HOME OPENER: Talent is abundant as Biscuits open home season
Biscuits infielder Greg Jones is listed as a member of the Rays’ 40-man roster but the entire system is stacked with players ready to make the big leagues. (File Photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Every year, the Tampa Bay Rays get rave reviews for their farm system. Not coincidentally, the Rays’ success in recent years has resulted in lower draft picks, which drives down their MLB Pipeline Farm System rankings, but the system that includes Triple-A Durham, Double-A Montgomery, High-A Bowling Green and Single-A Charleston consistently ranks among the top 10 in Major League Baseball for developing players.
“This is very much like you’d see on an actual farm,” Montgomery manager Morgan Ensberg has observed in the past. “Our product here is growing. They’re young, they’re maturing. Double-A is the most difficult time in a guy’s career because pitch quality is so much sharper and more consistent in the zone. So the real growing pains happen here. And it’s what every player goes through.”
Tuesday is Home Opener for Montgomery, looking to continue a playoff streak of seven-straight seasons in 2023. The Tennessee Smokies are in town for six games with first pitch slated for 6:25 p.m.
The 2023 roster, as always, includes some of the best future talent in all of baseball, but it’s also an intriguing peek into the mindset of the Tampa Bay Rays, who use Double-A to refine their talent and shape it into a more effective product. Over the past couple of years, players such as Jonathan Aranda, Tyler Frank, Brett Wisely and Ford Proctor have used their time in Montgomery to learn new positions or develop their versatility by playing multiple positions.
“The utility role is a skill and it makes you more valuable than anybody besides catcher,” Ensberg said. “It’s huge for flexibility. The more versatility, the more options or chances you have to get in the lineup, which is the goal. And that is the reason why teams are trying to find guys who can play multiple positions.”
Several players who were on Montgomery’s roster in 2022 have moved up to Triple-A Durham, including pitcher Taj Bradley and infielders Curtis Mead, Kyle Manzardo and Osleivis Basabe, creating a new batch of Biscuits that include some of the Rays’ brightest prospects.
Three, including infielders Greg Jones and Ronny Simon along with pitcher Mason Montgomery, return to the Capital City in 2023. Several other top prospects will join them this season, including pitcher Cole Wilcox and outfielders Mason Auer, Heriberto Hernandez and Tristan Peters.
Speaking of versatility, Auer was a former pitcher at Missouri State and San Jacinto College, which translates into one of the best outfield arms and athletic talent in the Rays’ minor league system. He earned the organization’s “Baserunner of the Year” award for his ability to steal bases and hit 11 home runs last year but also struck out 62 times, a number he needs to lower.
Hernandez was a catcher when the Rays acquired him in a 2020 trade and was named Bowling Green’s most valuable player in 2022 after hitting .255 with 24 homers and 89 RBIs. He, too, needs to bring down his strikeout ratio (he had 155 last year) and may settle into an outfield role or play first base, depending on how the Rays want to develop him.
Peters was originally drafted by the Brewers in 2021, but went to the Giants and then to the Rays, playing 34 games last season in Double-A Richmond. His profile describes him as having explosiveness at the plate, but he only hit one home run at Richmond. He’s another prospect with pretty good base-stealing speed and could play center field this season but is projected as a corner outfielder.
Among the top pitching prospects are Montgomery and Wilcox. Montgomery is the organization’s second-best pitching prospect behind Bradley and was impressive last season in 11 games with the Biscuits, compiling a 3-1 record and 2.48 ERA in 54.1 innings.
Wilcox is one of the more anticipated Biscuits after signing with the Padres out of the University of Georgia, then being traded to the Rays prior to the 2021 season. An injury that required Tommy John surgery sidelined him for virtually all of 2022, limiting him to 16 innings over seven games. The 6-foot-5, 232-pound Wilcox has the frame and showcases a fastball in the mid to high 90s with a devastating slider.
Among the two returning position players are Jones and Simon, rated 16th and 22nd by MLB in its ranking of Rays’ minor-league prospects. Simon has played in the Cubs, Diamondbacks and now Rays’ organizations and hit .271 with seven home runs and 12 stolen bases at Montgomery last year. The switch hitter will need to make the most of his versatility as Ensberg searches for the best fit for his talented infielder.
Another question Ensberg will have to manage is Jones, the only Biscuit on the Rays’ 40-man roster and a former No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft. Jones has all the tools to play at the Major League level, but some in the organization would project him as an outfielder after tying the Biscuits’ single-season record with 37 stolen bases last year. His speed is elite but he hit just .238 last season and has Wander Franco and Taylor Walls ahead of him at the MLB level and top prospect Carson Williams just behind him at High-A.
He’ll be an interesting prospect to keep an eye on this season as the Rays try to figure out how to maximize his potential in a farm system loaded with talent.