{"id":603974,"date":"2026-03-03T17:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603974\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T17:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T17:45:22","slug":"rays-cedric-mullins-hoping-for-a-bounce-back-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/603974\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays’ Cedric Mullins hoping for a bounce-back season"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays were busy in free agency, looking to add in areas of need after missing the playoffs for the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

Of those needs, one is in the outfield, and the reason why Tampa Bay signed new center fielder Cedric Mullins this offseason.<\/p>\n

For Mullins, he\u2019s also looking for a fresh start.<\/p>\n

\u201c100 percent. I\u2019m always trying to better myself,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cI always look at myself and say that I can do better. It\u2019s a matter of taking the offseason, reflecting on how the season went, and trying to make adjustments to be better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullins is coming off the worst season of his career. In 2025, he was traded from Baltimore to the New York Mets at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

He admits that it was a difficult transition to leave the organization he spent eight seasons with and the organization that drafted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those things where I truly thought that I might have been an Oriole my whole career,\u201d Mullins said. \u201cBut things fell into place where there was change needed with the organization, and I was part of that change. Tough adjustments, but now that I\u2019m kind of acclimated to what it feels like to be with a new team and getting to know guys outside of the surface level in a short period of time, the adjustments are coming around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mullins had a breakout season with Baltimore in 2021 when he hit 30 home runs, won a Silver Slugger Award and was top ten in American League MVP voting.<\/p>\n

But the Rays aren\u2019t necessarily looking for that Cedric Mullins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we said to Cedric, you look at 2023-24 and 25 in Baltimore,\u201d Rays president Erik Neander said. \u201cLet\u2019s thrown the Mets part aside. That version of Cedric Mullins is more than enough for us. Take some of the pressure off, don\u2019t worry about being the 2021 version, we will happily take and appreciate that 23, 24, 25 Baltimore version. Hits 15 (home runs), is dependable in center field, plays it as clean as anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay outfield corps struggled last season, combining for the fewest home runs in the Majors with 29. Mullins’ bat will be a welcome addition, along with his glove.<\/p>\n

\u201cCedric is going to be a guy that leads by example out here,\u201d Rays\u2019 manager Kevin Cash said. \u201cHis route efficiency is as good as anybody in baseball, just being so direct to the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Kyle Burger

For Tampa Bay 28 Sports Anchor Kyle Burger, pride in our local teams goes beyond college and the pros. Sports connect us as communities and families. You can connect with Kyle to share your passion for your local athletes below.
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Florida veteran served in Gulf War loses citizenship fight, fears deportation<\/p>\n

A Florida veteran who served in the U.S. Marines during the Persian Gulf War has lost his federal court case in his decade-long fight for U.S. citizenship \u2014 and now faces deportation to a country that may no longer claim him.<\/p>\n

Florida veteran served in Gulf War loses citizenship fight, fears deportation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. \u2014 The Tampa Bay Rays were busy in free agency, looking to add in areas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[10117,10118,5,77,4,277,297,2550,68,10119,2551,2549,10120,10121],"class_list":["post-603974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-rays","tag-abc-action-news","tag-abc-action-news-sports","tag-baseball","tag-cedric-mullins","tag-mlb","tag-mullins","tag-rays","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tampa-bay-sports","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabayrays","tag-wfts","tag-wfts-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116166494556304511","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}