2018 season in review
The 2018 MLB Draft was held on June 7, 2018 and included over 200 players taken in 7 rounds of picks. Here's the short list of Ray draftees.
| MLB Draft - Tampa Bay Rays Picks |
| Round | Team | Player | Pos | Ovr | Pot |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rays | Vince Cottrell | CL | 67 | 97 |
| A | Tampa Bay Rays | Chase Joiner | SS | 51 | 87 |
| A | Tampa Bay Rays | Darius Wells | C | 51 | 79 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rays | Felipe Aguila | LHP | 71 | 72 |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Rays | Orlando Amaya | LHP | 54 | 88 |
| B | Tampa Bay Rays | Luis Cisneros | SS | 60 | 66 |
| 4 | Tampa Bay Rays | Miguel Montalvo | LF | 60 | 78 |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Rays | Chris Aquino | CF | 56 | 66 |
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MLB Debuts
Over the course of the 2018 season, there were six players who made their first Major League appearance in a Rays uniform.
Andrew Aguilar started it off shortly after his trade by starting in a home game against Baltimore on May 13. On the very next day,
Lewis Porter Jr., made his debut as a reliever in Kansas City and recorded two strikeouts in his lone inning of work. For the third day in a row, the Rays had a ML debut. On May 15, left hander,
Eduardo Ortiz, started due to the injury of a Rays starting pitcher. Ortiz remained in the rotation for the remainder of the month. The first position player to make his debut was
Guillermo Ramirez. Ramirez made his first appearance in a Rays uniform on June 3 in Seattle and recorded his first hit in his first at bat. Injuries forced
Brendan Ponder to be recalled and make his debut on June 16. He played regularly until he hit the DL. With the injury to Ponder, another outfielder was called up for the first time,
Dexter Ray. Ray made his debut as a Ray on July 22 against the New York Yankees. All six players were back on the 25 man roster when the roster expanded in early September.
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On May 12, the oldest pitcher in the rotation to begin the season,
Woody Rockwell, was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with the team's Opening Day first baseman,
Duke Mgrditchian for a first baseman named
Lefty Wright and AAA reliever,
Max Peterson.
Also occurring on May 12, Tampa Bay moved a bullpen piece,
Cory Melvin to the Los Angeles Angels for a starting pitcher to fill Rockwell's spot named,
Andrew Aguilar.
June 4th was the date of the biggest trade made by the Rays in 2018. On this date, Tampa traded both of their top prospects (RHP
Dalton Gilbertson and 1B
Sergio Rivera) to the Chicago White Sox for three players in return. The White Sox sent right handed reliever
Ian West, young pitching prospect
Cutter Jennings, and AAA third baseman,
Hector Perez to the Rays in return.
Even after being busy early on, the Rays continued to make moves until the non waiver trading deadline. On July 31, Tampa dealt their All-Star closer,
Daisuke Okada to Oakland for a pair of players. Those players were slick fielding shortstop prospect,
Paul Kelly and Major League ready reliever,
Nick Cameron.
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Proceeding now to the offseason, the Rays only had a few players who were eligible to become free agents: rightfielder,
Mickey Stearn, bench outfielder,
Jonathan Ash and backup catcher
Gary Lang. All three players were re-signed on one year deals to play for Tampa in 2019.