The Rays have a trio of names making noise early enough in the season to start stirring up real award chatter: Drew Rasmussen, Nick Martinez and Junior Caminero.
Rasmussen is the one drawing the loudest praise. He’s been off to a strong start, and the buzz around him has only grown as some around the game have started talking about him as one of baseball’s most underrated pitchers. Christian Rauh didn’t hide his view of how he stacks up in the AL Cy Young picture.
“As much as I think he is one of the frontrunners, he isn't getting the respect he deserves. Just this week, MLB Network put him off a list that included what they believed as the top 25 pitchers in the league.
Unreal disrespect. He has the numbers to battle with Schlittler and Cease, but those other AL East markets are overshadowing his performance.”
Martinez is right there in the mix too, and the question now is whether he can turn that fast start into an All-Star nod next month. The answer from the roundtable was a pretty firm yes on the performance, with the usual warning that recognition isn’t always guaranteed.
“Martinez has been sensational and absolutely should be an All-Star, but it would obviously not be shocking to see him get snubbed. Get your votes in Rays fans!”
Rauh agreed Martinez belongs in the game and noted there was a stretch when he could have even been viewed as a possible starter before that idea faded.
“He definitely needs to be. I think there was a moment this season when he might have been seen as a potential starter, but that has passed him by. I do think he deserves a spot though.”
Then there’s Caminero, who is taking his game to another level and forcing people to think bigger than last year’s ninth-place finish in AL MVP voting. The question is whether he can crash the top of the race in 2026.
The roundtable didn’t shy away from how steep that climb would be. One take was that Caminero is almost certain to finish higher than he did in 2025, but winning the award would require a huge second half.
“Caminero is absolutely going to have a higher finish than last year, but he would have to go absolutely nuclear during the second half of the year to actually win the award. Aaron Judge being out of the race is huge for all involved, but Yordan Alvarez, Nick Kurtz, and Bobby Witt Jr. will all be tough to beat. He's certainly in the conversation, though”
Rauh’s view was more straightforward: keep sending balls out of the park, and the voters may have no choice.
“If he keeps hitting home runs the way he is, it will be hard to deny him. Sure, he might be behind a few players right now, but if he reaches 45 homers for the second straight year, the decision could be very difficult for voters. One thing is for sure, he will definitely finish better than he did last year, when he placed 9th in the MVP voting.”
For Tampa Bay, it’s a good problem to have: three players, three different award tracks, and all of them in the middle of seasons that are already impossible to ignore.
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Cedric Mullins supplied the biggest swing, and the Rays also flashed the kind of defense that has helped fuel this run. With the club now at 51-33 and sitting four games up in the division, the bigger question is how long this pace can hold as the schedule keeps moving and the pressure starts to build. [Read more 🡒]