The Tampa Bay Rays have signed infielder Yandy Díaz to a three-year, $24 million contract through the 2025 season, including a $12 million club option for the 2026 season.
Tampa Bay extends another!
Rays, Yandy Díaz agree to 3-year extension. pic.twitter.com/kOATELhNTw
— MLB (@MLB) January 31, 2023
Díaz, 31, has spent parts of six seasons in the majors with Cleveland and Tampa Bay. He is a career .278/.372/.411 hitter with 39 home runs and 198 RBI. He was acquired by the Rays in a three-team trade on December 13, 2018 and is batting .277/.374/.419 with 38 home runs and 170 RBI in 384 games with the Rays.
Last season, Díaz hit .296/.401/.423 with 9 home runs and 57 RBI in 137 games (126 starts) with the Rays. He set career highs with 71 runs, 140 hits, 33 doubles, 78 walks and a .824 OPS. His .401 on-base pct. ranked fifth in the majors behind Aaron Judge (.425), Freddie Freeman (.407), Yordan Alvarez (.406), and Paul Goldschmidt (.404). It also ranked fourth for a single season in franchise history behind Carlos Peña (.411), Fred McGriff (.405) and Ben Zobrist (.405).
With 78 walks and 60 strikeouts, Díaz was one of six players in the MLB to qualify for leaderboards and finish with more walks than strikeouts, joining Luis Arraez, Alex Bregman, Alejandro Kirk, Steven Kwan and Juan Soto.
He became the first qualifier in Rays history to finish with more walks than strikeouts. His 78 walks tied for 11th in the majors and tied for fourth in the American League. Since the start of the 2020 season, his .383 on-base pct. ranks third in the AL.
The Tampa Bay Rays have been a solid team over the past few years. They made the World Series in the shortened COVID season, ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rays have been playoff contenders ever since.
The AL East is competitive and the Rays should be one of the favorites to win the division according to Florida sports-books. Re-signing Diaz is a good step in the right direction. Very well deserved.
