Kevin Kiermaier is headed back to Tropicana Field tonight, and he’ll do it in a familiar role: the former Rays center fielder will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between Tampa Bay and the Cleveland Guardians.
For Rays fans, it’s a clean little reunion with one of the franchise’s defining defenders. Kiermaier got to Tampa Bay as a 31st-round pick in the 2010 draft, after teams passed because he already had a commitment to Purdue.
The Rays took the gamble anyway and signed him quickly, and he began making that choice look smart almost right away. Baseball America even said he “could prove to be one of the biggest late-round steals from the 2010 draft.”
What followed was a long run of elite defense and plenty of highlight-reel moments in center field. Kiermaier’s glove carried him from the minors to his Major League debut in game 163 in 2013, and after opening the 2014 season back in the minors, he worked his way onto the big league roster and into the starting lineup. His defense was impossible to ignore, and his offense was solid enough to keep him there.
Over nine seasons with Tampa Bay, plus that one game in 2013, Kiermaier hit .248/.308/.407 with 82 home runs, a 97 wRC+, and 23.6 fWAR across 914 games. He also stacked up the hardware: three Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove in 2015, the award for the league’s top defender overall.
The numbers back up the reputation. FanGraphs’ Defensive Runs Saved data, which goes back to 2003, has Kiermaier with the fifth-highest total in baseball since then and the highest among outfielders. His career also ended with the fifth-highest bWAR all-time for a player taken in the 31st round or later.
After leaving Tampa Bay as a free agent following the 2022 season, Kiermaier landed with the Toronto Blue Jays and added another Gold Glove. In 2024, he said he would retire after the season and split the year between Toronto and the Los Angeles Dodgers, mostly as a defensive replacement. The Dodgers won the World Series, giving Kiermaier his first and only championship ring.
Now he’s back where so much of that story was written, with the Rays trying to even the series against Cleveland and one of their best all-time center fielders back at the ballpark.
In Other News...
Jose Ramirez's Costly Meltdown Just Opened A Big Door For Rays
The Rays got a timely boost in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series when Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez helped turn one fourth-inning sequence into a mess. Cleveland wound up handing Tampa Bay three runs in the inning, a swing that changed the feel of the game and gave the Rays a much-needed opening as the series moved forward.
Ramirez owned the mistakes afterward and said the inning was frustrating, while Guardians manager Stephen Vogt stressed that sloppy plays have to be cleaned up before the series shifts back to Cleveland. For Tampa Bay, the takeaway is simpler: a postseason inning that looked headed nowhere suddenly became a real advantage, and those are the moments that can linger if the Guardians do not tighten things up quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Blake Snell Just Reopened A Kevin Cash Debate Rays Fans Know Well
Blake Snell was back in the postseason spotlight again, and with him came a familiar Rays conversation that never seems to go away. In a recent National League Championship Series game, the Dodgers left-hander worked into the seventh inning before Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell went back-to-back for Milwaukee, changing the feel of the game in a hurry and reminding everyone how quickly October can turn on one decision.
For Tampa Bay fans, the debate is unavoidable because Snell has become the face of a long-running theory about pitchers losing effectiveness the deeper they go into a lineup. His career numbers have been used to illustrate that third-time-through-the-order danger, and every time a manager decides to keep him in, it pulls old Rays memories right back to the surface. Dave Roberts choice to stick with him only sharpened the parallels, even if the comparison still leaves plenty for Rays fans to argue about. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Fans Just Got Hit With A Brutal ALCS Game 3 Change
The ALCS is heading into a pivotal Game 3 with the series tied at one win apiece, but the start time has taken a sharp turn. Major League Baseball has pushed first pitch from 6 p.m. EDT to 1 p.m. EDT, with the matchup between the Rays and Guardians still set to air on TBS and related platforms.
Forecasted rain in Cleveland prompted the adjustment, a move MLB made to keep the series on schedule and reduce the risk of weather complications. For Tampa Bay, it means a much different rhythm for a game that suddenly has even more weight, with the next swing in the series now coming in the middle of the day instead of under the lights. [Read more 🡒]