Youth Development

The goal of Rays Play Ball is to celebrate youth baseball and softball while simultaneously encouraging participation in all forms of the game. Learn More

Since 2014, the Rays Jersey Program has outfitted more than 100,000 Tampa Bay area Tee Ball players and coaches with jerseys and caps. The program serves nearly 80 leagues in nine area counties and has saved the leagues more than $1 million in equipment costs. As a result of these savings, officials from some of the participating leagues have noted that they have the ability to pass these savings along to participant families. They have also been able to repair their scoreboards, provide upgrades to dugouts, add fencing for fields, purchase additional equipment and grounds crew supplies and repair concession stands and other areas of their facilities.

Every Monday home game, the Rays host players, and coaches from Buddy Baseball, A League of Their Own and St. Petersburg Challenger League, which are non-competitive recreational leagues serving the Tampa Bay community for individuals with unique abilities. They join the Rays players on the field for batting practice and serve as honorary coaches for the National Anthem before enjoying the game in a suite.

Before every Tuesday home game at Tropicana Field, the Rays host a child from the Make-A-Wish Foundation or Children's Dream Fund at the ballpark as a part of a special program called "Tuesday's Champion." Tuesday's Champion, presented by RIPA & Associates, invites the kids, along with their families, to be on the field during batting practice where they can meet and interact with Rays players and coaches. They are then treated to dinner in The Baldwin Group Club before taking the field and throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. Along with these experiences, they are also given a personalized jersey and a bat. The children selected for the program are battling life-threatening illnesses and many come straight from the hospital for this special experience.

In 2010, Rays pitcher James Shields, and his wife, Ryane, along with the Rays, donated a suite to begin a special club for foster children called the Big Game James Club. In 2013, the suite was renamed the Home Run Club following Shields’ trade to the Kansas City Royals. On Opening Day 2023, James symbolically retired as a Ray and the Home Run Club returned to its original name, the Big Game James Club. In partnership with United Concordia Dental, the Big Game James Club will continue to offer a sense of stability and belonging to foster children and support for adoptive families. More than 32,000 suite tickets have been donated. Furthering the organization’s support for foster children and families, the ballpark also plays host to a permanent Heart Gallery exhibit, displaying professional portraits and personal biographies of children waiting to be adopted. The Big Game James Club and Heart Gallery events hosted by the Rays have resulted in numerous adoptions for local foster children.

As part of the Rays partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, each year, Rays employees volunteer to be a Big Brother or Big Sister and mentor a student at Campbell Park Elementary School which is located next to Tropicana Field. In addition to providing guidance and companionship through weekly mentoring, the Bigs also bring their Littles to a Rays game during the season.

The Rays Baseball Foundation presents the Poynter Institute’s Write Field Program with an annual partnership grant. The Write Field program is a free, academic year-long program that teaches African American and Hispanic middle schoolers how to be better writers, communicators, and students. The program meets one Saturday each month during the school year and throughout the program, the boys meet with local journalists, community officials, professional athletes, and business leaders to reinforce the communication skills they will need to complete high school and succeed in whatever they pursue next.