Tampa Bay Rays Minor League Roundup: Week 12

Xavier Isaac and Carson Williams were both dinged up this past week

Every Monday during the regular season, each minor league team has the day off (excluding the Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League). This serves as an excellent check point system to check in on how each team and individual prospect is performing. We are now 11 weeks into the 2024 campaign and some prospects have certainly continued their ascent up the organizational ladder while others are off to less than stellar starts.

According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), the overall top hitter in the Rays farm system right now is outfielder Chandler Simpson. The 23-year old has been relentless since his promotion to Double-A. Thus far in his 22 games at Double-A, Simpson is hitting .374/.402/.485 with 17 stolen bases registering a 159 wRC+; Simpson is also maintaining a 5.6 BB% and 4.7 K%.

Meanwhile, the top pitcher is still 25-year old southpaw Ian Seymour. After dealing with injuries throughout the start of his professional career, Seymour is finally healthy and is dominating in Double-A. Over 13 starts, Seymour has a 2.04 ERA | 2.94 FIP with a 29.7 K% and 6.4 BB% over 70 2/3 innings pitched.

Before we get to the statistical breakdowns. Here is some news from around the Rays system.

• 3B Junior Caminero is on the Injured List following an injury to his quad suffered after running out a groundball; this is the same quad that afflicted him earlier this season. Caminero is expected to miss at least two months with the injury.
• SS Carson Williams was hit in the hand by a pitch during a game this past Wednesday. The talented shortstop took his base, but would leave the game following the inning. Williams went for X-Rays and an MRI, both of which came back clean. However, the talented young shortstop has not returned to the field since the incident.
• 1B Xaiver Isaac is dealing with an undisclosed issue that has kept him off the field since being removed from a game this past Thursday. Looking at video, Isaac appeared fine during his most recent plate appearance and played two innings more on defense before a defensive replacement took his place between innings.
• LHP Jeffrey Springs continues to work his way back from Tommy John surgery. The southpaw made his first appearance in Triple-A during his rehab and hurled two scoreless innings facing the minimum while striking out 3 and walking none. Springs will start tonight (Tuesday) for the Durham Bulls.

Let’s break it down by team; the offensive players must still be at that level and have at least 100 plate appearances; the pitchers must have at least 100 batters faced, excluding the FCL and DSL which just began play. All stats were recorded prior to the start of play on Tuesday.

Durham Bulls

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .290, Curtis Mead
OBP: .393, Austin Shenton
SLG: .519, Curtis Mead
HR: 8, Junior Caminero & Kameron Misner
wRC+: 119, Curtis Mead
SB: 21, Kameron Misner

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 2.10, Angel Sanchez
FIP: 2.95, Michael Gomez
K%: 32.1%, Justin Sterner
BB%: 5.7%, Joe Rock & Angel Sanchez
WHIP: 1.06, Justin Sterner
AVG: .202, Enmanuel Mejia
WHIFF%: 16.2%, Edwin Uceta

Top 10 Prospects

• Junior Caminero:
  .261/.333/.478 | 22.9 K% | 9.2 BB% | 8 HR | 1 SB | 107 wRC+ | 153 PA
  Placed on the 7-day IL on 5/29 with a quad strain.
• Osleivis Basabe:
  .224/.270/.276 | 22.2 K% | 1.6 BB% | 1 HR | 1 SB | 42 wRC+ | 63 PA.
  Currently on the 7-day IL with a fractured wrist suffered on 4/16
• Shane Baz:
  4.60 ERA | 4.39 FIP | 22.3 K% | 12.9 BB% | .246 AVG | 31 1/3 IP

Montgomery Biscuits

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .374, Chandler Simpson
OBP: .402, Chandler Simpson
SLG: .552, Carson Williams
HR: 10, Carson Williams
wRC+: 172, Carson Williams
SB: 24, Dru Baker

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 2.04, Ian Seymour
FIP: 2.94, Ian Seymour
K%: 29.7%, Ian Seymour
BB%: 4.2%, Sean Hunley
WHIP: 0.78, Ian Seymour
AVG: .158, Ian Seymour
WHIFF%: 20.0%, Austin Vernon

Top 10 Prospects

• Carson Williams:
  .294/.376/.552 | 27.1 K% | 9.5 BB% | 10 HR | 15 SB | 172 wRC+ | 221 PA
• Dom Keegen:
  .278/.376/.442 | 21.6 K% | 12.4 BB% | 5 HR | 0 SB | 141 wRC+ | 218 PA

Bowling Green Hot Rods

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .310, Xavier Isaac
OBP: .395, Xavier Isaac
SLG: .579, Xavier Isaac
HR: 12, Xavier Isaac
wRC+: 164, Xavier Isaac
SB: 16, Brock Jones

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.69, Alex Cook
FIP: 3.00, Trevor Martin
K%: 30.1%, Trevor Martin
BB%: 5.0%, T.J. Fondtain
WHIP: 1.04, Alex Cook & Duncan Davitt
AVG: .192, Yoniel Curet
WHIFF%: 16.2%, Alex Cook

Top 10 Prospects

• Xavier Isaac:
  .310/.395/.579 | 27.6 K% | 11.8 BB% | 12 HR | 13 SB | 164 wRC+ | 228 PA
• Brayden Taylor:
  .275/.394/.522 | 24.3 K% | 15.9 BB% | 9 HR | 16 SB | 152 wRC+ | 251 PA

Charleston River Dogs

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .239, Angel Mateo
OBP: .423, Noah Myers
SLG: .393, Angel Mateo
HR: 5, Angel Mateo
wRC+: 142, Noah Myers
SB: 23, Adrian Santana

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 0.90, Chris Villaman
FIP: 1.83, Chris Villaman
K%: 28.6%, Santiago Suarez & Chris Villaman
BB%: 1.9%, Santiago Suarez & Chris Villaman
WHIP: 0.67, Chris Villaman
AVG: .175, Chris Villaman
WHIFF%: 15.9%, Santiago Suarez

Top 10 Prospects

• Adrian Santana:
  .206/.289/.247 | 18.3 K% | 10.6 BB% | 0 HR | 23 SB | 67 wRC+ | 218 PA

FCL Rays

Team Offensive Leaders (min. 50 PA):
AVG: .407, Larry Martinez
OBP: .491, Jose Perez
SLG: .525, Larry Martinez
HR: 2, Brailer Guerrero
wRC+: 175, Larry Martinez & Jose Perez
SB: 11, Brailer Guerrero

Team Pitching Leaders (min. 50 TBF):
ERA: 1.69, Joel Canizalez
FIP: 2.78, Michael Saturria
K%: 33.7%, Trevor Harrison
BB%: 6.5%, Trevor Harrison
WHIP: 1.00, Trevor Harrison
AVG: .167, Roberto Medina
WHIFF%: 18.8%, Roberto Medina

DSL Rays

Team Offensive Leaders (min. 30 PA):
AVG: .406, Leonardo Pineda
OBP: .524, Leonardo Pineda
SLG: .656, Leonardo Pineda
HR: 2, Deinys Gonzalez
wRC+: 199, Leonardo Pineda
SB: 4, Xavier Guillen & Alberth Palma

Team Pitching Leaders (min. 30 TBF):
ERA: 1.64, Yereny Teus
FIP: 1.22, Yereny Teus
K%: 43.9%, Yereny Teus
BB%: 0.0%, Jharold Clemente
WHIP: 0.91, Yereny Teus
AVG: .167, Chariel Radney
WHIFF%: 60.5%, Yereny Teus