There’s an interesting reason Rays shuffled their locker assignments

LAKE BUENA VISTA — As reliever Jason Adam walked to his locker Friday, neighbor Randy Arozarena welcomed him with a taunt, insisting that if they faced off in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, he would take his Rays teammate deep.

Adam, who will be pitching for the U.S. team, clapped back about what pitch Arozarena, playing for Mexico, will be looking for. The conversation evolved, with the help of bilingual outfielder/DH Harold Ramirez, into whether Adam would be a better hitter or Arozarena the better pitcher, and a lot of laughs.

In previous years, that exchange may not have happened. Nor would Ramirez and lockermate Shane McClanahan have talked, as they have done a few times, for a few minutes about pitching. Nor would Tyler Glasnow and Wander Franco — two of the team’s biggest stars — chat daily as they sit next to each other.

The Rays, like many teams, typically organized their clubhouse roughly by position, with most pitchers in lockers on one side of the room and most position players on the other, save for a few exceptions for prime real estate.

Players who ate together, socialized together and huddled together on team buses and flights, also sat together at their stalls.

But the Rays are trying something different this year, with the idea it could help with team building.

At the request of manager Kevin Cash — and not the result of a bad fever dream by home clubhouse and equipment manager Tyler Wall — the pitchers and hitters were interspersed throughout the cramped locker room at the Disney World complex. And will be somewhat similarly when they shift camp to Tropicana Field starting Wednesday.

“It was more to get our pitching group interacting with our position player group, and vice versa,” Cash said. “It’s very easy throughout a long season that guys can get uber-focused on what they’re doing, and uber-focused on supporting the person that’s doing the same thing as them.

“So if it’s one more conversation that would not have been had, good for us.”

Ramirez, as one of the most gregarious Rays, talks often with many mates, but said the new arrangement will definitely spur more conversations.

“When I’m here I’m always talking with McClanahan about baseball, about how he feels,” Ramirez said.

Because of the current mix of the Rays roster, there has been something of an ancillary benefit, as many of the position players are from Spanish-speaking countries and many of the pitchers are from the United States.

Those barriers are also coming down, in various forms of Spanglish.

Even with only a few new faces joining the roster, baseball operations president Erik Neander said the new plan is a good one. “Really leaning into that continuity and establishing that sense of team and connection is really important,” he said.

It can all help, Adam said.

“I love it, I love the camaraderie thing,” he said. “It’s something in an analytics-based game, we’ve — not ‘we’ as the Rays, but baseball in general — kind of neglected that side of things. No, it can’t be measured, but I think everyone would agree, it does matter.

“So I think to be intentional about that — we’ve all talked as a unit within the bullpen, and how can we kind of bring more unity to the team. Whether it’s team dinners, all that stuff. We all want to play through the end of October. And I think that’s a vital piece of that. You hear that from every championship team, they’re close knit.”

Rays rumblings

For the 13 spring games at Tropicana Field, tickets are $10 to $50, all in the lower bowl between the foul poles, with retail and concessions open in the first and third base halls. Parking is $8. … ESPN graded the offseason a C+, saying extensions for Yandy Diaz, Pete Fairbanks and Jeffrey Springs “raises the overall grade.” … Infielder Isaac Paredes made the Athletic’s list of 10 hitters, 26 or younger, who could “break out” this season. Also, a new prediction model called ppERA, that is way too complicated to explain, has three Rays starters in the top 23 in the majors: Tyler Glasnow (2.19, second), Shane McClanahan (2.89, eighth), Drew Rasmussen (3.28, 23rd). … Curtis Mead was mlb.com’s pick as the team’s top hitting prospect “in a close call” over 2021 draftee Kyle Manzardo. … Renovations to the Trop home clubhouse will create a bigger coaches lockerroom/meeting area, and a slightly altered office for Cash. … The Rays have a huge admirer in Orioles CEO/chairman John Angelos. Claiming to be “a small or middle-market” team in the current system, he told reporters last week: “I would be disappointed if we’re not the next Tampa, which means being sustainably competitive and relevant.” … Mac McClung, the surprise winner of the NBA All-Star slam dunk contest, is the nephew of former Rays righty Seth McClung. … With Matt Joyce and Denard Span joining Doug Waechter in the pre-/post-game show rotation, Bally Sports Sun has three analysts who grew up in the area and played for the Rays. … Though dropped by Bally, longtime and well-liked analyst Orestes Destrade plans to stay in the area and involved with the game, including his Legends Lounge podcast for the players alumni group. … The Rays have a streak on the line Tuesday, having gone 6-0 as the home team at Disney, hosting the Rangers in 2007 and the Jays in 2008 for regular-season series.

• • •

Sign up for the Rays Report weekly newsletter to get fresh perspectives on the Tampa Bay Rays and the rest of the majors from sports columnist John Romano.

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.