5:20pm: The Rays have now made it official. Williams has been selected with Kim landing on the 10-day IL due to low back inflammation, retroactive to August 20th. Outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot. Fairchild hit the 10-day IL July 22nd due to a right oblique strain. His 60-day count is retroactive to that initial IL placement, so he could be reinstated in late September if he’s healthy by then.
12:20pm: The Rays are calling up infield prospect Carson Williams, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He will take the active roster spot of Ha-Seong Kim, who is going on the injured list, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Kim departed yesterday’s game due to back stiffness. The Rays will also need to open a 40-man roster spot.
Williams, 22, is the Rays’ top prospect and one of the top prospects in the entire league. The Rays took him 28th overall in the 2021 draft. He is currently ranked 74th overall at Baseball America, 14th at FanGraphs, 24th at ESPN and 47th at MLB Pipeline.
As can be seen from the disparity in those numbers, Williams is a divisive prospect. Keith Law of The Athletic gave him the #8 spot coming into the year but then did a midseason update of 60 names with Williams not getting a mention.
The gaps seem to be because Williams has a solid floor but big questions about his ceiling. He is considered a strong defender at short and a plus runner, which gives him the floor. Offensively, he has huge power but strikes out a ton. Prospect evaluators seem split on how much those strikeout concerns will undercut his future career as a big leaguer.
On the optimistic side, FanGraphs compares him to players like Elly De La Cruz, Oneil Cruz and Ezequiel Tovar, who have enough talent to work around strikeout totals. They suggest it’s possible Williams rounds into a player like Willy Adames at some point, while also nothing that an Adalberto Mondesí future seems possible.
Looking at traditional numbers, it’s easy to see the optimistic view. Williams hits about 20 home runs per year and steals 20-35 bases annually as well. From 2021 to 2024, across multiple levels, he stepped to the plate 1,578 times. He struck out in 30.6% of those but also drew walks at an 11.4% pace while hitting 62 home runs. His combined batting line of .256/.353/.478 translated to a 132 wRC+.
His 2025 performance highlights the pessimistic view and perhaps explains why Law bumped Williams off his midseason update….
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