Tampa Bay Rays 2010 Top 10 Prospects: Where Are They Now?

As we speak, the Tampa Bay Rays have the best farm system in all of baseball. We are taking a look back at how the top five prospects from 2010 have turned out.

It’s a great time of year to look back on Tampa Bay Rays’ prospects of the past. Here are the top five prospects (according to Fangraphs) prior to the 2010 season. It’s always intriguing to see how many players ended up a success and how many ended up fading out of our memories. We start with a former first-round draft pick.

10. Alex Torres

Major League Career: 4 Years (2 years w/ Rays)

Major League rWAR: 2.0 (2.0 w/ Rays)

Alex Torres pitched in 58 innings for the Rays and finished his Rays’ career with a 1.71 ERA. Despite posting a career ERA of 2.68, he never had the full trust of a team because he gave out more free passes than WCW in the early 1990s.

Prior to the 2014 season, the Rays traded Torres to the Padres with Jesse Hahn in exchange for Matt Lollis, Maxx Tissenbaum, Matt Andries, Brad Boxberger, and Logan Forsythe.

With the Rays he walked a palatable 3.7 batters per nine, with the Padres it rose to 5.5 and in his final year with the Mets, it ballooned to 6.8. The end came swiftly for Torres. He was designated for assignment in August of 2015. Torres had one more shot with the Braves in the spring of 2016, but he did not make the team.

Torres was a starting-pitching prospect that didn’t pan out due to control issues. He did have a solid major league career, and like most players on this list, you’ll notice that his best years were with the Rays.

He had a very effective 2013 and finished his Rays’ tenure with a 1.91 ERA and 3.7 walks per nine. The Rays were quick to flip him after one full season. The Padres were quick to do the same. He didn’t even make it a full season with the Mets. Control issues did him in.

9. Kyle Lobstein

Major League Career: 3 yrs (None with Rays)

Major League rWAR: 0.2

Kyle Lobstein was drafted by the Rays in the second round of the 2008 draft. He ascended as high as Double-A Montgomery, where he registered a 4.01 ERA in 23 starts, going 10-10 in 148.0 innings. The following offseason, he was left unprotected by the Rays prior to the Rule 5 draft.

He was taken by the Mets in the 2012 Rule 5 draft then purchased by the Tigers.

He made his debut with the Tigers in 2014, pitching in 39.1 innings with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. He went 3-8 in 2015 with the Tigers and posted a 5.94 ERA in 13 appearances.

He spent 2016 with the Pirates posting a 3.96 ERA in 14 games and zero starts.

For his career, Lobstein posted a 6-10 record with a 5.06 ERA, 128.0 IP with 74 SOs and a 1.461 WHIP.

Lobstein is currently only 30-years-old and spent last season in Oakland’s Triple-A system. He has a non-roster invitation to the Dodgers camp this season.

For his career as a minor leaguer, he has a 3.82 ERA in 1070.2 innings pitched. He’s walked a respectable 3.2 batters per nine with just 0.7 homers per nine frames. He’s never been much of a strikeout pitcher, posting 7.8 Ks/9 in the minors and an even lower 5.2 in the majors.

We’ll see if this former top ten prospect can catch on with one more run int he majors before he hangs up the spikes.

8. Alex Colome

Alex Colome was acquired as an International Free Agent in 2007 out of the Dominican. He’s currently 31-years-old and had been with the Rays for eight seasons prior to this ranking. The Rays clearly showed more patience with Colome than they did with Adrian Rondon.

At the time of this ranking, Colome was entering his age-26 season. He had proven himself in the minor leagues at this point and already made his major league debut in 2013 with the Rays.

The projection for Colome already had him pegged as a late-inning reliever or potentially a setup guy. That was pretty close, but he’d take it a step farther.

Colome is one of the few prospects that warranted the top-ten ranking. He’s one of the few on this list that has worked out.

He was already coming off of a 2014 major league season in which he nailed down a 2.66 ERA in 23.2 innings in 2014.

He destroyed Triple-A hitting in Durham with a 1.64 ERA over 86 innings pitched.

It was evident that Alex Colome was ready to be unleashed on the big leagues.

The season following these rankings he would start 13 games with the Rays and appear in 43 total contests. He finished his first full season with an impressive 3.94 ERA and only walked 2.5 batters per nine frames.

The next year he made the All-Star team with a 1.91 ERA and logging 37 saves. He had found his role as a major league closer just one full season removed from being ranked the Rays’ number three prospect.

In 2017 he led the American League in saves with 47.

Colome is currently the closer for the White Sox, where he just finished up a 30-save season with a 2.80 ERA. He is set to make over $10 million in 2020.

7. Reid Brignac

Major League Career: 5 yrs (None with Rays)

Major League rWAR: -1.4 (0.6 w/ Rays)

Reid Brignac was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the second round of the 2004 draft. Brignac debuted in 2008 with the Rays and played in Tampa until 2013 when he was sent to the Rockies. During his time with the Rays, he slashed .227/.268/.317 in 256 total games. He went on to play for five more teams, totaling nine years in the big leagues.

Brignac was a good defensive middle infielder and was able to maintain a presence in the majors for nearly a decade. His career slash line sits at .219/.264/.309.

6. Nick Barnese

Major League Career: N/A

Major League rWAR: N/A

Nick Barnese was drafted in the third round of the 2007 draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He had a solid minor league career with a total record of 31 wins and 23 losses. He finished with a 3.37 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP and 3.0 walks per nine. Barnese never made it past Double-A with the Rays. His final major league affiliated season was in 2012. He has played in various independent baseball organizations since.

In 2019, he played for the Sonoma Stompers in the Pacific Association where he went 7-1 with a 3.68 ERA in 13 starts. In his 63.2 innings pitched struck out 73 batters. He is currently 31 years old and still an effective pitcher in the independent circuit. He pitched well at every step major league affiliated ball except for AA-Montgomery in 2012 when he posted a 5.40 ERA. However,[11]  he did post a 3.76 ERA in 2011, the previous season.

It seems unlikely that he’ll find another shot with a major league organization, but there’s no doubt he’s still a talented pitcher with a passion for the game.

5. Matt Moore

Major League Career: 9 years (6 w/ Rays)

Career rWAR: 5.6 (5.4 w/ Rays)

Matt Moore was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the eight-round of the 2007 Draft. Matt Moore has played for four different Major League franchises. He has compiled a career 4.51 ERA with a 1.402 WHIP. His lone All-Star appearance came with the Rays in 2013 when he posted a 3.29 REA over 150.1 innings pitched.

After his 17-4 All-Star season, it appeared Ace-hood was on the horizon for the 24-year-old lefty. Just two games into 2014 Moore strained his UCL and went under the knife with Tommy John. He has not had a season with an ERA below 4.08 and his total ERA since Tommy John surgery is 5.13.

He was never the same.

Moore played with the Rays for six seasons and posted a total 3.88 ERA during his tenure in Tampa. It’s been a different story everywhere else. Moore was traded to the San Francisco Giants midway through the 2016 season. At the time of the trade, he had a 4.08 ERA through 21 games with the Rays. In the 12 games he pitched for the Giants, he also posted a 4.08 ERA.

In the two full seasons following the trade, Matt Moore went 9-23 with a 5.99 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. Matt Moore was a very good pitcher for the Rays over parts of six seasons. In typical Rays’ fashion, they were able to flip him for more players before the wheels fell off. In the deal with the Giants, they received Matt Duffy, Michael Santos, and Lucius Fox.

Duffy was a popular player for the Rays but unfortunately, his time in Tampa was marked by injuries. Santos reached AA-Montgomery last season. Baseball Prospectus ranked Lucius Fox inside their Top 100 Prospects prior to last season and the Rays’ added him to the 40-man roster heading into 2020.

Matt Moore has to be considered a success. Granted, the Tommy John surgery changed things for him, but talent-wise, he proved he could be a top-flight pitcher in the major leagues. He was a top-flight pitcher for the Rays. His career ERA of 3.88 while wearing a Rays uniform is well above-average.

3. Tim Beckham

Major League Career: 6 years (4 w/ Rays)

Career rWAR: 5.5 (2.4 w/ Rays)

Tim Beckham was drafted by the Rays in the first round with the first pick of the 2008 draft. Beckham came up for that cup of coffee in 2013 when he played in five games. He received eight plate appearances and had three hits, one run, and one run batted in. He wouldn’t make it back until 2015.

Beckham slashed .249/.299/.421 in his four years with the Rays hitting 26 homers in 725 at-bats. The Rays traded him to the Orioles in 2017 at the age of 27 where he slashed similar numbers. Last season, he opened up with the Mariners and hit 15 homers, 47 RBI, and slugged .461 in only 304 at-bats. He only received 304 at-bats because he was suspended 80 games for testing positive for PEDs.

Beckham was granted free agency by the Mariners at the end of the season.

2. Jeremy Hellickson

Major League Career: 10 years (5 w/ Rays)

Career rWAR: 11.8 (7.1w/ Rays)

Jeremy Hellickson was drafted in the fourth round of the 2005 draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He made his major league debut in 2010 and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2011, going 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA in 189.0 innings pitched. He had another stellar season for the Rays in 2012 winning 10 games in 31 starts with a 3.10 ERA in 177.0 innings.

Unable to regain that form in 2013 and only pitching 63.2 innings for the Rays in 2014 going 1-5 with a 4.52 ERA. Hellickson was traded to Arizona following the season. He went 9-12 with the Dbacks in 2015 and was traded to the Phillies in the offseason for Sam McWilliams. In 2016 he bounced back with 189.0 innings with the Phillies and finished 12-10 with a 3.71 ERA.

He found himself in Washington the past two seasons where he showed flashes. In 19 starts in 2018, he posted a 3.45 ERA for the Nationals in 91.1 innings. Despite the sharp pitching, Hellickson still suffered through a right hamstring strain and dealt with a blister in 2018, limiting his appearances. In 2019, his shoulder became an issue that lasted the entirety of the season. He battled all season and was rewarded with a World Series ring.

Unfortunately for Hellickson, on Valentine’s Day of this year, it was announced that the veteran had suffered another setback with his shoulder and that he would miss the entire season. Not long after that, Hellickson announced he would be retiring from baseball.

1. Desmond Jennings

Major League Career: 7 years (7 w/ Rays)

Career rWAR: 13.4 (13.4 w/ Rays)

Desmond Jennings is a credit to the Rays scouting system. He was drafted by the Rays in the 10th round out of a community college in 2006. Desmond Jennings was ranked as high as the sixth-best prospect in baseball by Baseball America heading into the 2010 season. Jennings was coming off of a fabulous 2009 season between AA-Montgomery and AAA-Durham. He slashed a combined .318/.401/.487 while clubbing 31 doubles, 10 triples, 11 homers, 62 RBI and 52 stolen bases. Jennings also tantalized the Rays’ front office by adding 67 walks to his total.

In 2010, Jennings continued his on-base skills and tore up the base paths stealing 37 more bags while only getting caught four times. His slugging percentage crashed back to earth at .393. It wasn’t surprising to see that one of the top prospects in the game did get a taste of the big leagues in 2010. The Rays’ number one prospect played in 17 games and hit .190 with two steals and was caught twice…which must have been a shock to his system since he had only been caught four times in 41 attempts in Triple-A.

Jennings made a solid impression in 2011 with the big club when he slashed .259/.356/.449 and hit 10 homers in just 63 games. He also added 20 stolen bases for good measure. Jennings played all seven of his major league seasons as a Tampa Bay Ray. He finished his career with 567 games played. During that time he slashed .245/.322/.393 and hit 99 doubles, 22 triples, and 55 homers. Jennings finished his career with 95 stolen bases and was caught 27 times.

He brought a lot of excitement and hype but never quite lived up to the lofty standards of being a team’s number one ranked prospect in any given year. For Jennings, a seven-year major league career is a heck of an accomplishment, and to finish with a 13.4 total rWAR is another feather in the cap.

Jennings was released by the Rays on August 26, 2016. He sighed with the Reds for the spring of 2017 but didn’t make it out of camp. The Mets later gave him a shot in April but he was released by June. Jennings never played a major league game for a team other than the Tampa Bay Rays.

Do you think this crop of prospects was a success?