When Ryan Vilade tells his grandkids the story, he won’t tell them how the home run was a wall scraper.
When you consider all it took Vilade to reach that moment on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, the distance of the homer won’t matter anyway. It was all so improbable to begin with.
Vilade had traversed the sport before reaching Tampa Bay this season.
That included stops with the Colorado Rockies, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds and the Detroit Tigers — with Detroit being the team that had given him his longest shot in the big leagues prior to 2026 — and even that wasn’t a whole lot of time.
For at least a few years now, it looked like Vilade wouldn’t live up to his potential.
And then he found the Rays, and they found him, and together, they’re moving on to the ALCS.
Ryan Vilade’s MLB Journey
Vilade was an athletic standout in Stillwater, Oklahoma in high school, impressive enough for the Colorado Rockies to make him a second-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft.
The Rockies, though, only ever used Vilade for three games in the 2021 season at the MLB level. He went 0-for-6, and then the odyssey began.
Colorado placed Vilade on waivers at the end of the 2022 season, and the Pittsburgh Pirates picked him up. He spent the entire 2023 season in their organization but didn’t get a chance at the MLB level.
Vilade signed with the Tigers in the 2023-24 offseason, and Detroit at least give him a short chance. With the Tigers in 2024, Vilade played in 17 games. He went 8-for-45 (.178) with a home run.
After that season, Detroit let Vilade reach free agency, and he signed with the Cardinals.
Vilade got seven games for the Cards and went 1-for-13 (.077) before being placed on waivers. The Reds claimed him in June 2025, and he appeared in just one game, not getting an at bat.
This offseason, the Rays bought Vilade’s contract from the Reds, and Tampa Bay unlocked him.
Vilade played in 96 games during the regular season and batted .245 with a .750 OPS, including eight doubles, two triples and 11 home runs — he often was in the lineup contributing against left-handed pitchers.
And then came ALDS Game 3.
Ryan Vilade’s Moment
The Rays hadn’t used Vilade in their first two games of the postseason, but they started him in Game 3 with a chance to clinch the ALDS on the road in Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees had lefty Max Fried on the mound, so the Rays chased the positive matchup.
Vilade’s first time at the plate, he just missed getting all of a breaking ball to left field, his pull side, flying out toward the warning track.
His next time, he got just enough. He went opposite field and hit the ball only a foot or so beyond the glove of the leaping, 6-foot-7 right fielder Spencer Jones.
A home run is a home run.
The Rays won the game by a run, 4-3, and while all four runs mattered just the same, the improbability that led to Vilade’s run makes it the one that stands out the most.
Five different teams gave up on Vilade — including the Pirates without even putting him into an MLB game, along with the Tigers and Rockies and Cardinals and Reds — and yet the Rays found a way to get the most out of him.
It’s a credit to Tampa Bay, yes, but also a credit to Vilade — he didn’t give up, and so he earned himself a moment that he’ll never forget.
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