Record: 44-34 (15-10 for the month)
2nd place AL East, tied w/Baltimore (behind on win %), 1st wild card
Another solid but unspectacular month for the 2030 Rays. We welcomed the perpetually-injured
Carson Williams back mid-month, only for him to get hurt again right before the end of it, this time with torn ankle ligaments which should keep him out through mid-August. The other member of our keystone combo got hurt too as
Ethan Holliday separated his shoulder early in June. He was just sent on a rehab assignment the first of the month but might not be getting his job back (more on that in a bit). Reliever
Angel Felipe went down around the 10th and will need Tommy John surgery; to take his place we claimed lefty reliever
Luis Peralta on waivers from Miami. Peralta is rated 70/50/50, had 9 saves and earned 2.4 WAR with the Marlins, allowing 0 homers and fanning 58 in 48 IP but he's stunk since joining us. Otherwise it's been steady as she goes with a few bench players turning into regulars. This month's game action:
With the talent we have I'd think by now we'd be better offensively but it remains a fits-and-starts kind of thing. The pitching has remained solid.
As always at the midway point I'm going with YTD stats to get the bigger picture:
Elly is following up his MVP season with another MVP-caliber season, and while Tatis is 2nd on the club and providing power, his .254 BA is something he could improve and really have a big 2nd half. But the guys I want to call attention to are
Cooper Kinney and
Owen Paino. As mentioned in the May post Kinney was started to get hot and was taking DH at-bats from Saggese. Well he hasn't looked back and is now the everyday DH against RHP and has flat-out raked as you see above. Speaking of raking, Paino has done nothing but that since being called up to replace the injured Holliday and may be ready to Wally Pipp last year's AL Rookie of the Year, who was suffering from a severe sophomore slump this season anyway. Also worthy of special mention is
Jeffry Rosa, who started the year as a 4th OF and now is the lineup on almost a daily basis, drawing walks and showing off his prodigious power (.648 SLG). His additional ABs are coming to some extent at the expense of
Bobby Marsh, who for the third season running has failed to live up to the promise of his brilliant 2027 season despite ratings much better than his performance. Rosa's the DH against lefties and Kinney's been filling some at 1B to get Rosa's bat in the lineup against RHP. And
Zion Rose, despite being a lesser defensive catcher than
Patrick Bailey, has shown so much with the bat relative to Bailey that he's been getting more starts lately himself.
Not much to complain about on the staff, with most everyone putting solid if not spectacular numbers. The glaring exception is former closer
Matthew Peguero, who has been downright dreadful and is only now being used in low-leverage situations.
Going to forego the prospect report for now but will catch up on that with the All-Star Break/Amateur Draft post next.