With Ha-Seong Kim Gone, the Rays Will Embrace the Future

This news shows that the Rays are going to continue to penny-pinch at every opportunity they get. Kim had about $2 million left on his contract this year and had a $16 million player option for next season that he was certainly going to pick up if he continued to struggle the way he had before his move to Atlanta.

But more than anything, this means that the Rays are ready to give the reins over to Carson Williams as their everyday shortstop. The 22-year-old only just made his debut on August 22, but he’s held his own so far through his first eight big league games.

Good-intention Signing Gone Wrong

Before we dive into Williams and his bright future, it’s only fair to address Kim and his shortcomings in a Rays uniform. The Rays don’t usually hand out significant free agent contracts, so Kim’s two-year, $29 million contract is about as much money as they’ll dish out at once.

Kim, 29, has a long-standing reputation around the league as a solid hitter who can bounce all over the infield and play above-average defense at second and third base, as well as shortstop.

With Taylor Walls unable to nail down his hold on the shortstop gig, Kim was supposed to join Brandon Lowe, Yandy Diaz, and Junior Caminero around the Rays’ infield to quietly give them one of the better groups in the league. Instead, he didn’t make his debut until early in July, struggled in a 24-game showing, and returned to the injured list.

All told, Kim wraps up his tenure in Tampa with a pair of home runs, five RBI, a .214/.290/.321 line with a measly 72 wRC+ and 0.1 fWAR. His value is at an all-time low right now, but the Braves could very well end up as winners here if he can rediscover his form in the last month of the regular season.

For Atlanta, there’s a chance Kim could perform well, pick up his player option, and give them a starting shortstop for next season. According to Dan O’Brien of The Athletic, “it’s not a stretch to imagine [Kim] as [the Braves’] Opening Day shortstop in 2026”.

The best-available free agent option on the shortstop market will be Bo Bichette, but the Braves will face some steep competition to acquire his services. Kim may be the safer route.

As previously mentioned, Kim has a rock-solid reputation, and one injury-shortened year is not going to erase that. All we know for certain right now is that anything is better than the Nick Allen-Vidal Brujan tandem the Braves currently have at short on a daily basis.

With Kim Gone, It’s Carson Williams Time in Tampa

Now that Kim’s out of the picture for this year (and likely next if/when he would’ve picked up that player option) and Walls is heading for free agency in the coming months, the runway has been cleared for Williams.

Williams, Just Baseball’s No. 27 prospect, is one of the best defensive shortstops in the league, with a glove that’s looked big-league ready for quite some time now. Having an elite defensive shortstop is a luxury that few teams have nowadays, and the Rays in particular are sure to uncover every ounce of talent this player has in him. That’s how they roll.

The glove is ready to go, but Williams still has a bit of refining to do offensively, primarily in how often he’s striking out. He struck out 31% of the time in 2023, 28.5% last year, and 34% in Triple-A prior to his promotion this year. Since he debuted, he’s punched out in 36.7% of his plate appearances, but he gets a pass for now due to miniscule sample sizes.

Outside of the swing-and-miss Williams possesses, he’s also got a ridiculous amount of potential in the bat. He’s hit 20 or more home runs and stolen 20 or more bases in each of the past three seasons, topping out at 23 big flies (2023, 2025) and 33 steals (2024). His OPS has remained above-average during this stretch as well, so he’s made up for the strikeout concerns in multiple other ways.

Since debuting in the big leagues, Williams has recorded a pair of doubles with six RBI. Three of those RBI came in his MLB debut where he also hit the first home run of his career.

A Piece of a Bright Future

Williams is just one piece of the Rays’ future, but there’s more promise to go around.

In the outfield, speed demon Chandler Simpson is the Rays’ primary left fielder right now. He’s got no power to speak of (one MiLB home run in three years, zero MLB home runs so far), but he doesn’t strike out much, steals bases at ridiculous rates, and hits for high averages. Even if he’s a singles-only type of hitters, he represents a dying breed of ballplayer. At just 24 years old, he’s young and controllable and will be closing in on 100 steals in a season at the big-league level in no time.

Caminero, 22, needs no introduction. He’s still so young but he was a first-time All-Star this season and is closing in on 40 home runs on the year. Caminero should easily fly past the 40 HR/100 RBI mark this season and is one of the game’s premier sluggers. A Williams-Caminero left side of the infield is just unfair.

Bob Seymour also deserves some love, because the 26-year-old stands at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds and is a Vogelbach-esque thumper. He’s only got 10 games in the big leagues under his belt, but he’s already got his first homer out of the way, and he also hit 30 of them in 105 Triple-A games earlier this season. There’s a fair amount of strikeouts in his game as well, but the power output makes up for some of the K’s. Since he’s closing in on 27, he may not be around as long as the others mentioned here, but he’s got a sweet left-handed swing and sends balls into the next state over.

Xavier Isaac (Just Baseball’s No. 2 Rays prospect) and Tre’ Morgan (JB No. 9 Rays prospect) are 21 and 23 years old, respectively, and could conceivably see time in the big leagues in the next calendar year (especially Morgan). Neither has made their MLB debuts yet, but they’re going to be important parts of this Rays team in the not-so-distant future.