Rays Next-in-line Players, Position-by-Position

Catcher – Justin O’Conner – 23 years old – AA

He has one and a half seasons in AA behind him and his defensive game is ready for MLB now. What’s lagging behind is his bat. Although he shows decent pop, his hitting ability isn’t anywhere near MLB ready.

However, his bat may never catch up to his defensive skills and he may need to do more trial by fire to move ahead at this point.

He threw out 48% of AA runners in 2015 and his 39 extra base hits do give us promise that he’ll at least punish those pitches that he does connect with.

It’s his outstanding play behind the plate the Rays would benefit more from most, and although he’d likely come up as a backup to an incumbent, he would be an asset to the team.

Other: Luke Maile who will likely be demoted to AAA

Next: Next up at 1B/DH are a AA duo