other pitches and that is really holding him back right now. His curveball is the best of his offspeed offerings, featuring good 11-to-5 break when Carroll can get on top of it, and the Rays could scrap Carroll’s slider as they look to develop the curveball. Carroll is talented, but he really needs everything simplified now, so look for the Rays to take Carroll slowly through the minors developing one pitch at a time as Carroll looks to translate his raw ability into results. Carroll’s lack of control in his pro debut had to be disconcerting for the Rays, but Carroll is just getting his career started and the Rays knew the moment that they drafted him that he was going to require a lot of work. They’ll continue moving Carroll’s development along next season as they look to ease Carroll into the high-upside pitcher he has the ability to be.

Isaac Gil, 20, was drafted by the Rays in the 31st round of the 2011 MLB Draft. Gil, who is a big 6’5″, 230, put together a good performance in his first extended look in pro ball, going 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA, a 7.7 K/9, a 2.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 2 starts, 10 relief appearances, and 34 IP. Gil may have been a pretty late draft pick, but he has some potential as a prospect. Gil doesn’t have any projection remaining, but he throws a fastball around 93 MPH with good movement away from right-handed batters to go along with a solid curveball. Gil was much better against righties than lefties in a limited sample, holding them to a .485 OPS with 19 strikeouts versus 7 walks compared to a .692 with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks versus lefties. He currently doesn’t have any weapons to deal with lefty batters, and the Rays are sure to teach him a changeup in the near future. But he has the ability to be a solid relief prospect moving forward, and considering he’s pretty young as well, it will be interesting to see if he could be a late round steal for the Rays.

Lefty Brett Blaise, 22, was a non-drafted free agent signee by the Rays this year but is a little more interesting than your average NDFA. Blaise did struggle in his pro debut, going 1-1 with an 8.36 ERA, 10.3 K/9, a 7.7 BB/9, and a 1.3 HR/9 in 8 appearances and 14 IP. But he’s a projectable 6’3″, 180, and his current stuff is pretty interesting. He throws a fastball in the 90-92 MPH range along with a sharp curveball that hitters had an awfully hard time making contact with. The problem is that Blaise has no idea where his pitches are going. If he ever does, he could be a pitcher who could move quickly as a relief prospect. Chances are that it won’t happen, but when you have an NDFA who has a chance to make the big leagues someday, it’s always nice.

Lefty Lucas Goodgion, 23, was the Rays’ 33rd round pick in 2012 and is another late round pick who isn’t the biggest longshot to be a big league contributor someday. In his pro debut, Goodgion was great, going 0-1 with a 1.80 ERA, a 7.9 K/9, a 2.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 12 appearances and 25 IP. Goodgion has good size at 6’4″, 220 and nice stuff to go with it, throwing a low-90′s fastball with late bite along with a solid slider that shows flashes. Goodgion’s control and command have a long way to go, but the inexperienced hitters of the GCL continuously swung and missed at Goodgion’s pitches, posting a 17.0% swinging strikeout rate compared to the 14.7% league average. But he couldn’t locate anything anywhere and only had such a low walk rate because hitters were swinging and missing like crazy at his pitches. More disciplined hitters won’t fall for his tricks. Goodgion’s stuff is good, but he has a long way to go and at his age (he turned 23 in July), we’ll have to see if he will ever put it all together. The good news is that between Gil, Blaise, and Goodgion, the Rays may end up with a solid big league middle reliever.

Alex Moshier, 23, was another NDFA signed by the Rays this season. Moshier had a solid pro debut with the GCL Rays, going 1-3 with a 2.82 ERA, a 6.4 K/9, a 4.0 BB/9, a 0.4 HR/9, and 4 saves in 14 appearances and 22.1 IP. He has since moved to Short Season-A Hudson Valley, where he has been excellent in 2 appearances spanning 4 IP, allowing just 1 hit and striking out 4 while walking none. Mosher, 5’11″, 200, throws a low-90′s sinker along with a halfway-decent slider. He doesn’t generate very many swings and misses at this point, managing just a 10.9% swinging strikeout rate compared to the 14.7% league average and he doesn’t force groundballs either, posting a 40.9% groundball rate. Moshier needs to improve his command and control for him to even think about continued success. Moshier has been much better against righties than lefties, holding them to a .529 OPS compared to .864 versus lefties in a limited sample. He’s going to need to add a changeup to handle lefties. Moshier has a little ability, but he has a lot of development still to do and at 23 years old, he’s running out of time.

Kyle Pelchy, 22, is one final NDFA that played for the GCL Rays. Pelchy posted just a 5.25 ERA in 12 appearances and 24 IP in his pro debut, but the interesting thing was that he posted a 7.1 K/9, a 1.9 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9. Pelchy, who is 6’0″, 210, throws in just the high-80′s with his fastball but he does throws a nice curveball that he commands well. Pelchy is another pitcher who struggles against opposite-handed batters, as they tagged him for a .980 OPS and 7 strikeouts versus 4 walks compared to just a .628 OPS and 12 strikeouts versus 1 walk by righties. Pelchy has an extremely uphill battle ahead of him, but with one plus pitch and hopefully further development in his arsenal, he’ll give it a shot.

And we close with lefty Dayne Quist, 23, who was the Rays’ 28th round pick in 2012. Quist had a really nice start to his pro career with the GCL Rays, going 1-2 with a 2.55 ERA, an 8.7 K/9, a ridiculous 0.5 BB/9, and a 0.0 HR/9 in 11 appearances and 17.2 IP. His groundball rate was an impressive 56.1%. Quist, who is just 5’10″, 180, doesn’t have great stuff, throwing a high-80′s fastball, a decent curveball, and a fringy changeup. But he stands out thanks to superlative command of all 3 pitches. Quist’s pure stuff isn’t great, but he’s able to keep the ball down and get groundballs and because of that he has a chance to be a lefty reliever someday. Quist turns 24 in January so time is definitely not on his side, but his great command could take him to the big leagues, especially as a lefty.

That’s it for our look at the 2012 GCL Rays. All in all, we see that there’s a lot of talent, most of it yet unfulfilled, but there are plenty of players to watch moving forward as we see who’s going to figure it out and who will not. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about some of the Rays’ lowest-level minor leaguers.

Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, and Part 3 is here.

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*All groundball rate, line drive rate, swinging strikeout rate, etc. data in this article is courtesy of Minor League Central.

Double-A Southern League: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Birmingham Barons (CHW) 1

Matt Buschmann pitched well and Hak-Ju Lee had a huge hit as the Biscuits came away with a nice win. Buschmann went 6 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, striking out 6 while walking 3 and posting a 5-3 groundout to flyout ratio. The game was tied at 1 after 6 innings, with the only Biscuits run coming on a Greg Sexton RBI double, but the Biscuits’ offense came alive in the 7th. The Biscuits strung together three consecutive singles, with Brett Nommensen‘s single giving Montgomery a 2-1 lead. A few batters later, Lee came to the plate with the bases loaded and 2 outs and came up huge in the clutch, drilling a bases-clearing triple to extend the lead to 5-1 and that was the final margin. The Biscuits managed just 7 hits and only Sexton (2 for 4) had a multi-hit game, but they came up huge in the clutch, especially in the 4-run 7th.

High-A Florida State League: Clearwater Threshers (PHI) 9, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2

C.J. Riefenhauser got off to an incredible start in 2012, but his season has gone the other way of late as he hasn’t managed an ERA below 4.50 in a start since June 22nd. Unfortunately, Saturday was no exception. Reifenhauser did throw 5 innings for the first time since June 29th, but he allowed 6 runs on 5 hits, striking out 5 while walking 3 and allowing 2 home runs. His groundout to flyout ratio was 4-4. You have to hope that Riefenhauser can get back on track soon. Steven Tinoco did go 3 for 4 for Charlotte, while Hector Guevara went 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored, and David Wendt went 2 for 4 with an RBI. Derek Dietrich had the other RBI for the Stone Crabs.

The Hot Rods had a lot of fun with Goeddel following his walk-off walk. (Credit: Starter

Low-A Midwest League: Bowling Green Hot Rods 5, Clinton LumberKings (SEA) 4 (11 innings)

The Hot Rods had a 4-0 lead and a no-hitter going before everything fell apart in the 8th, but they rallied in extra-innings to win the game albeit in less graceful fashion. Starters Felipe Rivero and Roberto Gomez each tossed 3 innings in the game as the Rays are trying to limit their innings the rest of the year, and their line was the same: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.  Through 6 innings, Hot Rods pitchers had a no-hitter going while striking out 10. An Alejandro Segovia solo home run in the second inning gave the Hot Rods a 1-0 lead and was still the margin in the game. But after Charlie Cononie worked around a walk and a hit batsman to pitch a scoreless 7th with the no-hitter intact, Tyler Goeddel had an RBI single and Jake Hager had a 2-run single in the bottom of the inning to give Bowling Green a 4-1 lead. But in the 8th, Cononie allowed 2 singles and a walk before walking in a run and allowing a Michael Dowd 2-run single to tie the game. The game went into extra-innings and kept going until the 11th, where a hit-by-pitch, a walk, an intentional walk, and finally a Tyler Goeddel walk plated the winning run as the Hot Rods won on a walk-off walk. Austin Hubbard tossed two 1-hit innings, striking out 3 while walking just 1 for the win, and the offensive heroes were Segovia, who went 2 for 4 with his homer and 2 runs scored, Drew Vettleson, who went 2 for 5 with a double and a run scored, Hager, who had a 2-run single, and finally Goeddel, who went 1 for 4 with a walk and 2 RBI.

Short Season-A New York Penn League: Hudson Valley Renegades 4, Aberdeen Ironbirds (BAL) 3

The Renegades overcame an inconsistent start with great bullpen and an outstanding late rally that was reminiscent of some of the Rays’ great wins this year. And to top it off, the win brought them into a tie with the Brooklyn Cyclones for first in the New York-Penn League’s McNamara Division. Jeff Ames got the start for Hudson Valley and had a tough day, going 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 4 hits, striking out 2 while walking 4 and managing just a 3-5 groundout to flyout ratio. He left with the Renegades trailing 3-1, with the only run coming on a 3rd inning Tommy Coyle RBI triple. But in relief of Ames, Jose Alberto Molina tossed 2 shutout frames and Kris Carlson chipped in another to keep it a 2-run game heading to the 9th. The Renegades were in striking distance, and they were lucky enough to put something together. Joel Caminero led off with a single and a Jake DePew single two batters later gave Hudson Valley first and second with 1 out. That brought up Deshun Dixon, who had come on of late. And in this spot, Dixon came up big drilling a 2-run double to tie the game. Two batters later, Marty Gantt singled in Dixon for the go-ahead run and the Renegades had come all the way back. Marcus Jensen tossed a perfect 9th with 2 strikeouts for the save as the Renegades won 4-3 in exciting fashion. Tommy Coyle went 3 for 5 with his RBI triple and DePew went 2 for 4 with a double, but the difference was the clutch hits of Dixon and Gantt.

Rookie Appalachian League: Game 1: Bluefield Blue Jays 2, Princeton Rays 0 (7 innings)

7 innings, the minor league prerequisite for doubleheaders, is certainly shorter than 9, but it is never enjoyable to get 1-hit by the opposition. Blake Snell delivered another incredible start for the P-Rays, going 5 shutout innings allowing just 3 hits, striking out 6 while walking none and posting a 5-1 groundout to flyout ratio. But Tucker Jensen was a little better for Bluefield allowing just an Alvin Toles single and a John Alexander walk in 6 innings, striking out 5 while walking 1 and posting an 11-1 groundout to flyout ratio. But Jon Weaver allowed a pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th, and Brandon Dorsett tossed a perfect 9th for the save as the Blue Jays won 2-0. Toles was the only one with a game that he could possibly write home about, going 1 for 3.

Game 2: Princeton Rays 4, Bluefield Blue Jays 2 (7 innings)

This game went a lot better for the P-Rays. Bruedlin Suero continued the P-Rays’ great pitching of the day with his second straight strong outing following 5 disaster appearances to begin the season. He tossed 5 innings allowing just an unearned run on 2 hits, striking out 5 while walking 2 and posting a 5-3 groundout to flyout ratio. Nice to see Suero turning his season around. And the offense was able to deliver for him as well to help the P-Rays earn a split in the twin bill. Willie Argo had a great game, going 2 for 2 with a homer and 3 RBI, and Brandon Martin went 1 for 3 with a solo homer.

Rookie Gulf Coast League: GCL Rays 5, GCL Orioles 3

The Rays 6th rounder in 2012, Damion Carroll, made his first professional start following four relief appearances, and he showed some encouraging signs. He went 2.2 innings allowing 1 run on just 1 hit but striking out 1 while walking 4. The walks aren’t good, but his groundout to flyout ratio was great 6-0. Carroll has experienced control problems earlier in his career, and hopefully those can be smoothed out. Nolan Gannon, the Rays’ 4th round selection made the other half of the start for the GCL Rays, going 3.1 innings of shutout ball allowing just 2 hits and a walk, but he couldn’t strike out a batter and his groundout to flyout ratio was a ghastly 2-8, a far cry from his previous performance. Gannon was off on Saturday, but he was able to survive without his best command. In terms of the offense, Spencer Edwards went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI, Cesar Perez went 2 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and 2 runs scored, and Adderly Rosa went 2 for 3 with a walk and 2 runs scored.