In a tweet this afternoon by St. Pete Times Rays reporter Marc Tompkin, it was mention that, “C Jose Lobaton has been called up by #Rays according to several Spanish-language sites. Should know more soon.”
It hasn’t been announced who will be moved from the roster to make room for Lobaton yet. One can assume that Jaso, as opposed to Shoppach, will be seeing less playing time though.
Neither Jaso (.222 BA/.300 OBP/.339 SLG) or Shoppach (.168 BA/.276 OBP/.368 SLG) have been tearing the cover off of the ball, but Shoppach’s defense has been better than Jaso’s this year. By taking a quick look at the dynamic duos WAR (Jaso at 0.4 and Shoppach at 0.7) one can see that Shoppach offers more than Jaso. In short, his defense has made him a better asset, if only slightly.
To that end, the Rays still owe Shoppach $3.1 million, so I don’t see him going anywhere, anytime soon.
So far, Lobaton has done well at AAA Durham, with a slash line of .296 BA/.410 OBP/.489 SLG in 54 games and 224 plate appearances.
More on this as it becomes available.