We saw a lot of Rays players on the roster in 2025, and perhaps surprisingly, many of those players will still be rookies next season, which affords the Rays an additional year of service time on their contracts.
According to MLB.com, a player maintains their rookie status by having less than 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched and they can’t have more than 45 total days on an active roster during the regular season.
During the 2025 season, the Tampa Bay Rays had 21 players meet this criteria, ranging from those who had already made their big league debuts in years prior to those whose first career games were this season; two of the players didn’t finish the season within the Rays organization, but that leaves 19 players who were called “rookies” during the year.
How many of those are still rookies heading into 2026?
Helpfully, Baseball America has compiled a list of each player that had rookie status during the 2025 season and has calculated whether these players will retain their rookie eligibility in 2026. The Rays have 11 players that graduate from their rookie status, with the most notables being Chandler Simpson, Everson Pereira, Hunter Feduccia, Ian Seymour, and Jake Mangum.
That leaves eight players who have already made their big league debut that will retain their rookie status in 2026. Of note: Each of these players will also be eligible for the Rookie of the Year award, if that’s your concern. They are as follows:
The hulking first baseman made his debut in August after laying waste to the International League for over a year. However, he struggled during his seven-week stint, hitting .205/.253/.282 with 1 HR over 83 PA.
Acquired by the Rays at the 2025 trade deadline as part of the return for Zack Littell, Van Belle made his big league debut in August and ultimately pitched in four games for the Rays before suffering a UCL sprain. It has not been reported yet if Van Belle will undergo Tommy John surgery, which would cause him to be out for the entire 2026 season.
The Rays top prospect made his big league debut in late August and just narrowly avoids extinguishing his rookie status as he finished the year with 39 days on the active roster and 99 at-bats.
Williams demonstrated why he was the team’s top prospect as he launched 5 HR over 106 PA but also why he slipped down the top 100 rankings in the game as he struggled to make contact evidenced by a 41.5 K% which was the 4th highest among players with at least 100 PA.
Once thought to be the prize of the Blake Snell trade, Cole Wilcox has battled injury and inconsistent performance throughout his time in the Rays organization.
He finally made his big league debut in September, pitching in one game, where he came on in relief and ended an inning cleanly, but only managed to get two outs during the next frame and was ultimately charged with 7 runs — 3 earned — on four hits while he walked 3 and struck out 1. This was his only big league appearance.
Once considered one of the premier pitching prospects in the game, Whitely struggled with injuries and went from being Baseball America’s 5th ranked prospect in 2019 to being designated for assignment by the Astros earlier this Summer.
Whitley has been featured on Baseball America’s individual team prospect rankings in every year since 2017 including the Rays in their most recent update and still retains his rookie eligibility entering the 2026 season as he only has 40 days on an active roster and 15.1 innings pitched. With the Rays in 2025, Whitley appeared in 5 games and allowed 10 runs on 10 hits over 4.2 IP.
The Rays signed Garrett Acton to a two year contact in 2023 following his release from the Athletics. Acton rehabbed within the Rays system and performed well in Triple-A, earning a late season promotion to the big leagues in September. He appeared in just one game, tossing a scoreless inning despite walking two hitters.
Acquired from the Colorado Rockies just after spring training in 2024, Joe Rock was a workhorse for Durham in 2024; however, Rock was moved to the bullpen in 2025 as the Rays looked to see if his arsenal would play up over shorter stints. This did lead to him making his big league debut, compiling 7.2 IP over 3 outings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits.
The Rays picked up Peters in a 40-man roster clearing trade in November 2022, and since then Peters has been a solid player in the Rays system. At one point, Peters was the top performing hitter in Triple-A Durham for the Rays and with a slew of injuries to the team’s outfield core, Peters was rewarded with a call up to the show. Unfortunately, Peters went hitless over 12 plate appearances before being optioned back to Triple-A.
