{"id":326021,"date":"2026-07-01T15:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/326021\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T15:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:01:10","slug":"2026-tampa-bay-rays-top-30-prospects-july-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/326021\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Tampa Bay Rays Top 30 Prospects July Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the calendar flipped to July, Baseball America is back with our latest significant in-season update to Top 30 prospect lists<\/a> for every team.<\/p>\n

Read on below for Rays prospect updates featuring in-depth new intel on prospect additions, risers, fallers, injuries and graduations. You can find July write-ups for all 30 teams here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays Top 30 Prospect Additions<\/p>\n

22. Alexander Alberto<\/a>, RHP<\/p>\n

BA Grade: 45\/Average<\/p>\n

Track Record: Alberto signed with the Rays in November 2019, but he waited four years to make his full-season debut because of the coronavirus pandemic and then a troubling stretch of control issues in the Florida Complex League. The White Sox selected him in the major league Rule 5 draft this offseason, even though he had never pitched above High-A. He was returned to the Rays in March and, after impressing in Double-A, was promoted to Triple-A in mid June.<\/p>\n

Scouting Report: The 6-foot-7 Alberto brings a tantalizing combination of size, extension at just under 7 feet and a nasty fastball. His 97-98 mph cut-fastball touches 101. While it doesn\u2019t miss a ton of bats, it moves enough to generate weak contact, and righthanders rarely ever pull it. Alberto\u2019s primary secondary is a hard sweeper at 85-88 mph that has above-average potential. Just as hitters worry about his fastball cutting in on them, the sweeper arrives to run away from their bats. Alberto\u2019s command and control have improved, and he\u2019s throwing more strikes than ever before in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Future: Alberto projects as a major league reliever and has a chance to pitch in the big leagues in 2026. He could carve out a role as a future high-leverage reliever with subtle hints of an Emmanuel Clase-type arsenal if everything clicks, even if those chances are slim.<\/p>\n

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 65 | Sweeper: 50 | Control: 45.<\/p>\n

28. Adrian Santana<\/a>, SS<\/p>\n

BA Grade: 45\/Average<\/p>\n

Track Record: Santana is the son of a pro infielder, Osmany Santana, and it shows. His defensive acumen and baseball intelligence stood out throughout his amateur career, but there were many concerns about his small size and lack of physicality. He hit 11 home runs as a high school senior, which alleviated some worries. Those concerns about his size remain. He handled his jump to High-A Bowling Green by showing excellent barrel control, but it was essentially all singles in 2025. In his return to Bowling Green in 2026, he\u2019s shown slightly more impact and has already set a career high in home runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scouting Report: Santana is an excellent shortstop thanks to an innate understanding of time. He knows when he needs to rush and when he can slow down. He has an above-average arm, but it\u2019s his feet that stand out. He glides across the infield. Santana is more comfortable making plays to his left than to his backhand. As a hitter, he\u2019s a bottom-of-the-order slap hitter with 20-grade power. Santana\u2019s contact ability is exceptional, but pitchers don\u2019t need to worry if they throw in the zone, and he\u2019ll also chase balls out of the zone. He is a plus-plus runner and an excellent basestealing threat.<\/p>\n

The Future: Santana remains a 155-pound shortstop, and at times, he has struggled to stay at that weight. His defense has a lot of value, and his basestealing and contact skills give him survival skills offensively, but it will be hard for him to find sustained MLB success as more than a utility infielder unless he adds some power.<\/p>\n

Scouting Grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 20 | Run: 70 | Fielding: 60 | Arm: 55. <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Graduations<\/p>\n

None.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Risers<\/p>\n

Michael Forret<\/a>, RHP: Forret was promoted to Triple-A Durham in early June after an extended period of success in Double-A. He really knows how to pitch and shows solid command of all his pitches. He has a pair of bat-missing secondaries in his splitter and sweeper, and looks close to being a major league-ready back-end starter.<\/p>\n

Ty Johnson<\/a>, RHP: Johnson has impressed in Triple-A, striking out 49 in 37.1 innings since he returned from the injured list. He still features only two pitches, but both are major league quality. He looks close to major league-ready and could be a viable contributor to the Rays\u2019 bullpen in the second half.<\/p>\n

Andreimi Antunez<\/a>, SS: Though Antunez hasn\u2019t put up the most impressive surface-level production in the Florida Complex League, evaluators have come away impressed by the 19-year-old shortstop. He has an athletic, projectable frame, and pairs impressive contact skills with sneaky power for his size and the chance to stick at an up-the-middle position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Fallers<\/p>\n

T.J. Nichols<\/a> & Gary Gill Hill<\/a>, RHP: This duo falls into the same camp: intriguing pitchers who are trending more toward the bullpen than they were earlier in the season. Nichols has lost feel for his changeup since he returned from triceps inflammation in mid May and struggled to miss bats in Double-A. Gill Hill has also struggled to miss bats in his first go-around in Double-A. Both are still very talented, but need to show more consistency.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dominic Keegan<\/a>, C: In his second go-around in Triple-A, Keegan has struggled to consistently make contact. His strikeout rate has jumped from 30.9% in 2025 to 36.9% this year, and his groundball rate has also skyrocketed. He was designated for assignment on June 23.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Injuries<\/p>\n

First baseman Taitn Gray<\/a> had surgery to remove a bone chip in his right elbow. He should be back at some point in mid-to-late July.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortstop Daniel Pierce<\/a> had left shoulder surgery, which is likely to end his season, but will allow him to have a normal offseason.<\/p>\n

Righthander Anderson Brito<\/a> had a minor right forearm strain and is expected back soon.<\/p>\n

Outfielder Austin Overn<\/a> was placed on the injured list on May 27 with a right oblique strain.<\/p>\n

Outfielder Slater de Brun<\/a> continues to rehab from a second wrist procedure with the goal still for him to appear in games before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Outfielder Dean Moss<\/a> fractured his hand when he was hit by a pitch near the end of May.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortstop Adrian Santana<\/a> was placed on the injured list on June 6 with a hamstring injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortstop Fabricio Blanco<\/a> has yet to make his professional debut in the DSL due to a stress fracture in his lower back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shortstop Victor Valdez<\/a> missed the first few weeks of the DSL season due to a leg injury, but returned to make his professional debut on June 23.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the calendar flipped to July, Baseball America is back with our latest significant in-season update to Top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-326021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}