Rays Select Raimel Tapia; Place Brandon Lowe, Jason Adam On IL

12:46PM: The Rays also placed Jason Adam on the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain, and called righty Chris Devenski up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.  Adam’s placement was expected after he left yesterday’s game due to injury, and Friday’s appearance was his first since returning from a three-week IL stint with another injury to his left oblique.

11:17AM: As reported yesterday, Brandon Lowe will miss 4-6 weeks of action after suffering a right kneecap fracture.  The Rays officially placed Lowe on the 10-day injured list today, and selected the contract of outfielder Raimel Tapia from Triple-A Durham.  To create a 40-man roster spot for Tapia, Tampa Bay called up Calvin Faucher from Triple-A and placed him on the 60-day injured list due to right biceps tendinitis.

Assuming he gets into a game with the Rays, it will be Tapia’s third different MLB team of the 2023 season, and his fifth club in less than two years after playing with the Rockies in 2021 and the Blue Jays in 2022.  Tapia signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox during the winter and ended up appearing in 39 games for Boston before being released in June.  He signed a big league deal with the Brewers a couple of days later, and played in 20 games before Milwaukee designated Tapia for assignment and subsequently released him.

Overall, Tapia has hit .230/.308/.338 over 158 combined plate appearances with the Red Sox and Brewers this season, as well as a .269/.371/.414 slash line in 124 PA with Durham since the Rays signed the outfielder to a minors contract in early August.

Tapia has a decent .273 career batting average in 2016 career PA in the majors, albeit without much on-base or power numbers, and not much pop to show all of the contact he makes.  Known as an excellent baserunner, Tapia’s speed has helped him beat out some grounders to the tune of a .328 career BABIP, but is more known for being a fourth-outfielder type who can play all three positions in a pinch (though primarily a corner outfielder) and provide bench depth as a pinch-runner.

The left-handed hitting Tapia’s numbers aren’t much better against right-handed pitching than they are against southpaws, but he’ll at least provide Tampa Bay with some balance within their mostly right-handed hitting outfield group.  Randy Arozarena also left Friday’s game due to quad tightness, so with Tapia’s selection, the Rays might be looking to bolster their outfield ranks if Arozarena needs a couple of days off or possibly even an IL stint.

Faucher hasn’t pitched since tossing two-thirds of an inning for Durham on August 13.  His move to the 60-day IL is basically just procedural to open up a 40-man spot, and he’ll at least get some MLB service time and a minimum salary for being shifted to the big league version of the injured list.  The righty also missed a chunk of time earlier this season due to right elbow inflammation, and has a 7.01 ERA in 25 2/3 innings for the Rays in 2023.