The Tampa Bay Rays made a number of trades this offseason that will not only have an impact on the team in 2026 but also for years to come.
A three-team deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros is the one that caught the most attention. All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe was traded to the Pirates along with outfielder Jake Mangum and right-handed pitcher Mason Montgomery.
Pittsburgh sent starting pitcher Mike Burrows to the Astros. Houston sent two prospects, outfielder Jacob Melton and right-handed pitcher Anderson Brito, to the Rays.
It was a deal that created a major void in the team’s lineup at second base. There wasn’t an in-house option on the roster, which likely played a role in Tampa Bay making another three-team trade with the Los Angeles Angels and Cincinnati Reds that landed them Gavin Lux.
Jacob Melton has star potential for Rays at the plate
Jun 5, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Houston Astros left fielder Jacob Melton (31) hits a single against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the seventh inning at PNC Park. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Included in that deal was outfielder Josh Lowe. He is the third outfielder on the move this winter from last year’s roster, along with Mangum and Christopher Morel. Moving him alleviates the logjam in the outfield, but the team’s president of baseball operations, Erik Neander, revealed there would be a competition for spots in spring training.
In a perfect world, Melton will earn one of those spots and receive consistent playing time to start his development. A borderline Top 100 prospect, his offensive ceiling is exactly what a lack of pop in the lineup needs.
As shared from Running From The OPS on X, the talented outfield prospect has all the tools to become an impactful performer at the Major League level with the bat. His metrics and numbers from Triple-A in 2025 are off the charts.
Melton was above-average across the board, including being in the 100th percentile for xwOBA (.429). He’s in the 99th percentile for xBA (.309), xSLG (.589) and hard-hit rate (57.9%). His barrel rate of 17.9% is in the 98th percentile.
Jacob Melton has legitimate impact potential for the Tampa Bay Rays pic.twitter.com/K323jOXJdi
— Running From The OPS (@OPS_BASEBALL) January 8, 2026
His Big League debut wasn’t great in 2025, producing a .157/.234/.186 slash line with 29 strikeouts in 78 plate appearances. That resulted in a bWAR of -0.3 being produced.
Certainly not the best stats, but nothing anyone should be drawing any concrete conclusions from, especially because of how well he has performed in the minor leagues. In only 82 games and 339 plate appearances at Triple-A Sugar Land, he had a .271/.347/.468 slash line with 11 home runs and 26 doubles, adding 37 RBI and 23 stolen bases.
Approaching those numbers in the Major Leagues would provide quite a boost to the Rays’ lineup for years to come.
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