With today being the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers, we should continue to get a flood of interviews and information on the newest Rays.

Here’s what’s come in so far!

Rays News

• GM Erik Neander, VP Chaim Bloom, and Manager Kevin Cash held their annual press conference from the spring training boardwalk. The video is below, and you can listen to the 20-min press conference here.

• You can read the Tampa Bay Times five key takeaways from the presser here
• Juan Toribio honed in on the Rays new starter Charlie Morton:

• Neil Solondz has the audio from Charlie Morton’s first media scrum of 2019. He sounds impressed with both the Rays facilities and their innovative style (including the opener!):

• Solondz also has an interview with recently acquired Rays arm Cole Sulser, who joins Tampa Bay from the Indians:

• The Bowling Green Hot Rods will honor local history by becoming the Sinkholes for a game in 2019.
• Will the Rays’ ‘opener’ strategy hurt their pitchers’ abilities to get big contracts? Tommy Rancel digs into future consequences of the Rays innovation
• Five pitchers who have the stuff to break out this year. Eno Sarris looks at a group of pitchers who were all over the map in terms of quality and results last year, and believes Charlie Morton is one veteran who can hit his next big breakout in 2019.
• With less fanfare, 6-foot-8 former top prospect Tyler Glasnow eager to shine with Rays. Having shed the spotlight of being an organization’s top prospect, Glasnow is ready to grow into maturity as a major league pitcher.

Other Links

• FanGraphs 2019 Top 100 Prospects. Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel present their joint top-100 list, with reports for each player, with Wander Franco at No. 2 overall.
• The Velocity Surge Has Plateaued - Jeff Sullivan has found that velocities have finally leveled out