ROY Arozarena prioritizing Rays' return to playoffs

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- How often does a player win the Rookie of the Year Award and return to Spring Training with less hype than the year before?

That’s the curious case of Randy Arozarena in Rays camp.

Arozarena couldn’t have put together a much better rookie season. He hit .274/.356/.459 with 20 home runs, 20 stolen bases and 32 doubles in 141 games for Tampa Bay. On a 100-win team that claimed the American League’s best record and a second straight AL East title, his 4.1 WAR ranked second behind only 10th-place AL MVP finisher Brandon Lowe (4.7), according to Baseball-Reference. Arozarena was an AL Gold Glove finalist in left field. He received 22 of 30 first-place votes and easily finished first in the AL Rookie of the Year Award balloting.

Sounds like the kind of season that would generate an enormous amount of attention, right? Or at least the sort of year that would generate significant buzz about what he might do for an encore? Well, not necessarily. Arozarena already proved last year he could handle the pressure and expectations created by his performance in the 2020 postseason, and it would be impossible to match the hype he created during that record-setting run.

Even Arozarena isn’t all that interested in talking about what he accomplished individually last season.

“My favorite part about last year was how far the team went and how successful we were, being able to win the division, as many games we won as well,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “And I hope to do the same thing this year with them.”

For Arozarena, a lot has changed in a year. For one, there’s no longer any mystery about what he can do in a full season -- unlike last Spring Training, when people were extrapolating his 2020 playoff numbers to jokingly wonder if he’d hit 80 home runs during the 2021 campaign. The 27-year-old has proven what he can do, even with the weight of expectation on his shoulders.

Arozarena had an up-and-down first half in his rookie season, hitting .251/.333/.400 with 10 homers and 96 strikeouts in 82 games before the All-Star break. He took a big step forward in the second half, putting together more consistent stretches at the plate as he hit .308/.389/.547 with 10 homers and 17 doubles in his final 59 games.

And Arozarena was once again great in the playoffs, going 5-for-15 with four walks in the Rays’ AL Division Series loss to the Red Sox. In Game 1, he once again made postseason history by homering and stealing home -- the first time anyone did both in the same playoff game.

“There was nobody that had more pressure on him coming into Spring Training of 2021,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “And it was not easy for him [in the] early going. He really turned it on, his numbers kind of caught up at the end of the year, and then -- lo and behold -- Postseason Randy shows up.

“He's a confident guy, but this game can check you a little bit. And there were probably some times that were deflating to him. He made it look easy. It wasn't easy.”

Something else has changed, though it has nothing to do with Arozarena himself. Wander Franco finished third in the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year voting, but the glimpse of his vast potential last season -- and the mega contract extension he received in November -- has made the 21-year-old a focal point of the Rays’ roster this spring. That’s just fine with Arozarena, who’s had a brotherly relationship with Franco dating back to their time at the alternate training site in 2020.

“The talent that he's got is unbelievable. And everything he does on the field, he definitely makes our team a better team,” Arozarena said. “He deserves [the extension]. And he's definitely going to play with a little less stress when he's out on the field.”

Arozarena might play that way, too, but not for the same reasons. He’s now surrounded by family, with his wife and daughters living in St. Petersburg along with his younger brother, Raiko, a goalkeeper for the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team. He said he’s hoping to help bring his mother and brother to the United States from Mexico, reuniting his entire family, “hopefully sometime soon.”

Arozarena didn’t change much this offseason, maintaining the same routine that brought him success last year. The Rays hope to see him improve even more defensively, and they figure he’ll become a more polished hitter overall with a full season of Major League experience under his belt.

His primary goal this year is simple, and perhaps unsurprisingly given his reputation, he's focused on the postseason.

“It's just being able to stay healthy and continue on with the team, continue to work hard,” Arozarena said, “and hopefully get to the playoffs like I have every year so far.”