Player of the Series: Curtis Mead

Curtis Mead is having one of the hottest stretches of his career

The Tampa Bay Rays may have finally solved George Steinbrenner Field.

Tampa Bay has now won four of their last six contests at home, including their last two games against the Houston Astros and they only lost Monday’s game by one run after stranding the tying run on third base.

A large part of their success this week was because of the performance of Curtis Mead. The longtime top prospect has struggled to find his footing in the big leagues but has been a member of the Rays active roster since winning a spot with a splendid spring showing.

During Monday’s game, Curtis Mead singled in the bottom of the 7th inning with the Rays trailing by a run, and moved to second during a double steal with Chandler Simpson later on in the frame; Mead and Simpson would be stranded and the Rays lost, 4-3.

On Tuesday, Mead snapped a 19 game streak in which he didn’t record an extra base hit when he doubled in the 3rd inning. It was among the longest such streaks in baseball this season; Christopher Morel now holds that distinction for the Rays with 12 consecutive games without an extra-base hit. Later on in the game, with the Rays trailing by a run, Mead fell down in a count 0-2 but then was hit by a pitch. He’d be retired on a force play, but this allowed Jose Caballero to reach base and the Rays would eventually rally to tie the game and eventually walk it off.

Then on Wednesday, Mead recorded his third multi-hit game of the year and was integral to the Rays taking the series victory. After coming up empty with the bases loaded in the first inning, Mead ambushed the first pitch he received in the fourth and lined it over the wall in center field to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead. Later on, Mead singled and walked in the 8th, coming around to score on a Yandy Diaz homerun.

Overall during the three games, Mead hit .444/.545/.889 with 2 extra base hits over 11 plate appearances and accrued 0.3 fWAR.

DRAYSBAY PLAYER OF THE SERIES

• 1st: Kameron Misner
• 2nd: Jake Mangum
• 3rd: Brandon Lowe
• 4th: Jose Caballero
• 5th: Joe Boyle
• 6th: Shane Baz
• 7th: Chandler Simpson
• 8th: Christopher Morel
• 9th: Chandler Simpson
• 10th: Mason Englert
• 11th: Taylor Walls
• 12th: Yandy Diaz
• 13th: Travis Jankowski
• 14th: Brandon Lowe
• 15th: Drew Rasmussen
• 16th: Curtis Mead

Over the offseason, Curtis Mead went through a workout regimen trying to add muscle and regain an offensive profile that made him one of the top prospects in all of baseball. The 24-year old was originally acquired by the Rays in 2019 and the Aussie quickly looked like another Rays steal. However, upon reaching the big leagues in 2023, Mead’s offensive success vanished. Entering the 2025 season, Mead had only hit .244/.300/.312 (78 wRC+) over 224 plate appearances and seemed destined to begin the season in the minor leagues.

That changed after a dazzling spring where he hit .524/.608/.619 over 51 plate appearances and was rewarded with an Opening Day roster nod and slotted in at leadoff. However, once the regular season began, Mead’s struggles picked back up and entering play on Friday, Mead is currently hitting .206/.286/.279 (68 wRC+) with 1 HR over 77 plate appearances.

The Rays will begin their next series, a three-game set, against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.

Who do you think will be our next Player of the Series?