Rays add four players to 40-man roster
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—In advance of tonight’s reserve list deadline, the Tampa Bay Rays have selected four players to their 40-man roster: infielder Jonathan Aranda, right-handed pitchers Calvin Faucher and Tommy Romero and catcher/infielder Ford Proctor. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rays unconditionally released left-handed pitcher Dietrich Enns and traded right-handed pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr. to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations. In addition, the Rays have traded right-handed pitcher Tobias Myers to the Cleveland Guardians for minor league infielder Junior Caminero.
Aranda, 23, won the 2021 Double-A South Most Valuable Player Award and was named Team MVP for Double-A Montgomery. He split the season between High-A Bowling Green and Montgomery, batting .330/.418/.543 (115-for-348) with 22 doubles, 14 home runs and 65 RBI in 100 games. He hit .325/.410/.540 (89-for-274) with 19 doubles, 10 home runs and 58 RBI in 79 games for the Biscuits and led Double-A South in avg., on-base pct. and slugging pct. Between the two levels, he made starts at first base (46), second base (31), third base (14), designated hitter (5) and shortstop (1). Following the season, he played for Obregon in the Mexican Winter League. He was signed by the Rays as a free agent out of Mexico on July 2, 2015.
Faucher, 26, was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in the Nelson Cruz trade on July 22. Between the two organizations, he went 1-1 with a 4.53 ERA (55.2-IP, 28-ER) in 32 appearances in 2021, including a 1.44 ERA (25-IP, 4-ER) in 13 appearances in the Rays system. He is 11-7 with a 4.21 ERA (184-IP, 86-ER) in 107 appearances over parts of four minor league seasons. He was selected by the Twins in the 10th round of the 2017 Amateur Draft out of the University of California, Irvine.
Proctor, 24, hit .244/.381/.419 (75-for-308) with 12 doubles, 12 home runs and 47 RBI in 97 games with Montgomery last season and made starts at catcher (57), shortstop (24), third base (5), designated hitter (4) and second base (3). He ranked among Double-A South leaders in runs scored (54, eighth), walks (63, third) and on-base pct. (.381, second). He hit .299/.419/.522 (60-for-201) with 12 doubles, nine home runs and 38 RBI in 62 games from the start of July through the end of the regular season. He is currently ranked by MLB.com as the No. 30 prospect in the Rays system. He began a transition to catching with the Perth Heat following the 2020 season, when he led the Australian Baseball League with a .452 on-base pct. Over three minor league seasons, he is a .268/.374/.393 (266-for-993) hitter with 19 home runs and 124 RBI in 278 games. He was selected by the Rays in the third round of the 2018 Amateur Draft out of Rice University.
Romero, 24, split the 2021 season between Montgomery and Durham, going 8-2 with a 2.61 ERA (110.1-IP, 32-ER) in 23 appearances (21 starts). He was promoted to Durham on July 20 and made his final 12 starts with the Bulls, who won the Triple-A National Championship. He is currently ranked by MLB.com as the No. 18 prospect in the Rays system. In 2019, he was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year, going 12-4 with a 1.89 ERA (119.1-IP, 25-ER) in 23 appearances (18 starts) for Class-A Charlotte. He was acquired by the Rays in May 2018 in the trade sending Alex Colomé and Denard Span to the Seattle Mariners. In four minor league seasons, he is 37-11 with a 2.52 ERA (407-IP, 114-ER) in 85 appearances (67 starts). He was selected by the Mariners in the 15th round of the 2017 Amateur Draft out of Eastern Florida State College.
Caminero, 18, hit .295/.380/.534 (43-for-146) with eight doubles, nine home runs and 33 RBI in 43 games for the Rookie-level DSL Indians Red in 2021, his first professional season. He tied for second in the Dominican Summer League in homers and ranked fifth in slugging pct. He was signed by Cleveland as a free agent out of the Domincan Republic on July 5, 2019.