September is just around the corner and we know what that means — September call-ups! Soon, major league rosters will expand from their current 25 player limit to 40 players. This will allow a club to activate, suit up and deploy any player on its 40-man roster.
For the Rays, there are probably three or four anticipated promotions, then another handful of guys who could receive a shot. Here’s who we could see this month. Note that a player’s status on the 40-man roster will be an important determinant of whether he gets that call up from the Bigs, but also know the Rays do have a spot open on the 40-man and can open an additional one by transferring Daniel Robertson from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL.
Pitchers
Jake Faria
40-man roster status: Yes
Faria may figure in the Rays future pitching plans but his 2018 season has been mostly one of disappointment. Sidelined for over two months with an oblique injury, Faria currently holds a 4.84 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 1.64 K/BB ratio in 57.2 innings this season with the Rays.
The sophomore right-hander probably falls into the “two times through the order and then pull him” category along with Yonny Chirinos and Ryan Yarbrough due to the lack of pure movement on his pitches. We’ve seen him be a really effective pitcher when he’s on, but he just hasn’t been able to get into any sort of groove this season. In his lone start since being optioned to make room for Tommy Pham, Faria struck out six, walked one, and allowed two earned runs in five innings. Time will tell if Faria can get back some of that rookie magic we saw a year ago, but we assume that Faria will end the season in St. Pete.
Chih Wei-Hu
40-man roster status: Yes
Hu has a decent five pitch mix, but many think his best short at the majors is as a reliever, in which role his fastball has played up. He’ll most certainly get the call, and with the multi-inning ability, he could get some run during the Rays’ bullpen days.
Austin Pruitt
40-man roster status: Yes
He isn’t in this team’s future plans, but they’ve used him enough the past two seasons to suggest he’ll get the call. In 60 big-league innings this season, Pruitt sports a 4.80 ERA. If called up, his role will be similar to what it has been in his time with the Rays — an innings eater.
Jaime Schultz
40-man roster status: Yes
The 27-year-old hurler has appeared in 12 games for the Rays this season, posting a 4.58 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 23/12 K/BB ratio across 19 2/3 innings. With two plus pitches to work with, there’s little doubt that Schultz has the tools to work his way into a high-end pen option for Kevin Cash out of the bullpen. Schultz’s inability to finish guys off without getting into walk issues (5.49 BB/9) has been his Achilles heel. If and once he’s able to figure it out, watch out.
Andrew Moore
40-man roster status: Yes
Acquired in the Alex Colome trade, Moore has been a cog in the Durham rotation since he arrived in May. The right-hander currently has an underwhelming 4.19 ERA in 77.1 innings for the Bulls. While the potential is there to be a middle-of-the-rotation starter, he still needs to work out some command issues, getting that BB/9 down from the career-high 2.91 BB/9 he’s posted since the trade.
Hoby Milner
40-man roster status: Yes
The acquisition of Milner in mid-July was pretty simple. The Rays were out of arms and the Phillies made Milner available. He entered the game the same day of the trade, pitched 1.1 innings, and allowed one earned run. He was sent down a week later and hasn’t been up since. Given his spot on the 40-man roster, we could see him up in the next few weeks to eat some innings if necessary.
Ryan Weber
40-man roster status: No
The 28-year old was designated for assignment on July 14 to make room on the team’s 40-man roster for newly acquired Hoby Milner. He has made one multi-inning appearance for the Rays this season, allowing two runs in five innings against the Marlins on July 4. Down in Durham, he’s been one of Jared Sanberg’s most trusted and reliable starting pitchers, posting 11 starts of two or fewer earned runs in at least five innings pitched.
While Weber’s certainly earned a September call-up, there won’t be a ton of innings to go around. So the question becomes, “will the Rays reward him for his minor league contributions with a September call-up regardless if there’s a role to contribute in the Show?”
Hitters
Austin Meadows
40-man roster status: Yes
I would argue the Rays planned to have Meadows stay in Durham until the end of the AAA season, but with Mallex Smith out with a virus, he might be holding down the left field job sooner than we might have thought. Since coming over in the Chris Archer trade, the 23-year old has slashed .302/.351/.651 with a 176 wRC+ and .430 wOBA in 24 games in Durham. Meadows is major league ready and should be the starting left fielder for most of 2019.
Christian Arroyo
40-man roster status: Yes
It’s been an up-and-down season for the 23-year old, who was recently activated from Triple-A Durham’s disabled list after suffering a concussion late last month when he was hit on the head by a pitch. In seven games played since returning, Arroyo has slashed .385/.407/.385 with a .361 wOBA and 129 wRC+. He batted .264/.339/.396 with one home run in 20 games with the Rays earlier this season before suffering an oblique strain.
At this point, Arroyo is an unproven commodity. Whether the Rays will look to give Arroyo half (or more) of Matt Duffy’s at-bats when he likely arrives next month is to be determined, as is the role Arroyo might play should the Rays move on from Duffy this off-season.
Adam Moore
40-man roster status: No
The 34-year old catcher was called up for depth after Wilson Ramos pulled his hamstring in mid-July, then soon designated for assignment when the Rays acquired Michael Perez in exchange for Matt Andriese. He cleared waivers and was subsequently outrighted to Durham. If the Rays are interested in adding a third catcher in September, Moore will likely be the guy.