Tampa Bay Rays: Ring Around Arozarena – Getting on Base

Reviewing the “other guy” in the Tampa Bay Rays’ exchange with the St. Louis Cardinals. We will look at each tool in his belt, today we look at his ability to get on base.

We previously reviewed the speed and power aspects of his game in the following articles:

• Speed
• Power

Last Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays sent a highly-touted left-handed pitching prospect in Matthew Liberatore to the Cardinals in exchange for Jose Martinez and another guy. For those that don’t pay close attention, you may not have heard of Randy Arozarena. It’s time to hear.

Liberatore was such a prospect that he could have been used to get a bigger named veteran. Most evaluators have high hopes for the 6’5″ lefty. Jose Martinez is a great platoon player in desperate need of a DH spot as he ages. He’s going to be a fantastic contributor to the Rays over the next few seasons. He’s a right-handed bat that kills lefties. For his career, he’s slashing .331/.405/.570  with a 160 wRC+ against southpaws.

Alas, Jose Martinez is not enough for a prospect with the value and future of Matthew Liberatore. That’s where Arozarena comes in.

Ability to get on base

Last season in Triple A-Memphis he slashed .358/.435/.593 for the Redbirds. Yes, he excelled in every category. Let’s take a look at his hitting ability.

In his final season in AAA-Memphis, Arozarena only stuck out in 17.0% of his plate appearances. He followed up his .435 on-base in Triple-A with a .391 in 19 games with the big league club.

In his two Minor League stops in 2019 (double and triple-a) he posted a wRC+ of 162 and 151.

Across three minor league seasons, he has a .377 on-base percentage with a .292 average.

He walked in 9.27% of his plate appearances between AA-AAA in 2019 for the Cardinals organization.

This is a very toolsy player the Rays added. In addition to being a patient hitter, he posted an elite 26.8% line-drive rate in double-A last season.

We can’t wait to see what he brings to the Rays in 2020.

Do you think he’ll make the team out of Spring Training? What sort of impact will he have on the 2020 Rays? Let us know in the comments below!