Friday, December 05

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TAMPA -- The Rays were busy on Tuesday, completing six transactions involving 14 players. All the roster shuffling almost overshadowed the point of the annual reserve deadline: protecting promising prospects from the Rule 5 Draft.  

On that front, the Rays added catcher Dominic Keegan, infielder Jadher Areinamo and right-handed reliever Alex Cook to their 40-man roster. 

"All three of them have really good ingredients to be contributors very short-term and long-term for us, so we're excited to add those three to the stable,” assistant general manager Kevin Ibach said. 

Here’s a closer look at each one. 

C Dominic Keegan 

With the potential to be a bat-first catcher in the big leagues as soon as next year, Keegan -- the Rays’ No. 15 prospect according to MLB Pipeline -- could help solidify a catching situation that always seems to be in transition. 

A fourth-round pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2022 Draft, Keegan put up strong offensive numbers during his first three Minor League seasons before taking a step back with a .241/.306/.429 slash line in 69 games for Triple-A Durham this year. 

Ibach said the Rays “still saw flashes of the of the old Dom Keegan” at the plate this year, and some of his struggles could have been the result of a right elbow injury in Spring Training that disrupted the 25-year-old’s season before it even began.  

"It’s a lot to put on any player, between the injuries and a new level,” Ibach said. “I think he got acclimated to what it's going to take both at Triple-A and the big league level.” 

Keegan’s defense is the bigger concern, especially with how much the Rays prioritize their catchers’ work behind the plate. He’ll have to improve his ability to slow opponents on the basepaths, for one, but Ibach said Keegan’s catching already “has come a long way” in the Minors.  

"Expect a healthy version of Dom going into 2026 just being real nice catching insurance for us as he enters Spring Training,” Ibach said. 

INF Jadher Areinamo 

The Rays traded catcher Danny Jansen to the Brewers for Areinamo in July, knowing they’d only have a few months to evaluate their No. 24 prospect before Tuesday’s deadline. 

They immediately promoted him to Double-A Montgomery, and while he hit just .255/.316/.397 in 37 games compared to his .293/.349/.417 cumulative slash line in the Minors, they liked what they saw. He’s not as close to the Majors as Keegan, but he could work his way there as a contact-hitting infielder. 

Despite an unusual hitting setup in which he whips his bat forward like a lasso -- and a tendency to chase pitches outside the strike zone -- Areinamo doesn’t swing and miss much. As a result, he has only struck out in 12.2% of his Minor League plate appearances while running up a 7.3% walk rate. 

"A little bit of an unorthodox swing,” Ibach said, “but knows how to get the bat to the ball."

Likely to settle in at second base, Areinamo also impressed the Rays with his defense and what Ibach called an “infectious personality” on and off the field. 

"Happy that we made the trade back in July," Ibach added, “and happy to add him to the roster."

RHP Alex Cook 

Cook wasn’t ranked among the Rays’ Top 30 Prospects this season, mostly because he hasn’t pitched much. 

The Rays viewed him as a reliever when they took him in the 12th round of the 2022 Draft, then gave him a shot to start for High-A Bowling Green in 2024. But he only made eight starts that year due to right shoulder issues, so he returned to the bullpen -- “where, honestly, he probably feels most comfortable,” Ibach said -- for Montgomery this year. 

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound righty narrowed his arsenal to fastballs and sliders, with the occasional changeup, and racked up 18 strikeouts with only three walks while recording a 2.30 ERA in 15 2/3 innings for Montgomery.  

His fastball topped out at 99 mph according to Synergy data, averaging 95.8 mph. His upper-80s slider generated a 44% whiff rate and was even better against left-handed hitters. That’s the kind of stuff that occasionally gets a reliever selected in the Rule 5 Draft -- and the kind of stuff the Rays would like to see in their bullpen. 

"He showed a lot of the same stuff that we saw initially out of the Draft, and I think that he's a guy that can help the big league club sooner than later,” Ibach said. "Another guy, just like the other two, that there's always trade interest in. Certainly want to make sure that he makes his debut in our uniform."

• More on Tuesday’s flurry of roster moves. Read more >>

• Updates from Commissioner Rob Manfred on All-Star Week, Tropicana Field and more. Read more >>

• MLB announced new media rights deals with ESPN, NBC and Netflix. Read more >>

• Today is the non-tender deadline. The Rays will non-tender Christopher Morel and Jake Fraley, if they aren’t picked up by another team, and they have a large class of arbitration-eligible players to sort through.

"It's a special place. You'll hear me say the word ‘culture’ a lot, and I don't want to use it lightly. The culture there is real. It's special. It’s what makes that place great. My family and I knew that if we were going to leave, it would have to be for somewhere that was special as well." 

-- Nationals manager Blake Butera, who spent 11 years in Tampa Bay’s organization before taking the Washington job, at his introductory press conference 

Richie Palacios and his brother Joshua hosted their second annual Built Different Baseball Kids Camp on Nov. 8 at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. 

Young baseball players took part in drills and a home run derby, and they got personal advice from coaches and fellow Major League players, including Rays outfielder Chandler Simpson. Palacios said their experience as kids growing up in Brooklyn influenced their desire to host a camp like this, and they’re already working on plans for the next one. 

"For us, it was really important to be that face,” Palacios said, “to come back and show the kids that it’s possible and show them that -- as long as you put the work in and you don’t get distracted and you lock in -- you can do anything in this world."

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