John Romano: Remember when the Rays were elite on defense? That's the goal for 2026.

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Mar 10, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

TAMPA, Fla. — Is it possible that it wasn’t all Taj Bradley’s fault?

Perhaps Shane Baz deserves a little leeway, too. In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t solely the pitching staff’s sin that the Tampa Bay Rays gave up more runs last year than in any season since 2017.

And, please, do not point fingers at the dimensions of Steinbrenner Field. The Rays gave up more runs on the road than they did at home.

No, when considering how Tampa Bay’s obsession for run prevention went awry in 2025, some of the blame needs to be assigned to all the guys wearing gloves in the field.

The normally efficient — and sometimes spectacular — Rays defense had its issues last year. The outfield was a mess. Junior Caminero struggled early in the season at third base. Brandon Lowe’s range diminished at second base, and shortstop was not the same after Taylor Walls got hurt.

When it came to Fielding Run Value, which is Statcast’s overall metric for defensive prowess, the Rays were 28th in the majors last season. It was their worst ranking ever in the Statcast era and the first time they were in the bottom third of the league since 2016.

“We don’t have the $300 or the $400 million payroll, so we need to win in the margins,” said bench coach Rodney Linares. “I think we did a good job of that last year early on, but it started to go away once we started getting hurt. We went through like eight outfielders last season, and our outfield defense wasn’t as good as our infield defense.

“I think with the moves we’ve made and the growth of some of the young guys, it’s going to be a lot better this year.”

Long ago, the Rays recognized they could not compete financially with the likes of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox when it came to offense, so they opted to build teams around pitching and defense. Except that can be an annual balancing act. Every so often the Rays will sacrifice a little defensively for a player who can help score more runs.

That should not be a problem in 2026. Between Caminero, Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz, Tampa Bay has three elite middle-of-the-order hitters. Caminero is not Gold Glove material at third base, but he made noticeable strides last season. Aranda was surprisingly efficient at first base, and Diaz is now a full-time designated hitter.

Those three hitters allowed the Rays a little more leeway when filling out the rest of the roster. B-Lowe, Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel were all near the bottom of advanced defensive metrics at their positions last season, and all three were either traded or left via free agency.

The outfield has been revamped with Chandler Simpson moving from center field to left field, Cedric Mullins taking over in center, and Jake Fraley expected to get the bulk of playing time in right field. Gavin Lux gives the Rays a little more range at second base, Ben Williamson brings an excellent glove in a utility role, and Nick Fortes is above-average defensively at catcher.

“We’re just trying to find the best way to beat the other team as often as possible,” baseball operations president Erik Neander said. “Historically, it’s certainly fair to say, that that’s often come from stronger run prevention than scoring. Between pitching and having the guys behind them being athletes and taking care of the baseball, it has allowed us to find a way to more impact and effectiveness.

“This group is kind of interesting because you’ve got the infield corners and the DH spot with high-end offensive players. Beyond that, it’s probably fair to say, the rest of the position player group will be very athletic, more on-base (percentage) oriented, more baserunning oriented and a good defensive group.”

The key to measuring defense is not necessarily errors and fielding percentage. Aside from the fact that fielding percentage can vary depending on the disposition of the official scorer, the greater impact is the amount of batted balls a fielder can turn into outs.

Kevin Kiermaier has an endless loop of highlight-reel catches, but his true value to the Rays was simply running down balls that other center fielders rarely reached.

“It’s how much ground you can cover, how many plays you can complete,” manager Kevin Cash said. “The amount of ground (Walls) covers on a nightly basis is abnormal to your everyday shortstop. With that, you might have some more errors that come with it because he’s getting to more balls. We’ll take that tradeoff.

“The instincts and the jumps we’re looking for from our middle position (group) — second base, shortstop, center field — I think we’re going to be better off.”

____