The Tampa Bay Rays have released the first roster for the 2022 Spring Training season, with 49 players heading for Port Charlotte to begin the Major League exhibition year.
The 49 players in big league camp to begin 2022. #Rays pic.twitter.com/cWzlPXlLkq
— Steve Carney (@stevecarney) March 13, 2022
31 of the players invited to big league camp are pitchers, seven of which are non-roster invitees. Among those invited to major league camp is right-hander David Hess, who returns to the team after being traded to Miami in the middle of 2021, then dealing with a cancer diagnosis which he has recovered from.
The five catchers include both Mike Zunino, back after signing a new deal before the lockout, and Francisco Mejia, as well as new 40-man roster additions Ford Proctor and Rene Pinto, and non-roster invitee Joe Hudson.
Meanwhile, all seven infielders and six outfielders coming to camp are on the team’s 40-man roster, with infielder Jonathan Aranda the only one not to see major league action in 2021.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
