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.

Corey Kluber

Kluber has been going in the opposite direction of Arozarena: after a dominant month of June, he has faltered in July, and he needs to reverse that trend. The Rays need to keep their rotation deep behind Shane McClanahan, and while Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs have been consistent enough, Kluber needs to stay steady in order to maintain a solid rotation from their #1 to #4 starters. On the season, Kluber has a 4.03 ERA, 4.00 xERA, 3.38 FIP, and a 1.15 WHIP on the season. He has made 20 starts and pitched 105 innings.

His 1.4 BB/9 leads the American League, and that ability to limit walks has led to a glowing FIP, but his poor month of July has led to an average of a hit allowed per inning on the season. In the month of June, Kluber limited batters to a .261 xwOBA, meaning he was doing an excellent job of suppressing quality contact. In July, that ballooned to a .323. As expected, poor results followed: his ERA at the start of the month was 3.45, and it has jumped nearly 60 points since. Kluber needs to regain some consistency if he wants to have a successful second half.

Kluber's days of throwing over 200 innings and being a perennial Cy Young contender are over. He doesn't have to be the same franchise-altering pitcher that he was back when he pitched in Cleveland; he's 36 years old after all. However, if he could tone down the amount of traffic he has allowed on the bases of late and eat up quality innings for this injury-tested staff, it would go a long way toward ensuring that the Rays can not only make the playoffs, but be in their best shape possible when they get there.