Tampa Bay Rays Prospect Wil Myers To Debut on Tuesday

Welcome to the big leagues, Wil Myers.

The Tampa Bay Rays announced on Tuesday that they will be promoting their #1 prospect to the Majors, and the long-awaited debut of one of the game’s future stars has arrived. Myers was acquired from Kansas City in the off-season in a deal for James Shields, and ever since the day of that move, Tampa Bay Rays fans have clamored for his services with the Major-League club.

Myers has slugged over .500 in each of his past two minor league seasons, and in 2013, his .286/.354/.514 slash line with 14 home runs in just 288 plate appearances was good enough for promotion. Myers is a former catcher, but he profiles as a high-end corner outfielder, and there were rumors of Tampa Bay’s reluctance to call him up based on defensive limitations.

However, GM Andrew Friedman and company have decided that it was time to unleash Myers on the league, and he’ll debut on Tuesday in one or both of the two games of a double-header against the Red Sox. After a very slow start to this season at the plate, Myers reestablished his bat in a big way over the past few weeks, and with the struggles of DH Luke Scott (slugging .388 on the year), there was a ready-made spot for Myers upon arrival.

The level of Myers’ production for 2013 is certainly an unknown as he arrives. With that said, he is clearly the #1 prospect in the organization, and with Tampa Bay struggling, it was the easiest common sense move for the organization. Couple that with the passing of the “Super 2” deadline (to avoid giving Myers an extra year of arbitration), and it was suddenly a no-brainer. It will incredibly interesting to see how Joe Maddon deploys the ever-changing Tampa Bay lineup, but I would expect to see Myers on most days for the foreseeable future.