Rays, Ben Gamel Finalizing Minor League Deal

The Rays are finalizing a minor league contract with free-agent outfielder Ben Gamel, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The Wasserman client will be in big league camp and compete for a spot on Tampa Bay’s roster once he passes a physical.

Gamel, 30, spent the 2022 season with the Pirates, appearing in 115 games and tallying 423 plate appearances with a .232/.324/.369 batting line, nine homers, an 11.3% walk rate and a 23.2% strikeout rate. Gamel was one of a handful of platoon options remaining on the free agent market and will give a heavily right-handed Tampa Bay club an option from the left side of the dish if he makes the club.

Gamel has seen Major League time in each of the past seven seasons, dating back to his 2016 debut with the Yankees. He’s a lifetime .253/.333/.385 hitter (97 wRC+) in just over 2200 plate appearances, and while he’s typically been light on power — career-high 11 homers, .132 career ISO — he’s drawn walks at a strong clip for the majority of his big league tenure (10.2%).

Looking at his career as a whole, Gamel’s track record against right-handed pitching is roughly average. That’s skewed somewhat by some shaky performances earlier in his career, however. Dating back to Opening Day 2021, Gamel carries a solid .255/.351/.408 slash against right-handed pitchers — about 12% better than league-average after weighting for his home park and league run-scoring environment, by measure of wRC+. During that time, he’s walked at a stout 13.9% clip in platoon matchups.

Gamel rated as s solid outfield defender early in his career, but publicly available defensive metrics have soured his glovework in recent seasons. Statcast has given decreasingly favorable reviews to his outfield jumps and dropped his arm strength from above-average to roughly average in 2022. Gamel’s sprint speed still landed in the 65th percentile of MLB players in 2022, but he was in at least the 80th percentile in each of his first three MLB campaigns (including an 87th percentile showing in his debut season).

The Rays’ primary outfielders — Randy Arozarena, Jose Siri, Manuel Margot and Harold Ramirez — all bat from the right side of the dish, so there’s plenty of sense in adding some left-handed help. Tampa Bay has lefties Jonathan Aranda, Luke Raley and Josh Lowe on the 40-man roster, plus switch-hitting infielder/outfielder Vidal Brujan. Second baseman Brandon Lowe has some experience in the outfield, too.

Still, of that group of lefty options, none are sure bets. Aranda has mashed throughout the minors but is regarded as something of a positionless nomad on the defensive spectrum. Raley has a huge minor league track record but is 28 and has yet to hit in a pair of big league seasons. Josh Lowe is a former top prospect who’s still searching for an MLB breakout. The same goes for Brujan. As for Brandon Lowe, he’s logged just 331 career innings in the outfield, and last year’s three frames in right field represented the entirety of his outfield work on the season.

Gamel will head to Rays camp as the most experienced outfield option among the team’s non-roster invitees, and presumably with a good spring showing, he’ll have a decent chance at cracking the roster. He does have some experience in center field, though it’s limited and he’s best-suited for corner work. That said, both Siri and Margot are plus defenders at any outfield spot, which lessens the need for the Rays’ reserve options to be adept in center.