ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired infielder José Caballero from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for outfielder Luke Raley.
Caballero, 27, hit .221/.343/.320 (51-for-231) with nine doubles, one triple, four home runs and 26 RBI over 104 games in 2023. His 26 stolen bases ranked second among American League rookies behind Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz (67) and were third most by a rookie in Mariners history behind Ichiro Suzuki (56, 2001) and James Jones (27, 2014). He was successful on 89.7 percent (26-for-29) of his stolen base attempts, the fifth-best mark in the AL.
A Panama City, Panama native, Caballero was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft following two seasons at Chipola (Fla.) College. He was traded to the Mariners on July 31, 2019, in exchange for RHP Mike Leake and cash considerations.
Raley, 29, hit .249 (89-for-357) with 23 doubles, three triples, 19 home runs and 49 RBI in 118 games for the Rays last season. Raley made his first career Opening Day roster in 2023 and was on the active roster until his placement on the injured list on September 23 with a cervical strain, an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
