Most anticipated Rays big league debuts

ST. PETERSBURG -- Every player’s Major League debut is special. Only some can be considered events.

The Rays have had their share of those highly anticipated debuts throughout the history of their franchise. They’ve already witnessed a few this season, in fact, from Brent Honeywell Jr.’s long-awaited first start to Taylor Walls’ quick ascent to replace Willy Adames. And they’re about to see another one on Tuesday following the promotion of two-time top overall prospect Wander Franco.

Before Franco takes the field, let’s look back at some of the most anticipated Major League debuts in Rays history.

Evan Longoria
Date: April 12, 2008

This was about talent and timing. Tampa Bay’s team had dropped the Devil, become the Rays and moved into a new era. The only thing missing was a young, exciting, homegrown franchise player to anchor the lineup every day. Enter Longoria, the third overall pick in the 2006 Draft who began 2008 as Baseball America’s No. 2 prospect. He broke into the big leagues less than two years after he was drafted and wound up signing a pair of long-term contracts before being traded to the Giants after a decade with the Rays.

It’s hard to imagine anyone living up to the hype more than Longoria did. The third baseman was a star from the start, winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award and becoming an AL All-Star in 2008, and he immediately helped lead the Rays to their first AL pennant. He was a legitimate face of the franchise, representing the team well on and off the field and bringing national star power to a smaller-market team. He was responsible for some of the best moments the Rays have ever had. And it will probably be quite some time before anybody takes away his title as the greatest player in franchise history.

David Price
Date: Sept. 14, 2008

Price was as much of a can’t-miss prospect as there can be, and indeed, he didn’t miss. The left-hander was selected first overall in the 2007 Draft out of Vanderbilt University and made all of 19 appearances in the Minors before the Rays called him up to bolster their playoff-bound 2008 club. Used mostly out of the bullpen in his debut run, Price was on the mound when Tampa Bay clinched an AL Championship Series victory over Boston.

Despite not pitching during the 2007 season, Price was Baseball America’s No. 10 prospect entering ’08. The Rays aggressively promoted him from Class A Advanced to Double-A to Triple-A in the span of three months, and he dominated with a 2.30 ERA and a strikeout per inning on his way to Tropicana Field. Like Longoria, Price lived up to the hype as a homegrown ace and the club’s first AL Cy Young Award winner in 2012.

Delmon Young
Date: Aug. 29, 2006

In hindsight, Young’s greatest impact on the franchise was the trade tree that produced such key players as Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, Chris Archer, Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows, and that legacy will likely continue for quite some time considering prospect Shane Baz is also still a part of it. But Young was considered a special talent, the first overall pick in the 2003 Draft and Baseball America’s top prospect entering the 2006 season. He dominated at Triple-A Durham that season, hitting .316 with 22 steals in 86 games before his debut. He finished second in the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year voting, then the outfielder was shipped out to Minnesota in the deal that keeps on dealing.

Matt Moore
Date: Sept. 14, 2011

Take a look back, if you will, at MLB.com’s Top 100 Prospects list entering the 2012 season. Specifically, the top three, in reverse order. Mike Trout. Bryce Harper. Matt Moore. The left-hander was the best pitching prospect in baseball without question and the No. 1 overall by our rankings, with no doubts about his potential to be a front-line starter. An eighth-round Draft pick in 2007 out of Moriarty (N.M.) High School, Moore was putting up video game numbers in the Minors. For Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham in 2011, the lefty went 12-3 with a 1.92 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP and 210 (!) strikeouts in 155 innings over 27 starts. The hype was justified, and he was so good right away that the Rays -- fresh off Game 162 -- handed Moore the ball in Game 1 of the 2011 ALDS. All he did was hold the Rangers to two hits over seven scoreless innings in a 9-0 win.

B.J. Upton
Date: Aug. 2, 2004

Upton was considered the top talent available in the 2002 Draft, and he quickly put himself in the running to be ranked the top prospect in the Minors within the next two years. But then there was Upton, all of 19 years old, debuting in the Majors a little more than two years after he was picked second overall out of high school. Upton began the ’04 season as Baseball America’s No. 2 prospect, and he showed all of his gifts for Triple-A Durham that season as he hit .311/.411/.519 with 12 homers and 17 steals in 69 games. It might be easy to forget that Upton, who turned into one of the Rays’ best center fielders, came up as an infielder for the Devil Rays. He wound up spending 2005 in the Minors before returning in ’06 and breaking out with a 4.4 bWAR season in ’07.

Rocco Baldelli
Date: March 31, 2003

Drafted sixth overall out of Rhode Island in the 2000 Draft, Baldelli could do it all. He could hit, run, throw, field -- you name it -- and it all came together for him in the Minors in 2002. Only 20 years old at the time, the center fielder climbed from Class A Advanced Bakersfield to Double-A Orlando to Triple-A Durham while posting a .331/.370/.521 slash line with 19 homers, 71 RBIs and 26 steals in 117 games. He checked in at No. 2 on Baseball America’s preseason top 100 list heading into the 2003 season, when he cracked the Devil Rays’ Opening Day roster, played 156 games with 2.9 bWAR and wound up finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year Award voting. Injuries and ailments kept him from reaching his ceiling as a player, but Baldelli looked like something special when his career began.

Honorable mentions

Wil Myers: June 18, 2013 -- The key to the Rays’ return in the James Shields/Wade Davis trade began the year as MLB.com’s No. 4 prospect and raked his way to AL Rookie of the Year honors.

Scott Kazmir: Aug. 23, 2004 -- Practically stolen from the Mets less than a month before his debut, Kazmir was regarded as one of the game’s finest pitching prospects and showed why with Tampa Bay.

Willy Adames: May 22, 2018 -- The young centerpiece of the Rays’ return for Price, Adames provided instant energy and infield defense. After the farm system dried up for a few years, he was the tip of the spear of young talent that is still rolling into The Trop today.

Blake Snell: April 23, 2016 -- The Rays’ 2011 Draft haul didn’t yield much, but Snell was a monster in the Minors -- check his 1.41 ERA in 2015 -- who became the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner.

Jeremy Hellickson: Aug. 2, 2010 -- “Helly” entered 2010 as a top 20 prospect in baseball, added depth to the AL East championship club and won the 2011 AL Rookie of the Year Award.

Desmond Jennings: Sept. 1, 2010 -- He was a top 10 prospect in 2010 and a clear successor to Carl Crawford. He had some fine seasons, especially in the field, but never quite lived up to the hype.

Brendan McKay: June 29, 2019 -- The two-way prospect threw six scoreless one-hit innings in his debut, then stepped up to the plate as the DH two days later.

Brent Honeywell Jr.: April 11, 2021 -- One of the game’s top prospects entering 2018, Honeywell endured four elbow surgeries in the 3 1/2 years between his last Minor League game and his long-awaited debut.