I am doing a series where I offer up three fantasy baseball questions for every MLB team. I look at under-the-radar stats, playing time projections, projected roles, and off-season news to try and highlight the issues facing you in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We’ll do this thing in divisional order, and this time around I’ll consider three questions for the 2025 Tampa Bay Rays.
3 Fantasy Baseball Questions for the 2025 Tampa Bay Rays
Will Eloy Jimenez Bounce Back This Year?
The biggest problem for Eloy Jimenez in his career has been his inability to stay healthy. Aside from his rookie year in 2019, Jimenez hasn’t played more than 120 games and that was his only season with more than 98 games. In fact, that came last season even though, statistically, it was the worst year of his career.
Between his time with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, Jimenez hit just six home runs to go along with 23 RBI while batting .238. That was a far cry from what we had become accustomed to from Jimenez whose ISO was just .099. While Jimenez did have a 49% hard hit rate, his barrel rate dropped to 7.8% which makes sense considering his struggles. However, there was a substantial gap between his .336 SLG and .382 xSLG which does generate some optimism.
Jimenez switched teams again this winter and now has a fresh start in front of him with the Rays. It’s the time for cliches, but Jimenez is seemingly in the best shape of his life, or at least on par with it, after dropping 25 to 30 pounds. Tampa Bay will be creative with his usage, and we’ve already seen him in the outfield and at first base. At age 28, there should be a lot more baseball left for Jimenez, and it’s possible the Rays unlock that. The good news is that it’s free to find out whether or not Jimenez is successful.
Does Pete Fairbanks Have the 9th Inning to Himself?
We know that the Rays like to ride the hot hand in the bullpen while spreading the saves around. Even with that being the case, Pete Fairbanks has emerged as the steady option. Over the last two seasons, Fairbanks has 25 and 23 saves which qualifies as holding the leading role.
Heading into 2025, even if there are questions regarding Fairbanks, there’s little competition. Garrett Cleavinger doesn’t represent much of a threat, and while Edwin Uceta had a strong 2024, neither does he.
Fairbanks’ season met an early conclusion due to lat injury, and it’s likely there were some issues he was dealing with all season. Most notably, his strikeouts fell from 13.50 to 8.74 per nine innings. His average fastball velocity also went from 99 miles per hour to 97.4. Despite that, Fairbanks still picked up 23 saves. It’s clear that he can handle the ninth inning, and this year, Fairbanks might have the least competition of any year. With his health in toe, Fairbanks should be a dependable option.
How High Will Junior Caminero be Drafted in 2026?
The former number-one prospect hasn’t lost much, if any, of his luster and shine. He’s still just 21 years old, and Junior Caminero is slated to open the 2025 batting in the middle of Tampa Bay’s order. That’s where the third baseman finished 2024 as he hit .248 in 43 games with six home runs and 18 RBI. It was an up-and-down season for Caminero, but his talent and upside certainly were evident.
At this point, there’s nothing more that he can do in the minor leagues as he took that by storm. In 2023, Caminero hit .324 with 31 home runs and 94 RBI. Last year, he followed that by hitting 16 home runs in 59 games to go along with 39 RBI and a .274 average.
Tampa Bay will give Caminero and his 11.8% barrel rate every chance to build on that success. We don’t want to overpay in 2025 for the third baseman, but there’s plenty of upside here.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
