For the last couple days — a mere week before Spring Training in what may be the slowest offseason we’ll ever experience — the Rays have been connected in rumors and online to one of baseball’s best hitters: free agent OF Marcell Ozuna.
Appearing in all 60 regular season games last season, Ozuna put up an astounding 179 wRC+ over 267 plate appearances with 18 home runs. His .437 wOBA and .417 xwOBA were the best in baseball and, digging deeper, his 54.4% hard hit rate, 15.4% barrel rate, .315 xBA, and 93 mph exit velocity were all in the top five percent or better among hitters.