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Rays send eight players to Arizona Fall League for 2025

The Rays are sending eighth players to the Arizona Fall League this year:

RHP Mason Auer
RHP Jackson Baumeister (No. 10 FanGraphs, No. 21 MLB Pipeline)
RHP Jadon Bercovich
RHP Andrew Lindsey
RHP Jonathan Russell
INF Brayden Taylor (No. 19 Baseball America, No. 5 Fangraphs, No. 25 MLB Pipeline)
OF Brailer Guerrero (No. 18 Baseball America, No. 8 FanGraphs, No. 9 MLB Pipeline)
OF Aidan Smith (No. 17 Baseball America, No. 20 FanGraphs, No. 6 MLB Pipeline)

Among the pitchers Auer is unique in that he recently converted to pitching after struggling in multiple seasons to bat at the Double-A level. Auer previously played for the Solar Sox in 2022 as an outfielder.

Others are returning form injury and needs more reps, including:

Baumeister, injured list from June 3 - August 17
Bercovich, activated June 19
Lindsey, activated July 2, injured August 8-28

20-year old Jonathan Russell was promoted to High-A Bowling Green on September 9 after posting a 2.45 ERA on 40.1 IP with 48 strikeouts.

On offense, Taylor and Smith struggled mightily in the first half of the season, but have since rebounded nicely and will look to continue that momentum into the off-season program, while Guerrero had yet another season with injury in Charleston from June 24 - August 20, making Arizona a place he can face some more challenging pitchers while also making up for lost time.

The Rays will be assigned to the Mesa Solar Sox in 2025. Joining these players will be Brett Schneider as Hitting Coach.