Looking at the Rays’ Catching Options for 2026

The catching position has been an area of weakness for the Rays over their entire existence. In recent years, that has become an extreme truth.

Since 2022, the team has had the eighth-lowest fWAR for the position in the majors. They’ve run out of former top prospects, guys with power upside, and other options who haven’t worked out. Unfortunately, the Rays haven’t been able to find a permanent solution in the off-season either.

It’s not the end of the world; many teams approach the position by having multiple “starters.” Who could those starters be this season for the Rays?

Hunter Feduccia

Hunter Fedducia has the highest combination of upside and floor of any name on this list. His floor is one of a slightly below-average defender who could hopefully not be a total loss at the plate. The upside is that he both figures out his framing issues and capitalizes on that offensive upside.

In Triple-A during the 2025 season, he posted an outstanding performance against fastballs. Versus four-seamers, he had a .444 xwOBA.

Feduccia also managed to be productive in general as a power/plate discipline combination. His chase rate was 90th percentile for the Triple-A level, and he had a 43.3 hard-hit percentage.

The bad news is that during his limited time with the Rays over 48 games, he only managed to carry over that good chase rate. His quality of contact marks took a massive dip after getting traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While Feduccia has some potential offensively, he showed signs of concern in a limited sample size last year; his defense is a different story.

The Rays’ track record of improving catcher defense hasn’t quite been proven to be good or bad. They haven’t had a long-term enough catcher to say either way, and guys who have been good in this area were good upon arrival.

So it’s certainly possible the Rays figure something out with Feduccia; he does so on his own, or the challenge system limits the effects of his struggles. He could also very well stay as a below-average catcher. If he hits, that makes it a much easier pill to swallow.

Overall, Feduccia has enough upside to be excited about his role as a long-side platoon catcher for the 2026 season.

Nick Fortes

Nick Fortes is by far the safest of these catching options, but he’s limited offensively. His past three seasons have produced a high wRC+ of 80, which came last season. In 2023 and 2024, he had a wRC+ of under 60 in each year.

An even more discouraging aspect of his profile is the lack of power. His overall process numbers mirror Taylor Walls’, and that’s never a good thing to hear. Fortes has decent enough swing decisions to be a below-average-for-catcher on-base guy, but his lack of power makes even that a difficult ceiling to reach.

Fortes is already 29 and entering his eighth season in professional ball, meaning this is more than likely who he is: a defense-first catcher with no power and a tiny bit of on-base ability.

The good news is that on defense, he will likely be very good and provide a safe option for the Rays for the year. His pop time and framing marks have both been comfortably above-average for most of his career. With the challenge system being implemented, it’ll be interesting to see if his command of the strike zone plays into those decisions.

Fortes is a more “Rays” option in that he is superior to Feduccia defensively. But the signing of Danny Jansen last year suggests the Rays could shy away from that thinking. The distribution of playing time between these two more established major leaguers will be a storyline to monitor in 2026.

Dom Keegan

Dom Keegan has more pop than either of the previous two options mentioned. His youth and work ethic would also suggest he could improve even more, especially given some more seasoning in Triple-A.

So the likelihood of the Rays calling Keegan up in 2026 might be a bit low, but certainly not out of the question. His status as a member of the 40-man roster would suggest that if Fortes or Feduccia struggle or get hurt, Keegan might be the first call.

Of course, the Rays could also seek outside help to avoid rushing Keegan. He’s viewed as the brightest future of the Rays’ catching position.

His upside is predicated almost entirely on that power, but his defense could be even better moving forward. Especially as ABS becomes more prevalent in the majors. He’s struggled a bit with swing decisions and contact. But with his youth and talent, those could both be solved.

Keegan is the least likely of these three options, but his status on the 40-man roster merited discussing him as an option.