Tampa Bay Rays to promote Jake Bauers

The Tampa Bay Rays have announced that they have promoted top prospect, Jake Bauers, to the major leagues. A corresponding move will be prior to the game tomorrow night when the Rays return home to Tropicana Field to take on the Seattle Mariners.

The Rays acquired Bauers in the 11 player deal that sent Wil Myers to San Diego during the 2014-2015 off-season. Since then, Bauers has nothing but exceptionally well at each level in the Rays system, despite being well below the average league age at each stop along the way.

Baseball America ranked him as the Rays 4th best prospect following the 2017 season, and in their latest update to their top 100, Bauers was placed 42nd among the league’s best prospects.

Bauers has a pure stroke from the left side and an advanced approach that led to 78 walks in 2017, good for second in the International League. His willingness to wait for his pitch and ability to barrel the ball with his superior hand-eye coordination leads to a high on-base percentage. Bauers’ solid-average bat speed generates raw power, but it has not shown consistently in game action. Scouts believe that he will generate plenty of extra-base hits to contribute as a first baseman in the big leagues. Bauers runs well and is intelligent on the bases. Despite seeing action as a corner outfielder, he’s much more effective at first base, where he displays quick feet, soft hands and a solid overall feel for the position.

A natural first baseman, Bauers has also spent some time in the outfield. Thus far with the Durham Bulls this season, Bauers has hit .279/.357/.426 with 5 HR over 222 plate appearances.

It is not yet known whose place on the roster that Bauers will be taking, although several signs point to Brad Miller being the odd man out, which we covered prior to yesterday’s game.