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3 things the Rays need in 2024 to get deeper into the playoffs
The Rays showed resilience before bowing in the Wild Card round. In order to get deeper next season, they'll need to maintain some gains while having younger plays step up.
The Tampa Bay Rays overcame many obstacles in 2023From American League Cy Young front runner Shane McClanhan being sidelined for the remainder of the season in August, to All-Star shortstop Wander Franco's off-field legal issues leading to being placed on administrative leave by MLB, it is fair to claim that the Rays were dealt a bad hand in 2023 and were tremendously resilient to finish the season with 99 wins.
Nonetheless, their season came to a halt in disappointing fashion as they were swept two games to zero by the Texas Rangers in the wild card series. Here are three major keys that will enable the Rays to remain one of the powerhouses in the American League in 2024.
1. Shane Baz fulfills expectations
Historically, the Rays have relied heavily on pitching and defense for their success, and that should not be any different next season. We already know that they will be without the services of McClanahan for the entirety of the season. Additionally, there is a lot of speculation about the Rays potentially trading Tyler Glasnow.
This alone means that the opening day rotation in 2024 will likely look much different than it looked in the majority 2023, featuring Zach Eflin, Jeffery Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Aaron Civale, and Shane Baz. We have seen enough of the first four to know what they are capable of if they stay healthy for the lenght of a season. If Shane Baz can live up to lofty beginnings the Rays can still feature one of the top starting rotations in the bigs despite being without McClanahan and Glasnow.
2. Josh Lowe and Isaac Paredes pick up where they left off
When the Rays awarded outfielder Josh Lowe a spot on the 2023 opening day roster, I'm sure that they were expecting a leap forward in production in comparison to his 2022 stats, but not to the magnitude in which he did. Lowe had a full-fledged breakout campaign in 2023. He improved in just about every category thinkable. From 2022 to 2023, his batting average skyrocketed from .221 to .291. His On Base Percentage improved from .284 to .335. He went from two home runs in 181 At Bats to 20 homers in 466 At Bats. Lastly, Lowe's slugging percentage soared from .343 to .500.
Lowe completely blew the doors off of his expectation in 2023, and would continue to be a massive key to this Rays lineup in 2024 if he can produce anything close to what he displayed this season. Another pleasant surprise to this Rays club in 2023 was third baseman Isaac Parededs. The Rays clearly had high hopes for Paredes given that they dealt Austin Meadows to the Detroit Tigers to acquire him.
He is another member of the 2023 Rays that smashed expectations this year, and he did it by smashing the baseball. Paredes led the team in home runs this season with a total of 31. If Lowe and Paredes pick up where they left off next season, the Rays will roll out a lineup next season that can explode on any given night.
3. Young players rise to the occasion
The Rays do not only have young players with high expectations on the pitching side of things. Highly-touted rookie infielders Curtis Mead and Junior Caminero both got called up late this season, largely due to the pileup of losses to the team via injury and other reasons. Both Mead and Caminero showed promise this season despite limited playing time, and one would hope that they can both build on that going into next season given how highly regarded each one of them is.
They are likely to be relied upon at some point over the course of next season and could potentially propel this lineup to being one of the best in the majors given how high their ceilings are.