The Worst Offense in (Devil) Rays History

If you think it’s that bad, you’re right.

I want you to think about the worst Rays/Devil Rays hitters. I want you to imagine the worst lineup this franchise has fielded. There’s no shortage of potential options and I bet as images of Damian Rolls and Brent Abernathy’s dance through your heads, you still wouldn’t expect just how bad this version of the Rays ranks in team history.

Yes, there’s Alex Jackson, who currently has the worst wRC+ of any (Devil) Rays hitter with at least 50 PA at a fairly comical -15! But unlike some of those Devil or not Rays clubs of years past, this years Rays club has talent.

This year’s team was a core assembled of batters that have been part of 100 win and 99 win seasons. They have won divisions and made the postseason. And yet, strap in, because the numbers I’m about to show you are about to melt some brains.

Power Outage

The 2024 Rays currently have the lowest ISO (isolated power, or SLG-AVG) of any team in franchise history.

At a miserable .119 they beat out both 2014 and the inaugural 1998 season for lowest power output. If you prefer a more traditional metric of power, the 2024 Rays have the lowest SLG at .351 in franchise history (also beating out 2014 with .367 and 2022s .367 slugging club).

To put that in context, the Rays as a team have the collective slugging power of 2016’s Alexei Ramirez, and the ISO of 2007 Delmon Young!

As a team!!!

Because they (don’t) get on base

Getting on base is the fundamentally most important thing a batter can do. Obviously that’s overly simplistic, but getting on base means you didn’t make one of the 27 precious outs. The 2024 Rays are getting on base at a lower rate than any club in team history.

Indeed, their .305 OBP is somehow even worse than the 2016 club. Might I remind you all, dear readers, that was the club featuring Corey Dickerson, Logan Forsythe, Stephen Souza Jr, and Logan Morrison. All names that you probably remember having at least one pretty good year with the team. Unfortunately 2016 was very much not that year.

Again, the .305 OBP the 2024 Rays are putting up is like a team full of 2013’s Kelly Johnson’s running around trying to get to first.

Not so Advanced

Fans of advanced baseball stats frequently like to reference wRC+ and wOBA.

The 2024 Rays team batting ranks 9th worst in team history with a 94 wRC+. As a reminder, 100 is average, and that number is league and park adjusted. They finished just ahead of the just pre-Hit Show 1999 Devil Rays who hit a 92 wRC+.

Lest you think 9th worst is good news: They also rank dead last in wOBA at .293 and 3rd lowest in BB/K (0.34).

If the Rays club were a 2024 hitter they would be current New York Yankee utility man and former Marlin Jon Berti. No offense to Berti, but that’s not exactly the model player you want to build the entire plane out of.

Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images

The Rays are just playing bad baseball, and their offense is far away their weakest element.

The main frustration with this season has been the mystery of it all: there just should be no reason for it to be quite this bad.

A core of Yandy Diaz, Randy Arozarena, Brandon Lowe, Isaac Paredes, and Josh Lowe (even with a few missing some time with injury) should not be the core of the worst offense in this franchise’s history.

And yet, here we are. Nearly two and a half months into the 2024 season and we are witnessing the worst offense the Rays, Devil or not, have ever produced.

What gives?