Rene Pinto is in an interesting spot on the Rays' roster

It is still early into the major league career of Rene Pinto. The 26-year-old catcher from Venezuela has now played 41 games in his MLB career and all of those have been for the Tampa Bay Rays. 

This season, he has played in 16 games posting a .237 batting average with four RBI and a .591 OPS. Pinto's OBP has also improved to be near the .300 mark on the year compared to a lower one in 2022.

Realistically, Pinto's one job this season has been being a backup to the Rays' main starting catcher, Christian Bethancourt.

Normally, this role has been filled by Fransisco Mejia. He was assigned to Triple-A Durham with the Bulls after clearing waivers last week. 

Because of this, it seems as if manager Kevin Cash and the rest of the Rays' organization are confident in the abilities of Pinto to be paired with Bethancourt. With the injury-fatigued roster Tampa Bay has had throughout the season, it seems as if the Rays like what Pinto can provide on the roster.

He has had certain games that have been impressive. When the Rays went to Anaheim to play the Angels. He put up 4 RBI and a home run in two games. He is batting a smooth .313 in August.

It is to be determined if the Rays stick with this depth at the catcher spot. But, it seems as if Pinto has room to grow with that spot behind Bethancourt seemingly his for the time being. In fact, Pinto can be a guy who can be a spark at the end of the Tampa Bay lineup.