2026 ZiPS Projections: Tampa Bay Rays

For the 22nd consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction, as well as MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the next team up is the Tampa Bay Rays.

Batters

The Orioles hogged most of the AL East Disappointment space in 2025, but the Rays were similarly uninspiring. Rather than bouncing back from a down 2024, their first losing season in a pretty long stretch, they dropped down a few more wins in 2025, and never felt like they were relevant, either as dominating contender or incompetent doormat. While the Rays are historically great when it comes to squeezing as much out of every penny, it can be difficult for them to turn things around quickly because they won’t bridge gaps with big spending. So now they enter 2026 with their usual m.o. of trying to accumulate enough incremental advantages to sneakily win 90 games.

Tampa Bay doesn’t have a particularly deep offense, so if the team is successful, it’ll likely require big years from Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero. ZiPS is still happy with Díaz as one of the better DHs in baseball, though the fact that he’ll turn 35 in August can’t completely be ignored. Nor is ZiPS projecting 45 home runs from Caminero, but he still should be easily this lineup’s largest source of pure power. The computer does expect some offensive regression from Jonathan Aranda, since being able to run a .409 BABIP — like he did last year — isn’t a skill that major leaguers just happen to possess. That said, he’s still projected to produce enough to play first base, rather than getting stuck in tweener hell — that awful place reserved for players who both aren’t good enough offensively to be first basemen and who aren’t strong enough defensively to play a more important infield spot.

ZiPS is not electronically enamored with either recent signee Cedric Mullins or Josh Lowe in the outfield, and it sees the Nick Fortes-led catching tandem as less forte and more pianissimo, but the Rays look at least passable at those positions. Carson Williams gets a solid projection from ZiPS, better than either Steamer or THEBAT, but it is a lot less excited about him, both offensively and defensively, after his rough 2025 season. Left field projects to be a real problem spot, and though Brandon Lowe is probably overrated at this point, ZiPS doesn’t really like any of his possible replacements at second base on our depth chart. ZiPS does like Jadher Areinamo’s defense a lot more than the consensus, so he’s at least interesting. Prospect Xavier Isaac doesn’t spike a big projection, but his offensive upside is real, and there’s hope that his elbow is fine, and that there are no lasting repercussions from the “life-saving” brain surgery he had over the summer.

Pitchers

Even after trading right-hander Shane Baz to the Orioles, the Rays rotation looks to be in at least decent shape. If Shane McClanahan, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2023, is fully healthy, he rounds out a pretty nice top trio with Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. Meanwhile, offseason acquisition Steven Matz could be either a decent fourth starter or strong in a relief role, and Tropicana Field is a fairly safe home to limit his occasional homericiousness. Both Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour project as league average or just a skosh worse, so there are at least six plausible rotation candidates here, and Yoendrys Gómez isn’t that far back. What ZiPS doesn’t see is a lot of emergency depth here; it usually thinks the Rays have a number of fringy pitching prospects who could fill in admirably, but that’s not the case this time around.

The bullpen is a similar story. ZiPS isn’t super excited about Edwin Uceta, but it remains a huge fan of Griffin Jax, picked up last summer when the league pillaged the Twins. Jax was a short-term play, but ZiPS doesn’t see Taj Bradley, whom Tampa Bay sent to Minnesota in return, as being much more interesting than either Boyle or Seymour. Garrett Cleavinger gets a solid projection, and ZiPS is happy with Bryan Baker, Mason Englert, and Kevin Kelly. ZiPS is less tickled by the Rays’ options to cover lower-leverage innings, guys like Steven Wilson or Hunter Bigge, but I’m sure the team will find some random unknown reliever to put up a 3.30 ERA.

The Rays aren’t bad, but this is a tough division, and there are enough holes and questions that ZiPS is putting them in water-treading territory again, somewhere between a few games below .500 and a few games above it. That’s still a team that can sneak into a wild card, but it’ll need some good fortune to do so.

Ballpark graphic courtesy Eephus League. Depth charts constructed by way of those listed here. Size of player names is very roughly proportional to Depth Chart playing time. The final team projections may differ considerably from our Depth Chart playing time.

Players are listed with their most recent teams wherever possible. This includes players who are unsigned or have retired, players who will miss 2026 due to injury, and players who were released in 2025. So yes, if you see Joe Schmoe, who quit baseball back in August to form a Ambient Math-Rock Trip-Hop Yacht Metal band that only performs in abandoned malls, he’s still listed here intentionally. ZiPS is assuming a league with an ERA of 4.16.

Hitters are ranked by zWAR, which is to say, WAR values as calculated by me, Dan Szymborski, whose surname is spelled with a z. WAR values might differ slightly from those that appear in the full release of ZiPS. Finally, I will advise anyone against — and might karate chop anyone guilty of — merely adding up WAR totals on a depth chart to produce projected team WAR. It is important to remember that ZiPS is agnostic about playing time, and has no information about, for example, how quickly a team will call up a prospect or what veteran has fallen into disfavor.

As always, incorrect projections are either caused by misinformation, a non-pragmatic reality, or by the skillful sabotage of our friend and former editor. You can, however, still get mad at me on Twitter or on Bluesky. This last is, however, not an actual requirement.