Tampa Bay Rays add four to the 40-man roster, complete two trades

The Tampa Bay Rays have added four players to their 40-man roster: INF Jonathan Aranda, RHP Calvin Faucher, C/INF Ford Proctor, and RHP Tommy Romero. The Rays made two trades during their slew of moves, sending RHP Brent Honeywell to the Oakland Athetics for cash considerations and RHP Tobias Myers to the Cleveland Gaurdians* for low-level minor league INF Junior Caminero. The Rays made official their release of LHP Dietrich Enns.

Romero, 24, came to the Rays in the trade that sent Alex Colome and Denard Span to the Seattle Mariners in 2018. Since joining the Rays organization, Romero has consistently been solid, but in 2021 he really took a step forward in his development. He finished the year with the Durham Bulls, having thrown in 23 games between Double-A and Triple-A, compiling a 33.3 K% and 7.1 BB% and finishing with a 2.61 ERA over 110 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched.

Faucher, 26, joined the Rays at the 2021 trade deadline as part of the dead that brought Nelson Cruz to Tampa Bay. Typically a bullpen arm, Faucher made three opens in Durham and has appeared in 13 games total with the Rays organization. During that time, Faucher has allowed just four runs on 18 hits, while he has walked eight and struck out 33 over 26 ²⁄₃ innings pitched.

Proctor, 24, was drafted by the Rays in the 3rd round of the 2018 draft. He isn’t the most fearsome of hitters in a lineup, but he has shown a propensity for getting on base. Over his three years in the minor leagues, Proctor has an on-base percentage of .374, with it steadily increasing each year. All the while, Proctor has been playing all over the diamond and during the pandemic, he added a catcher’s mitt to his repertoire. During the 2021 season, Proctor spent 58 games behind home plate, to go along with the myriad positions he played during the regular season.

Aranda, 23, is a hitter who just smacks the baseball whenever he is up at the plate. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have very strong defensive skills. Nonetheless, his skills with the bat may be enough to propel him onto the Rays roster one day. During the 2021 season, he hit .325/.410/.540 over 322 plate appearances in Double-A.

*Guardians name is official as of Friday