The Rays advance and show us that brilliance comes in many forms
By Eno Sarris 7h ago 12
Brilliance doesn’t always look the way you think it will. The Rays keep showing us this in different ways.
That Rays brand is commensurate with analytics, with out-thinking the competition, with innovation and data — and they’ve earned that reputation. This collection of players was plucked from waiver claims, low draft picks and trades, and were employed strategically in unique ways to destroy the league. That’s the brilliance we’ve come to know from them.
The Rays value position players who can put the barrel on the ball, have a good hit tool and hit the ball hard — and find their defensive position later. They value pitchers with spin and ride, and tell them to throw higher in the zone, and
coax more spin efficiency from them with a great pitching development staff. Then they figure out how to piece the puzzle together in new ways that make it difficult for opponents. All of that takes hard science, it takes numbers, it takes a healthy research and development department that is empowered to help make decisions.
But the Yankees have that, after years of investment in their analytics and technology. Do the Yankees give the same amount of attention to the soft science of team building that the Rays
also put on display, proudly, in this series?
Consider
Mike Brosseau, who had the at-bat of the game against Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman. The platoon infielder took nasty sliders in off the plate, fouled off triple-digit pitches and eventually turned on a 100 mph fastball, depositing it in the left-field bleachers for the go-ahead run in a tight game.
“Mike Brosseau is a perfect example of why we feel our organization is so special,” manager Kevin Cash said after the game. “Him at the top, our scouting to recognize it, our player development, our guys pushing and saying to get him up here, he’ll make the most of it.”
Sounds like another Rays find operating at the upper end of his potential. But when asked about it after the game, a beaming Brosseau simply answered, “Just trying to get a runner on and try to get the next guy up.”
You immediately get a sense of how this team feels about each other, and what the Rays might also do well other than talent acquisition.
“Unreal to be a part of, being a part of that moment with Brosseau, you can’t put that into words,” Austin Meadows said later. “It couldn’t happen to a better guy.” He spent more time talking about Brosseau and his team than he did about his own solo homer, which put the Rays ahead in the fifth inning.
“That was very storybook, that was crazy, to go up there and have that kind of at-bat,” starter Tyler Glasnow said of Brosseau’s blast. Here again an impact player — a starter who got the first seven outs without allowing a run, on two days’ rest — highlighting his teammate. “Brosseau is such a good dude, it’s so awesome that it was him. He’s grinded all year long, kind of had sparing playing time and just gone and did that in such a big moment like that.”
“The Element” by Ken Robinson tells the story of Mick Fleetwood’s upbringing and the welcoming, loving household he was born into that looked past some of his learning disabilities.
“In the Fleetwood household, everyone understood that brilliance came in many forms and that being poor at math, or unable to recite the alphabet backward, hardly doomed one to an inconsequential life,” wrote Robinson of the eventual rock star’s family.
The Rays might have something in common with Fleetwood Mac.
“What makes us good is the mentality, how easy it is to come here to play,” said Glasnow of what distinguishes the Rays. “So many of the players here … are guys that have been given a chance, and everyone just comes out and plays their heart out. They can do what they do with lineups and stuff because everyone is just so on board with winning.”
The Rays can do what they do because they
give you a chance, and everyone is
on board.
“The Rays gave me an opportunity when everyone else said no to me, to be on a major-league roster. They gave me an opportunity to play for this wonderful organization. From top to bottom, all the staff that is working for the Rays has treated me wonderfully throughout the years,” Ji-Man Choi said before the game.
“Their belief in me moving forward is all I need,” Hunter Renfroe said last week of the front office, “so I can help the team win no matter what I have to do.”
“At our alternate site, it was very competitive, it was a bunch of good guys who are starters anywhere else,” said Shane McClanahan after his major-league debut Monday, which wasn’t good, and before his second try Wednesday, which was better. “Good clubhouse guys, a great staff. That was a very good atmosphere, every single person there got better, I’m very thankful for having experienced that. I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for all those people.”
“Cash tried everyone in different roles to make them feel comfortable in different roles,” said Pete Fairbanks earlier this week, who was the record 13th pitcher to get a save for the Rays this year — and got it in the postseason. “Anything I can do in whatever inning, like I’ve said.” After Game 5 he said: “I’ll throw till my arm falls off.”
“There’s just something about it, that, I don’t know, just the positivity and the demeanor throughout the whole clubhouse from the front office to the coaching staff to the players and everyone else involved, it’s fun to show up every day,” Rays elder statesman Kevin Kiermaier said before the game. “I love being with these guys.”
“I like to adapt,” said erstwhile closer Nick Anderson, who came into the game in the third inning and got eight outs in relief. “I was ready.”
“It’s a cohesive effort,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said of preparing the bullpen for ever-changing roles. “Between Dewey Robinson, Rick Knapp, Jorge Moncada, the communication we’re getting from those guys, Stan and myself, there isn’t much that’s lost in terms of what we think these guys are capable of. Really prioritizing who they are becoming, and making sure these pitchers understand not just what they are capable of, but what they are capable of being. You have to bring Stan Borowski into the equation, because of his ability to prepare these guys in real time as well as instill confidence.”
This isn’t forced: It seemed like every Zoom went somewhere other than the person being interviewed. This team deflects. This team thanks others. This team supports each other. This team feels the entire staff and front office values them uniquely, sees their potential, and is ready to help them be their best.
So when Mike Brosseau, an iffy-gloved, undrafted iffy-contact hitter from a small college, stepped to the plate against Aroldis Chapman, big-ticket international signing, fire-breathing closer supreme from the New York frigging Yankees, yeah, Brosseau represented the whole Tampa Bay Rays, literally, figuratively and even metaphorically. He went with the full informational and emotional support of his coaching staff, teammates and front office, representing what this team does well just by being there.
“There was that day in 2016 when nobody wanted me,” Brousseau said after the game, but the Rays, “They know what we do well and they put us in the scenarios to do that. We have a lot of guys that may have been overlooked in our careers … when you have that combination together with everybody having that little chip on their shoulder, everybody going to the park ready to play and wanting this team to advance, and to do their part to make sure that happens, it’s a dangerous combination.”
“Hands down the greatest moment I’ve been a part of in baseball,” Cash said of Brosseau’s homer. “What that meant to this team.”
Brilliant.