Tampa Bay Rays Go Heavy on Pitching at 2023 MLB Draft, Add 14 Arms to Farm System

After selecting only position players in the first four rounds of the draft, the Rays front office switched gears to reload on young pitchers for the future.

The 2023 MLB Draft is over, and the Tampa Bay Rays made sure to get more than their fair share of pitchers before it ended.

Tampa Bay opened up its draft by selecting TCU shortstop Brayden Taylor at No. 19, Doral Academy (FL) shortstop Adrian Santana at No. 31 and Mississippi State outfielder Colton Ledbetter at No. 55. Even the club's third and fourth round picks – LSU first baseman Tre' Morgan and Texas A&M outfielder Hunter Haas – were position players.

The front office took a hard pivot over the next few days, though, scooping up 14 pitchers with their final 16 picks.

The Rays' farm system entered the season ranked No. 6 in the league, according to MLB.com, with right-handed pitcher Taj Bradley leading the way as the No. 20 prospect in baseball. The 22-year-old Bradley has since graduated, though, making 13 starts with a 5-5 record a 5.43 ERA so far in the big leagues.

As a result, Tampa Bay's top four prospects are all infielders, and only four of their top 24 prospects are pitchers.

That could soon change with all of the arms coming into the system, despite none of them coming off the board in the top 150 picks. Tampa Bay has had more success developing pitchers than maybe any other franchise over the last 15-plus years, producing James Shields, Scott Kazmir, David Price, Wade Davis, Jeremy Hellickson, Matt Moore, Alex Cobb, Chris Archer, Blake Snell, Shane McClanahan and others in that span alone.

Here are the pitchers the Rays picked up at the 2023 edition of the draft, 11 of whom came out of the college ranks:

Round 5, Pick 156: RHP Trevor Harrison, JW Mitchell HS (FL)

Round 6, Pick 183: RHP TJ Nichols, Arizona

Round 7, Pick 213: RHP Owen Wild, Gonzaga

Round 8, Pick 243: LHP Drew Dowd, Stanford

Round 9, Pick 273: LHP Dalton Fowler, Memphis

Round 10, Pick 303: RHP Adam Boucher, Duke

Round 11. Pick 333: RHP Garrett Edwards, LSU

Round 12, Pick 363: RHP Chandler Murphy, Missouri

Round 14, Pick 423: LHP TJ Foundtain, San Diego State

Round 15, Pick 453: RHP Will Stevens, Tarleton State

Round 17, Pick 513: RHP Hayden Snelsire, Randolph-Macron College

Round 18, Pick 543: LHP Jeremy Pilon, Ecole Secondaire du Chene-Bleu (QC)

Round 19, Pick 573: RHP Owen Stevenson, Arizona State

Round 20, Pick 603: RHP Max Stanley, Douglas County HS (CO)

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