Rays announce Biscuits 2016 Opening Day Roster
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (biscuitsbaseball.com) – Nine of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Top 30 prospects will feature on the Montgomery Biscuits 2016 Opening Day Roster, which was announced by the Rays on Tuesday morning. Of the talented, young group that makes up nearly a third of Tampa Bay’s top minor leaguers, the Rays number three prospect, Willy Adames, and number five prospect, Jake Bauers, highlight the club.
Ranked by MLB.com as the Rays’ third-best prospect, Adames, 20, spent all of 2015 playing for Tampa Bay’s High Class-A affiliate the Charlotte Stone Crabs where he hit a career-high 24 doubles and stole a career-high 10 bases. Adames finished 2015 hitting .258 with four home runs and 46 RBI in 106 games for the Stone Crabs. The shortstop was originally acquired by the Rays in the July 2014 trade that sent David Price to the Detroit Tigers.
Bauers, also 20, will play his second full season in the Rays system after splitting time between High Class-A Charlotte, and Montgomery in 2015. The first baseman went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a solo home run in his Biscuits debut against Chattanooga on June 25, 2015. He finished last season with a .276 average, swatting five home runs and 36 RBI in 69 games for the Biscuits. Bauers was first acquired by the Rays in the 2014 Wil Myers trade with the San Diego Padres.
Joining Adames and Bauers in the infield will be three returners and two players who will make their Double-A debuts. Last year’s Opening Day second baseman Tommy Coyle will return to the Biscuits after hitting a career-high six home runs last year. Infielder Juniel Querecuto will also return to Montgomery, along with shortstop Jake Hager, who spent the 2014 season with the Biscuits before sitting out all of 2015 due to injury. The two newcomers will be first baseman Casey Gillaspie, the Rays number eight prospect, and second baseman Kean Wong, the Rays number 28 prospect.
In the outfield will be 2015 Biscuit and midseason All-Star Johnny Field, along with Granden Goetzman and Braxton Lee. Field finished fourth in the Southern League in home runs last season (14) and led the Biscuits in doubles (33), finishing second on the team in RBI (66). Mike Marjama and returner Jake DePew will round out the positional players as the Biscuits’ catchers.
The pitching staff is made up of eight returners and five newcomers. Right-handers Jeff Ames, Jacob Faria, Taylor Guerrieri, Parker Markel, Jared Mortensen, Brad Schreiber, and Ryne Stanek are returning to the Biscuits, along with left-hander Chris Kirsch. Faria led all of Minor League Baseball in wins last year (17) and was the 2015 Florida State League co-Pitcher of the Year, while Schreiber finished 2015 with the second-most total saves in Rays minor league history (30) in his time spent between High Class-A Charlotte and Montgomery. The newcomers include right-handers Buddy Borden, Chih-Wei Hu, and Brett Marshall, and left-handers Steve Ascher and Adam Kolarek.
“It’s an exciting team,” said Biscuits manager Brady Williams on Monday afternoon. “We’ve got some returning players, and then some players that were on a championship team in Charlotte last year. It’s a good mix of young players.”
Left-handed pitcher Grayson Garvin and catcher Justin O’Conner are on the Biscuits disabled list.
