Marc Topkin offered a write up on Yandy Diaz’s journey to the Rays roster, including the harrowing 12-hour escape he made when he defected from Cuba, his fourth attempt to pursue a career in the big leagues.

The experience was “akin to human trafficking,” and Diaz’s mother remains in Cuba. The second half of the article also profiles carious Rays players’ impressions of Diaz.

Rays News

• 5 things learned during Rays’ first week - Juan Toribio shares his early impressions from Rays camp
• Guillermo Heredia may be quite a catch - After an impressive day in camp, Topkin shines a light on a secondary piece of the Mallex-Zunino swap.
• Baseball Prospectus previews the 2019 Rays: Here’s what’s ahead for Blake Snell, Kevin Kiermaier and Tommy Pham - Tom Bassinger offers his observations from the BP annual
• BP released their 2019 Prospects Organization Rankings and holy shirt balls it heavily features quotes from The Good Place. The Rays are second, with a positive caveat: “Pretty much any other year the Rays would be the no. 1 system in baseball.”
• Getting to Know — Mike Brosseau - Neil Solondz profiled the ZiPS darling
• Ian Gibaut injury update:

• Squid won the annual rookie Rays Idol competition, rapping Meek Mill’s “Dreams & Nightmares”

Sound Bites

Kevin Cash debriefs the media after workouts yesterday:

Emilio Pagan discusses his experience throwing BP (Willy and Wendle posted great at bats)

AV briefly discusses his Rays Idol performance

Spoiler alert: Lucius Fox profile coming tomorrow from Neil, here’s the audio. Fox is a great interview.

Other Links

• Jeff Sullivan: The Padres Are Actually Signing Manny Machado | It Seems Unlikely Scott Boras Has a $300-Million Bid for Bryce Harper
• Hackers broke into Tampa Mayor Buckhorn’s twitter account