The Rays are planning to call up first base prospect
Bob Seymour from Triple-A Durham prior to Friday’s game, according to
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Since Seymour isn’t on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay will have to make at least one corresponding move to create space on both the 40-man and 26-man rosters.
The 26-year-old Seymour will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game. A 13th-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Seymour has been productive at every level of the minor league ladder, including big numbers in Durham in each of the last two seasons. Seymour has hit .263/.327/.553 with 30 home runs over 443 PA at Triple-A this year, and his 30 homers lead the International League. Just this past Tuesday, Seymour highlighted his huge year with a three-homer game against Triple-A Nashville.
As evidenced by his 89 homers over 1736 career PA (and 410 games) in the minor leagues, there’s a lot of pop in Seymour’s bat. There was also a lot of swing-and-miss, though Seymour has significantly reduced his strikeout rate from 34.9% in 2024 (in 218 PA with Durham) to 25.7% over his 443 PA this season. He also enjoyed some inflated BABIPs in past seasons, yet a more neutral .292 BABIP in 2025 indicates that the first baseman isn’t just relying on a lot of good fortune.
Despite all this power, neither MLB.com or Baseball America list Seymour among the top 30 prospects in Tampa’s farm system. It seems as though Seymour is viewed in limited terms as a first base-only player who has only big power and hard-contact skills as calling cards, yet evaluators may doubt that those abilities can translate into production against Major League pitching.
Still, it’s hard to argue that Seymour’s big 2025 campaign hasn’t earned him at least a look in the Show. Seymour is a left-handed hitter who could replace
Jonathan Aranda in the lineup to some extent, playing mostly as a designated hitter since
Yandy Diaz is locked in at first base. Aranda is one of five Rays position players on the injured list, so with Tampa Bay a little thin on the bench, there are worse ideas than calling up a 30-homer slugger.
