Jonathan Aranda suffers broken finger, to open season on the IL
Another player ticketed for the Opening Day roster will instead start the season on the Injured List
Injuries continue to ravage the Rays roster this spring as Jonathan Aranda has suffered a broken right ring finger while fielding a ground ball during routine fielding practice on Tuesday. The fractured finger will require surgery and force Aranda to open the season on the Injured List.
Aranda, 25, entered camp as an almost certain lock to make the Opening Day roster. Aranda has been an incredible offensive player while in the minor leagues, and in fact led all qualifying hitters in Triple-A with a 165 wRC+ last season. However, in 66 games at the big league level, his bat has failed to carry over as he has produced .212/.311/.45 with a 89 wRC+ while providing little to negative defensive value. Despite his defensive shortcomings, the Rays were going to give Aranda opportunities to play on the right side of the infield as well as DH’ing, so he would have received ample playing time.
The Rays do have some left-handed hitting internal options already on the 40-man roster that could replace Aranda.
One option to replace Aranda has just been scrapped as the Rays have traded Greg Jones to the Colorado Rockies for LHP Joe Rock.
A player that will be considered is Austin Shenton, who like Aranda is a liability defensively, but could hit enough to warrant a place on the roster. Shenton, who is already on the 40man roster, has offensive tools that grade just below the top tier of Rays prospects, Shenton was phenomenal between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023, hitting .304/.423/.584 with 29 HR over 134 games.
The Rays only have a week to make the decision as Opening Day fast approaches.