Tampa Bay Rays Activate Wilson Ramos, Designate Derek Norris for Assignment

Do you hear that?

/rumbling in the distance

That’s the buffalo and he’s on his way to the Trop.

After last night’s game, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that they’ll be activating Wilson Ramos and designated Derek Norris for assignment.

Wilson Ramos is finally set to make his Rays debut presumably later today after spending the last nine months rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered during the final days of the 2016 season. He began his rehab assignment with the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs June 5th, and moved up to Durham a week later. During his rehab, he played in 13 games and slashed .214/.267/.429 with 2 HR over 45 plate appearances.

The Rays signed Ramos to a two year deal back in December, knowing full well that Ramos wouldn’t be able to play for at least half the 2017 season. When he was signed, he was actually expected to return around August, but his rehabbed progressed quickly. Ramos was awarded the 2016 NL Silver Slugger for his offensive breakout that year.

With Wilson Ramos coming up, the Rays had to let one of their catchers go and thus they decided to DFA Derek Norris. In 53 games this season, Norris wasn’t fantastic, but he also wasn’t completely terrible and served as a decent stopgap while Ramos rehabbed. Over those 53 games, Norris slashed .201/.258/.380 with 9 HR, good for 0.2 fWAR and a 67 wRC+.