After trading Jose Siri to the Mets earlier today, the Rays have revealed that Jonny DeLuca will be their primary center fielder next season (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Siri had been Tampa Bay’s primary center fielder since the club acquired him from the Astros ahead of the trade deadline in 2022.
DeLuca, 26, was the secondary piece the Rays acquired in the trade that sent Tyler Glasnow to the Dodgers last offseason; Ryan Pepiot was the centerpiece of the return. That said, the Rays clearly viewed DeLuca as more than a mere throw-in. A broken hand kept him from making the Opening Day roster this past season, but after his return in early May, he appeared in 107 of Tampa Bay’s remaining 130 games. His bat was feeble, producing a .609 OPS and 77 wRC+, but he stole 16 bases and played strong defense while splitting his time between all three outfield positions. He earned 5 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), 8 Outs Above Average (OAA), and 5.1 Deserved Runs Prevented (DRP), helping him rack up positive value according to every version of Wins Above Replacement. He already has elite speed and a strong throwing arm, so if he can learn to tap into a bit more of the plus power and plate discipline he displayed throughout the minor leagues, it might be enough for him to become a productive big league center fielder.
Now, that’s a big if, but the Rays seem to have a good amount of faith in DeLuca. President of baseball operations Erik Neander cited the young outfielder’s improvement over the last few months of the 2024 season, telling Topkin, “You look at the progress, you look at the improvement, you look how he’s made up, and his history of just what he’s been able to do with more reps given what a good athlete he is, he’s just continued to get better.”
It’s true that DeLuca hit significantly better in the second half of the 2024 season than the first. But much of that improvement came from a strong September (116 wRC+) in which the righty batter outperformed his .269 xwOBA by more than 50 points. That’s not a lot to go on, especially for a team that aims to contend once again in 2025. Most clubs would certainly be looking for an upgrade on the free agent market. But of course, this is the Rays we’re talking about, a team that loves to turn unheralded trade pickups into productive major leaguers.
Topkin notes that lefty batters Josh Lowe and Richie Palacios could also see some time in center field next year. Neither one has much big league experience at the position, but both are young and athletic outfielders who played a good deal of center in the minors. More to the point, if either of them ends up playing center, it will only be because manager Kevin Cash is looking to get more offense in the lineup, especially against a tough right-handed pitcher. Both players were roughly league-average at the plate in 2024, but they were significantly more dangerous in 2023. Even if neither returns to the heights of his 2023 campaign, a league-average bat would still be a whole lot more productive than DeLuca was this past season.
However, any time Lowe or Palacios spends in center field would take them away from the outfielder corners. That would most likely leave either Dylan Carlson or Christopher Morel covering a corner spot. The only other outfielders on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster are Kameron Misner, who appeared in eight games for the big league club this past season, and Jake Mangum, who was recently added to the 40-man to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Neither is necessarily anything more than depth for the bench. Thus, even if the Rays are planning to give DeLuca the bulk of the playing time in center field, it would make sense for them to add at least one more outfielder this offseason.
