Mr. Utility man ranks among best Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays best position players of all time list rolls on with number three, Ben Zobrist

The Houston Astors selected Ben Zobrist in the sixth round of the 2004 draft. His stint there would not last long before the Tampa Bay Rays came swooping in.

He made his debut in August of 2006, as a 25 year old versatile player with an above average bat with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The  Rays acquired Ben Zobrist by dealing Aubrey Huff to the Houston Astros. The Rays also got Mitch Talbot in the deal.

Zobrist played nine years with the Rays including over one thousand games with the organization. Zobrist held a .264 batting average as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. He got on base at a .354 clip and hit 114 home runs, including a career high 27 home run outburst in 2009. A year in which he was an All-Star and finished eighth in MVP voting.

Zobrist is a three time all start all with the Rays. His most recent all star nod was in 2013.

He has logged at least an inning at every position besides pitcher and catcher. He has spent the most time at second base, playing 879 games in that spot, and his next closest is right field where Zobrist played 453 games.

Ben Zobrist has played in the playoffs for 15 series over eight years. The utility man has played in three World Series.

For his career, Zobrist is a .241 hitter in the postseason, with four home runs, fourteen RBI’s and seventeen doubles.

He lost the 2008 World Series with the Rays but went on to win his next two world series appearances.

In 2015, he was a key pick up for the Kansas City Royals that really pushed them over the edge to be able to edge out the New York Mets. During the 2015 World Series, in five games Zobrist hit for a .261 average, and scored five valuable runs for the Royals as well as playing stellar in the field.

The very next year, in 2016 Ben Zobrist won a World Series with the Chicago Cubs and was awarded World Series MVP in the series that broke an over one hundred year curse.

During that series, Zobrist hit the cover off the ball for a .357 average, the best of any playoff series in his career, Zobrist scored five runs in that series also.

For the Tampa Bay Rays, Ben Zobrist ranks second in Tampa Bay Rays history in terms of WAR taking home a 36 WAR in his time with Tampa Bay.

You know the drill, is Ben Zobrist too low? too high? Just right? sound off in the comments below and on Twitter.