How Rays are approaching this year's Draft
Adam Berry
@adamdberryThis story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ST. PETERSBURG -- Chuck Ricci has been scouting for a living as long as the Rays have been playing games. He started as the mid-Atlantic area scout for Cleveland in 1998, became a regional crosschecker in 2000, served as a national crosschecker from ’05-12 then spent the last nine years in the same role for Tampa Bay.
So, it wasn’t a huge transition for Ricci when he was promoted to director of amateur scouting last October. The role put him in charge of all day-to-day scouting activities leading up to the MLB Draft, which begins Sunday.
“I've done the other roles so much, and for so long, it really hasn't been a big adjustment,” Ricci said Thursday at Tropicana Field. “I've been involved in a lot of decisions, and I think it prepares you to sit in the seat, for sure.”
Ricci remains friends with former senior director of amateur scouting Rob Metzler, who joined the Tigers as an assistant general manager late last year, and said he’s also learned from a pair of former scouting directors in senior advisor/special assistant roles with Tampa Bay -- R.J. Harrison and Bobby Heck. Thanks to them, Ricci has been involved in high-level Draft discussions since Andrew Friedman was running the Rays’ front office.
But Ricci, who spent 11 seasons pitching in the Minors and made seven relief appearances for the Phillies in 1995, also brings his own perspective to the job given his extensive experience as a scout.
“We've been doing it long enough to know that it's very difficult to have a successful Draft if it's not driven by the area scouts,” he said. “If they're not on that player early to start the process, when it needs to be started, it's really hard to play catch-up.”
Here’s more on how the Draft is shaping up for the Rays.
When is it?
Day 1 of the Draft begins at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, airing on ESPN and MLB Network.
Day 2 (Rounds 3-10) starts at 2 p.m. ET on Monday and will be broadcast on MLB.com. Day 3 (Rounds 11-20) gets underway at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, also on MLB.com.
When are their first picks?
The Rays have three picks on Day 1: 19th overall (Round 1), 31st (Competitive Balance Round A) and 55th (Round 2).
How much do they have to spend?
Tampa Bay’s bonus pool is $10,872,100, 13th-largest in the Majors, with a slot value of $3,880,100 for the 19th pick, $2,670,600 for the 31st pick and $1,509,800 for the 55th pick.
Day 1 speculation
It’s all but impossible to project who will fall to the Rays at No. 19, especially with Ricci emphasizing the importance of a flexible approach in a notably deep Draft class.
“It's hard to have any one philosophy,” Ricci said. “You want to be open-minded to any player, any type of player, and I think we're just trying to cast the widest net as we possibly can to get the best player.”
Perhaps the most intriguing possibility linked to the Rays in recent mock drafts, put together by MLB Pipeline’s experts, is third baseman Aidan Miller-- a local product out of Mitchell (Fla.) High School in New Port Richey. Miller is MLB Pipeline’s No. 13 Draft prospect and offers an ideal profile for a corner infielder: a right-handed hitter with plus raw power and all the tools to stick at third base for now.
The Rays have also been connected to Parkview (Ga.) High School shortstop Colin Houck, No. 12; Sinton (Texas) High School catcher Blake Mitchell, No. 14; and Madison (Va.) High School first baseman/right-hander Bryce Eldridge, No. 23, who looks the part of a superstar.
Trend watch
The Rays haven’t locked themselves into picking specific types of players at the top of the Draft, although they have gone heavier on hitters in the early rounds the last two years. They’ve shown some preference for high-upside high schoolers in the early going lately, and they are not afraid to pick players well ahead of where the industry consensus might fall.
Take Xavier Isaac, for instance. He was a surprising first-round selection last summer, in part because he was a high school first baseman and wasn’t a regular presence on the summer showcase circuit. But the Rays believed in his bat and raw power and selected him over some presumably “safer” picks. Same goes for Carson Williams, a toolsy high school shortstop who hadn’t faced much high-level competition before going to Tampa Bay in the first round of the ’21 Draft.
Both players are still in the low Minors, but Williams is the Rays’ No. 2 prospect and Isaac is coming into his own as their No. 9 prospect.
“If you go into this and you want to take a certain type of player, and you're looking for that player, you're probably going to, over time, shortchange yourself,” Ricci said. “You have to be open to any. … You've got to be willing to take chances. It doesn't always work out, but that's kind of the nature of the beast with the Draft.”