3 Rays That Need to Step Up For The Rest of the Season

The Tampa Bay Rays are hanging in there. Even though the past week has not gone according to plan, they are still in sole possession of the final wild card spot on the final weekend before the deadline.

Excitingly, the first reinforcement of trade season has arrived from the Diamondbacks in the form of outfielder David Peralta. Peralta will add length to the lineup, as well as production from the outfield which has been sorely missed in St. Pete this season. However, the Rays can't bank on their deadline plans to get them to the postseason.

Unless the Rays go full force with deals at the deadline, there are too many holes on the current roster that need plugged to become a serious World Series contender. This means, for the Rays to turn their season around, they'll need help from guys they already have. The next man up mentality has been huge for Tampa Bay all season, but now it's time for specific players to make an impact.

Part of the reason that the Rays have not met expectations this year is that some players have been underperforming, especially on the offensive side. Injuries have also thrown a wrench into their plans, but this team is not deep enough as it stands to buy their way into a playoff run on August 2. They need some players to come into their own this second half and contribute down the stretch. Here are 3 players that the Rays need to step up if they expect to make the postseason.

Randy Arozarena

Arozarena has already started coming into his own so far in July, and the Rays are going to need a lot more of that. He hasn't had a bad season by any means, but even with the acquisition of Peralta, players like him will need to come through in the wake of Kevin Kiermaier's season-ending injury and Brett Phillips's rough year at the plate. Arozarena set a high bar for himself when he burst onto the scene in 2020, and while it's unrealistic to expect he'll be dominant to that level, he could stand to do some more heavy lifting offensively.

In his rookie-of-the-year-winning season a year ago, Arozarena hit 20 home runs and slashed .274/.356/.459 for an OPS+ of 129. This year, his slash line is a slightly worse .253/.311/.419, which equals an OPS+ of 112. He has no choice but to be an integral part of this Rays offense, with Brandon Lowe just having returned from his back injury that caused him to miss significant time in the first half. As well, Wander Franco and Harold Ramirez are on the IL, so he is now one of the more valued players on the entire team.

Arozarena has ultimately had an inconsistent season. A very slow start in April was followed by an explosive May. After coming back to earth in June, he has picked it up in July. He is currently showing glimpses of what the team will need from him down the stretch, as his OPS has gone from .705 to .732 in this month alone. Still, all eyes are going to be on him with Franco's injury, and if Arozarena can have a second half that is similar to the way his rookie season ended, it would be massive for this Rays club.

Francisco Mejia

Mejia, who is now the Rays' primary catcher, was on an absolute heater, hitting .356 in the month of July before hitting the injured list earlier this week with a shoulder injury. Mejia has been thrust into a much bigger role with Mike Zunino going down for the season due to thoracic outlet surgery. Now, Rene Pinto and Christian Bethancourt are handling the catching duties in Mejia's absence. He's supposed to return at some point in August following a shoulder injury, and if he can come back and pick up where he left off in July, it would be a seismic boost for the Rays.

Offense at the catcher position is down around the league, and the Rays have been feeling the effects of that more than almost any other team. Mejia had a good season in 2021, with a 107 OPS+ as the team's backup catcher. After a brutal start that saw Mejia enter July with an OPS of .588, he boosted that total over the course of the month by exactly 100 points. In June, he went 15-72 with 1 home run, and in July, he went 16-45 with 3 home runs. They hadn't gotten any production at catcher for the first half of the year, and Mejia was fully turning that around before his injury.

His exact timetable for return is unknown, but when he comes back, he needs to do everything in his power to maintain the magic he had this month. To have a good offensive catcher would give the Rays a luxury that the majority of the league hasn't been able to afford in 2022, and it would give them one more offensive weapon from within going into October. On the hitting side of things, they need all the help they can get, and Mejia's continued improvement would have a bigger impact than most.