Tampa Bay Rays All-Time Roster

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays came into the league in 1998, and are therefor the youngest MLB franchise alongside their ‘98 expansion mates, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They play their games at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The team struggled mightily in its early years, finishing in dead last in the AL East until 2004, when they finished second last. For some dumb ass reason, the team dropped the “Devil” from their name in 2007. So now they are the Tampa Bay Rays (of light) instead of the Rays of the stingray variety. In recent years, they have brought back the stingray logo, and even rocked some Devil Ray throwbacks in 2021. Their best season came in 2008, where they posted their first winning season, won the AL Pennant, but were defeated in the World Series. In 2020, the Rays also made it back to the World Series, falling to the Dodgers. As we write this in early September of 2021, the Rays are poised to win the AL East and make another attempt at winning their first World Series.

Listen to our discussion about our All-Time Rays Roster Here:

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Tampa Bay Rays All-Time Roster:

Strap yourself in and get ready to learn about the best Tampa Bay Rays players of all-time.

OUR VERY IMPORTANT NOTE/RULE: Players can only appear on ONE All-Time roster. Example: Cliff Floyd is not on this Rays roster because he has been placed on our All-Time Marlins roster.

Let’s start it with starting rotation, as they are the home team after-all.

Starting Pitchers:

#1 David Price

Photo by Brian Blanco of the Associated Press

This is the most obvious pick in this rotation and the clear Ace of this staff. Price has bounced around in his career, but his longest tenure was with the Rays. In his 7 years with the team, Price was a 5 time All-Star (though one was a split season with the Tigers), and won a Cy Young and ERA title.

He posted a 3.18 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 10 Complete Games, 2 Shutouts, and 1065 K’s in his 1143.2 innings of work for the Rays.

#2 James Shields

James Shields, Tampa Bay legend. Shields was with the Rays from 2006 until 2012. Across those 7 seasons he posted a 3.89 ERA, 1455 IP, 1250 Strikeouts, and an 87-73 record. His best season came in 2011 where he earned is first and only all-star appearance. Shields finished 3rd in Cy Young voting, led the league in complete games (11) and shutouts (4), and finished with a 2.82 ERA and 1.04 WHIP.

#3 Scott Kazmir

This tall lefty only had 2 bad seasons with the Rays, his first and last. If you take those out, you’ve got a solid number 3 in this all-time rotation. From 2005-2008, Kazmir started 117 games resulting in a 3.51 ERA, 127 ERA+, and a 9.7 SO/9. Two of his 3 All-Star Game showings took place during this span, his other coming in 2014 with Oakland. Kazmir also led the league in strikeouts in 2007, a notable achievement. He was also a big part of that 2008 team that won the ALCS.

#4 Chris Archer

Chris Archer was a very important part of this roster for 2 reasons. The first being that he was a solid pitcher in his first tenure with the Rays. The second being that he was part of that trade with Pirates that brought Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and top prospect Shane Baz to the Rays, with Archer going the other way. This is commonly regarded as one of the biggest fleece-of-a-trade’s in baseball history. After 2 terrible, injury riddled seasons with the Pirates, Archer is back for a second stint in the place where he found the most success.

From 2012 to 2017, Archer had a 3.63 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 1044 strikeouts across 967 innings. He also made 2 All-Star Games and finished 5th in Cy Young voting in 2015.

#5 Blake Snell

You could certainly make the case that Snell should be higher on this list, however inconsistencies and a serious issue limiting walks prevented it for us. Blake Snells 5 year career with the Rays is highlighted by his outstanding season in 2018. In this season, he led the league with an ERA of 1.89, a 217 ERA+ and just 5.6 Hits per 9 innings. He also had a K/9 of 11 and a WHIP of just 0.97. This outstanding season earned him an All-Star appearance and the American League Cy Young award.

Across his 5 years he had a 3.24 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 677 IP, 807 K’s, and a 129 ERA+.

Defensive Alignment:

Catcher - Dioner Navarro

As is the trend with the majority of our All-Time rosters, catcher is not a position of great depth and notable names. Navarro is however the most worthy for this team. Navarro played for 9 different teams in his career, but his 5 years with Tampa was his most with any one team. The switch hitter was one of the teams longest tenured catchers in what has been a revolving door of a position. He was a great game caller, and his best season came in that 2008 ALCS Champion season. In that year he slashed .295/.349/.407 and was an All-Star. He also performed very well in the ALDS and WS that season.

First Base - Carlos Peña

Carlos Peña admiring one of his many home runs at Yankee Stadium (Photo by Kathy Willens of the Associated Press)

Carlos Peña owns the single best season for a hitter in franchise history. In 2007 he clubbed 46 homers, a franchise record that still stands. This season also made him the teams single season record holder for OBP (.411), SLG (.627), and RBI’s (121). Somehow he was snubbed of an AS appearance. He also led the American league in homeruns in 2009 with 39, a year that saw him attend his only All-Star Game. Not enough? He also won a Gold Glove in 2008. The slugger accumulated 163 homers in his 5 years with the Rays when it was all said and done.

Second Base - Ben Zobrist

One of Zobrist’s biggest claim to fame was his WS MVP he earned in the 2016 World Series win with the cubs. However, his best years cumulatively actually came in his 9 years with the Devil Rays. Ben was with the club from 2006-2014. He was a 2 time All-Star and received MVP votes 3 times. Across his 9 years with the team Zobrist slashed .264/.354/.429 with a .783 OPS. These numbers came with additional benefits defensively, being a rare “super utility” player in a time where this was less common. Zobrist has played every position on the diamond except for catcher.

Shortstop - Wander Franco

Normally when we put an active player on these teams, they have to have already accomplished enough to make them worthy in the position. This is not the case with Wander Franco. Though it may seem weird, Wander Franco seems like a lock to be one of the best Tampa Bay Rays players of all-time. The young phenom is one of the most highly ranked, and anticipated prospects in recent memory. He graded an 80 on the hit tool from scouts (the highest ranking possible) and since his 2021 call up has absolutely lived up to the hype. The Rays are so high on Wander Franco that they gave him an 11-year, $182 million dollar contract with less than a years worth of service time under his belt. This is extremely out of character for the Rays organization, which tells you how much belief they have in him. Honestly though, this contract may end up looking like a complete steal in a couple years. Because of his enormous upside and unexciting other options at the position (Julio Lugo and Jason Bartlett), we’ll take the young stud here.

Third Base - Evan Longoria

Longo is without a doubt, top 3 best players that have ever dawned a Tampa Bay Rays uniform. He burst onto the scene in that 2008 season we keep talking about, hitting 27 homers and tallied 85 RBI’s while slashing .272/.343/.531 in just 122 games. This single season performance earned him an All-Star nod, Rookie of the Year, and an 11th place finish in MVP voting. The rest is Rays history. Longo would go on to make 2 more All-Star appearances, win a Silver Slugger, pick up 3 Gold Gloves, and earn some MVP votes along the way. He is the franchise leader in WAR (51.2) and Offensive WAR (41.8), games played (1435), plate appearances (6151), runs scored (780), total bases (2630), doubles (338), home runs (261), RBI (892), Walks (569), and about 15 other categories I don’t have time to time. You can see it all here.

When it was said and done, Longo slashed .270/.341/.483 with an .823 OPS and 125 OPS+.

Outfield - Kevin Kiermaier

Kevin Kiermaier will tell you himself, he’s the best defensive centerfielder in the game, and has been for quite some time. Kiermaier owns 3 Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove to boot. He’s the franchise leader in Defensive WAR at 17.4, a number he continues to build on. He’s led the league at his position multiple times in fielding percentage, assists, defensive WAR, range factor and more. He’s serviceable offensively, but he’s on this team for his elite defence.

Outfield - Aubrey Huff

Perhaps more of a first baseman than an outfielder, but we’re going to hide him in RF and hope that Kiermaier will just cover CF and RF at the same time. We obviously weren’t going to put him at first over Carlos Peña, but Huff deserves a spot in this line up. Huff is an Adderall loving, colourful character with a very questionable belief system. But we are focused on his on field abilities.

Across 7 seasons with the Devil Rays, Huff slashed .287/.343/.477, giving him an .819 OPS and a 116 OPS+. Huff ranks fourth for the Rays in SLG% and OPS, third in Home Runs (128), and hovers around 5th in a number of other franchise leaderboards.

Outfield - Carl Crawford

That bring us to a guy that is hands down the best outfielder this team has ever seen. Crawford spent his first 9 seasons with Tampa Bay before going on to play with the Red Sox and the Dodgers. He was the games most elite speedster from 2002-2010, swiping 409 bags in that time, leading the league 4 times. He surpassed the 50 steals mark 5 times, with 60 being his highest single season total. He could also turn a double into a triple better than anyone, leading the league in that category 4 times. He is the franchise leader in hits (1480), batting average (.296), triples (105), stolen bases (409), stolen base percentage (81.96%), and power-speed # (165.8).

He finished up with 4 All-Star nods, a Silver Slugger award, and a Gold Glove.

Designated Hitter - Fred McGriff

All my homies love Fred McGriff. It’s ironic how the “Crime Dog” is criminally underrated. McGriff had three 5 year tenures with 3 different teams, in addition to 6 seasons between the Padres, Cubs, and Dodgers. His Hall of Fame bid was honestly hurt by the fact that he was TOO consistent. He was a strong and steady contributor year after year, but never really flashed anything exceptional enough to earn him an MVP (though he got a lot of votes). He did however attend 5 All-Star games, winning the ASG MVP in 1994. He also picked up 3 Silver Slugger awards and won a World Series with the Braves.

The reason we have him on this Rays team is there is more room to fit him on this roster than on Atlanta (Freddie Freeman) or Toronto (Carlos Delgado, John Olerud). As a result, he finds himself a worthy home in the DH slot of this Tampa Bay Rays roster. During his time with the Rays he slashed .298/.380 (franchise record)/.484 (franchise record), had a .864 OPS (franchise record), a 122 OPS+, and hit 99 home runs.

Bullpen

Because of the turnover and inconsistency we normally see in bullpens, we allocate 3 bullpen spots per team.

Fernando Rodney via John Hedges of Getty Images

Reliever - Jake McGee

If you’re surprised to see McGee here, it’s likely because he never had any “WOW” seasons, but was rather just a reliable and steady contributor over his 5 seasons with the team. Jake McGee was with the team from 2010-2015. He is the franchise leader in appearances (297) and pitched to the tune of a 2.77 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 11.1 K/9, 2.58 FIP and a 21-11 record.

Reliever - Fernando Rodney

Fernando Rodney has bounced around about as much as one can during his career, pitching for 11 different teams in his 17 year career. He only had 2 seasons with the Rays, but they were exceptional. Across the 2 seasons, he earned a 1.91 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and 85 saves. He owns one of the best single seasons by a reliever EVER, having a 0.60 ERA and 48 saves in 2012. That outstanding season earned him an All-Star appearance, a 5th place Cy Young finish, and 13th in MVP voting. He’s also recognized for his iconic tilted cap, which was a nod to his late father. He also liked to shoot arrows off into the sky after earning a save, something he would do 327 times in his career.

Reliever - Grant Balfour

Balfour was an integral part of their 2008 season, accumulating a 1.54 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 12.7 K/9. He was used in high leverage situations across 58.1 innings. Across his 3 seasons with the Rays he pitched to a 2.98 ERA and 1.12 WHIP.

Honourable mentions here goes to Alex Colome, who is potentially interchangeable with Balfour. Colome was with the teams for 4 seasons, and although he seemed shaky at times (8.1 H/9 and 3 BB9), he got the job done at closer more often than not, earning 95 saves (2nd in Franchise history), and pitching to a 3.14 ERA and 1.22 WHIP.

We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention the franchise leader in saves (101) Roberto Hernandez. The reason he wasn’t on the list is because outside of the saves he really wasn’t exceptional. He also spent more time with the White Sox with better numbers, so may appear on that list.

Potential Starting Lineup:

Carl Crawford - LF
Ben Zobrist - 2B
Evan Longoria - 3B
Carlos Peña - 1B
Fred McGriff - DH
Aubrey Huff - RF
Wander Franco - SS
Dioner Navarro - C
Kevin Kiermaier - CF

Wrapping Up

Thanks for reading our All-Time Tampa Bay Rays roster, let us know if you agree or disagree but DMing us on Instagram. If you liked this blog, you’d love our baseball podcast, Diamond Gems. If you want to stay up to date on all the latest blogs and more, join our newsletter: