Rays’ Rotation Roulette: Who Claims the Final Seat?

With Spring Training just five weeks away from beginning, the Rays have an immense amount of roster uncertainty. With 10 players externally added to the 40-man roster this offseason, it creates plenty of storylines to follow throughout Spring Training.

Arguably, the most fascinating battle entering Spring Training might be the last rotation spot. With returning pitchers Ian Seymour and Joe Boyle appearing as the favorites to land the job, trade acquisition Yoendrys Gomez (acquired in the Everson Pereira trade) also could provide some experience in a major league rotation.

Ian Seymour

After another productive MiLB campaign for Seymour, the Rays decided to give him the call on June 8th. Seymour eventually made his debut the next day, notching his first career win in a thrilling game versus the Boston Red Sox. Ian moved between AAA and MLB, but then was awarded a late-season opportunity to start.

Seymour was very productive in his seven extended opportunities, posting an 18.6 K-BB%. Among qualified MLB starters, Seymour had a zone miss% that would fall in the 90th percentile, as well as a zone% that would rank similarly. Obviously, it did help that he faced some of the league’s worst offenses vs left-handed pitching, including: Washington (78 wRC+), Cleveland x2 (81 wRC+), Baltimore (87 wRC+), and the White Sox (93 wRC+).

Nonetheless, Seymour’s MiLB track record (career 22.7% K-BB%) and positive audition last season make him a legitimate option as the Rays attempt to backfill this last rotation spot.

Joe Boyle

There aren’t too many more talented arms than Joe Boyle in Major League Baseball, but command and control concerns have always held him back from being an everyday major leaguer. Coming into 2025, Boyle struggled with being able to competitively execute pitches, landing in the 20th percentile in zone% in 2024.

Joining the Rays in the Jeffrey Springs & Jacob Lopez swap, the Rays gave Boyle a fairly traditional slider that he throws 5 MPH above the Major League average, leading to a large improvement in strike-throwing. His slider found the zone at a 58.2% mark, and he made jumps in overall zone% by 6.9% (55.2% overall), and his first pitch strike% improved by 6.2% (58.4% overall).

The encouraging signs of growth in just one season in the Rays organization should be able to make him a strong candidate to join the Rays rotation.

Yoendrys Gomez

The Rays acquired Gomez this offseason from the White Sox in an effort to fortify pitching depth. Yoendrys bounced around from three organizations last season, throwing 62.2 innings in totality last season. Gomez wasn’t particularly productive, ending his 2025 campaign with just a 11.2% K-BB% (30th percentile).

Being out of options and paired with the fact that he hasn’t been very productive at the major league level, what makes him intriguing? Gomez gets plus carry (16.5 IVB) on his fastball while accounting for his low-ish slot (33° arm angle).

He pairs his plus four seamer with a plus sweeper that generated a 30.5% whiff% last season as his featured swing-and-miss pitch versus right-handed hitters. His swing and miss pitch vs lefties was a fringe-average curveball that he surrendered a .427 wOBA on and only generated a 25.4% whiff% on. With Gomez being out of options, it makes him quite the storyline entering Spring Training.

With plenty of hotly contested position groups to go over, this one to me profiles as the most fascinating of the bunch, as the Rays have three legitimate options they can turn to. The fact that they have 3 legitimate options to backfill this spot that all profile as positive contributors continues to speak to the talent evaluation, development, and the ability to acquire talented major league caliber pitchers from this organization.