Inside look at Rays trade addition Gregory Barrios

On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays completed a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, sending starting pitcher Aaron Civale in exchange for shortstop prospect Gregory Barrios. The move was made in order to clear spots out of the Rays' starting rotation for players coming back off of the IL. This includes Shane Baz, who is in Kansas City with the team, and Jeffrey Springs, who is currently rehabbing in Durham. Drew Rasmussen is also set to come back later on this season.

With Civale gone, the Rays now have to evaluate what they have in Barrios, who is an intriguing prospect from Milwaukee's system. As it stands, he is a 20-year-old shortstop prospect from Venezuela. He got called up to the High-A level to play for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the Brewers' system and began to really put his own hitting together.

During the 2024 seson, Barrios is batting .325 and is putting together the best on-base percentage of his career, sitting at .367. Despite not being a big-time home run threat, he racks up RBI, posting 34 this season.

Barrios also seems to fit the small ball mold, which is a common theme the Rays have for their players at every level of their organization and system. He has posted 18 steals this season and is well over halfway to beating his 2023 season total. He has been caught stealing six times, but this is something the Rays can clean up with the base running coaching they have to provide him with.

Barrios is a hitter that is progressively getting better, and his style of play seems to suit the Tampa Bay Rays' way. Getting rid of one of the popular starting pitchers in the rotation is daunting, but Tampa Bay gains a valuable prospect out of it. This sort of prospect farming is how the Rays have stayed good while being behind many major league teams in payroll. Barrios will be a big name to watch out for in years to come down the road as he develops playing for the Bowling Green Hot Rods.