Much of the Tampa Bay Rays’ success in their most winning season of all time in 2021 was attributed to strong offensive performances from Lowe, Franco, and Arozarena as well as an emergence of a powerful, young rotation led by McClanahan, Baz, and Rasmussen. The bullpen led MLB in team WAR (per Fangraphs) with Andrew Kittredge and Collin McHugh combining for 4.2 WAR (per Baseball-Reference) together, creating one of the most formidable duos in the backend of a bullpen. But success in Tampa Bay cannot be talked about without mentioning team defense.
Almost every team in the league knows how important defense is: saving a run is just as important as scoring a run. Centerfield and shortstop have become incredibly important positions for accumulating defensive WAR as more teams have shifted their focus to giving playing time to glove-first players rather than ones with pretty batting lines. It’s a philosophy that some of the top teams in baseball have adopted with organizations such as the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers prioritizing defensive studs over pure hitters. The Rays also find themselves within this same tier of high defensive value teams and perhaps no team has constructed a better defensive outfield than that of Tampa Bay’s. The trio of Kevin Kiermaier, Brett Phillips, and Manuel Margot is scary good.
It doesn’t have the same ring to it maybe as teams featuring Betts and Bellinger, Judge and Gallo, or Tucker and Alvarez but it’s comparable to all of them nonetheless. What makes this big three so good, is their gloves. By no means do their hitting prowesses even compare to that of the aforementioned great outfielders but it doesn’t matter, simply due to the fact that they can defend so well. To see where these three stack up compared to the rest of the league, we only need to look to the combined WAR of all three: Kiermaier (3.4), Margot (2.8), and Phillips (2.4), according to Baseball-Reference add up to 8.6. 8.6! To really put things into perspective, the best pure hitter in baseball right now and future face of the game, Juan Soto accumulated 7.1 WAR (per Baseball-Reference) in 2021 (his best season yet) and was still a whole 1.7 WAR behind Tampa Bay’s super three. This is an astounding mark as it shows just how well the Rays’ defensive philosophy is being implemented. Not to mention, 2021 ROY Randy Arozarena started 119 games in the outfield during the season, showing that the three were putting up these numbers without even a starting job (except Kiermaier). Now granted, I am comparing three players to one, which when put like that doesn’t seem fair to compare but I’m also comparing arguably the best player in baseball with three hitters who had an average BA of .240 (per Baseball-Reference) and two of whom were without starting jobs. And if we want to go further into how good these three are using some of the best defensive data available, then we only need to look to Baseball Savant. Among all qualified hitters in 2021, the trio of Kiermaier, Margot, and Phillips were all in the top 8 in OAA (outs above average). It’s impressive for just one fielder from a team to be on that list, but three? That’s just unfair.
So what does this all mean? Well, for one thing, it reinforces the idea of how little power just one player has on a team, no matter how amazing they are. Baseball is the epitome of a true
team sport where the entire team is needed to pull their weight in order to win games. Absolute firecrackers of talent such as Soto, Tatis, Guerrero Jr., and Ohtani are the most entertaining players to watch in baseball right now and draw in millions of fans across the nation but another thing that is shared among the four of them is that all of them were sitting at home come October baseball. And while that is more of a discredit to their organizations not surrounding them with
enough talent, it bolsters the idea of how important depth is. What these three outfielders show me is that the Rays have perfected the art of roster construction. While every team should always be trying to find that next generational star (the Rays certainly did with Franco), they should also be seeking to build the most balanced roster possible. I’m not trying to argue against building a team around one superstar, though the Angels and Phillies have certainly helped contribute to that argument, instead, I am trying to highlight the importance of multiple players who all do their jobs very well. And if there is a gold standard in the baseball industry of a team that does that best, it’s Tampa Bay. Kiermaier, Margot, and Phillips are all set to return for the Rays in 2022 (barring a Kiermaier trade that could happen any moment) but there are more on the way for the Rays who will be carrying on the legacy of great defense. Taylor Walls got his first cup of coffee at the big league level last year and in only 54 games put up a 1.5 WAR from his defense alone despite hitting a measly .211 with a .296 SLG (per Baseball-Reference). Look for him to be getting a lot of reps at shortstop and second base with the departure of Joey Wendle.
Baseball is always changing like everything in life. The game is not static and is always becoming more cutting edge for how teams can find just one more advantage to push them over
that threshold and into winning a championship. And I think a major change is happening right now across MLB with how teams will start valuing defense. Each year we see more one-dimensional, slow DH types fading out of the league for young, speedy fielders with amazing range and arms, even if it means less hitting. And, I also have a suspicion that Tampa Bay’s super three will bring along a new wave of teams stacking their rosters with glove-first players at prime defensive positions. Because once a small market team can win 100 games in arguably the most stacked division in baseball with lots of help from this strategy, then you can bet that other teams will take note of it.