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27 Days Until Spring Training Begins

Jennings and Mahtook with career firsts, meanwhile a veteran has a week to remember

Devil Rays v A's

Alas, the weekend is over the spring training countdown continues as we are not just 27 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Port Charlotte.

To commemorate the date, here are the players to have donned the number 27 during their Rays careers, courtesy of the wonderful Baseball Reference.

Rick White (1998), Jerome Walton (1998), Cory Lidle (1999-2000), Bobby Seay (2001-2003), Geoff Blum (2004), Damon Hollins (2005-2006), Scott Dohmann (2007-2008), Gabe Kapler (2009), Desmond Jennings (2010), Cesar Ramos (2011-2014), and Mikie Mahtook (2015-2016).

Some memorable moments in Rays history from these guys

Gabe Kapler put up one of the best 10 game stretches in franchise history in 2009, slashing .522/.571/1.348 from June 8th to June 28th

Desmond Jennings ushering in a new era for the Rays with his first career hit

Mikie Mahtook went long for his first career hit

The best and worst age 27 season in Rays history

  • The Best = Evan Longoria with 6.5 fWAR in 2013
  • The Worst = Jonny Gomes with -0.9 fWAR in 2009

The Number 27 in Rays Stats

Three Rays have all hit exactly 27 HR in a season

Fred McGriff first did so in 2000

Evan Longoria would be the next as he did so during his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2008

Finally, Ben Zobrist became Zorilla in 2009 with his monstrous effort

The days keep winding down, check back tomorrow as we continue the count down to Spring Training.