The Tampa Bay Rays are busy this week, needing just one win out of a four-game series with the New York Yankees to claim the AL East Division title and the No. 1 seed in the American League postseason.
While that’s happening, though, a Rays outfielder is looking for a new team.
The Rays had designated outfielder Jake Fraley for assignment on Sunday. That means he is removed from the 40-man roster and has to pass through waivers.
Apparently no team claimed Fraley, but he didn’t want to report to Triple-A Durham (where the season is technically over anyway). Since Fraley is a veteran, he can officially reject that assignment and become a free agent.
According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, that’s what Fraley has done:
OF Jake Fraley, who was DFA’d by #Rays Sunday, cleared waivers and rejected an assignment to Triple-A Durham, so he gets an early start on free agency.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) September 22, 2026
The Rays weren’t planning on having Fraley for the stretch run, which is why they DFA’d him anyway.
But it does leave them one less bit of depth going forward toward October.
Jake Fraley With Rays
Fraley had joined the Rays in Nov. 2025 and was expected to have a possible role as a left-handed bat.
This season simply didn’t go how Fraley would’ve hoped, though. In 88 at bats, he had 19 hits (.216 average), which included seven doubles and two home runs. Fraley had a .652 OPS with Tampa Bay, which was his worst for a season in more than half a decade.
Fraley played in three games for the Rays this month before he was designated for assignment, and he was a combined 0-for-6 in those games with four strikeouts.
Jake Fraley Career
Fraley, 31, was originally a second-round pick of the Rays back in the 2016 MLB Draft out of LSU.
He didn’t make the majors with the Rays, though, instead debuting with the Seattle Mariners in 2019.
It really took Fraley until 2022 to show something, when he had an .812 OPS (12 home runs) in 68 games for the Cincinnati Reds.
He then hit 15 homers the following year with a .783 OPS while also stealing 21 bases in 26 attempts.
Fraley had a .716 OPS the next season, with just five homers in 116 games, but he did steal another 20 bases.
Fraley started to struggle a bit in 2025, hitting just .232 in 67 games with the Reds before they moved on from him. The Atlanta Braves picked Fraley up for nine games, in which he went 7-for-23 (.304), but they didn’t keep him into the offseason and beyond.
That’s how he ended up with Tampa Bay, which likely enjoyed the idea of Fraley as the lefty side of a potential platoon.
But Fraley didn’t hit enough and wasn’t available enough to make it worth it for the Rays.
Now, he heads to free agency as a veteran bat who will likely get an invite to Spring Training but have to do well wherever his new surroundings are to potentially earn a job.
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