Randy Arozarena

Randy Arozarena

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 5' 11", Weight 168 lb.

Debut August 14, 2019

Born February 28, 1995 in Mantua, Pinar del Río, Cuba

Biographical Information[edit]

Outfielder Randy Arozarena played two seasons for Pinar del Rio in the Cuban Serie Nacional, in 2013-14 and 2014-15. He saw a lot of playing time the second year, hitting .291/.412/.419 in 74 games. Pinar del Rio reached the 2015 Caribbean Series (and won the tournament) but he was left off its roster as he had defected. He reached Mexico, and in 2016 he played 5 games for the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League. He saw more playing time in the Mexican Pacific League in 2016-17, with the Mayos de Navojoa, where he hit .289 in 59 games.

Arozarena signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization on August 1, 2016, and was first assigned to the Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League in 2017, before finishing the year in the AA Texas League with the Springfield Cardinals. In 121 games between the two stops, he hit .266/.346/.437 with 32 doubles and 11 homers, earning a mid-season All-Star spotin the FSL. He returned to Navojoa after the season and had a great year in winter ball, batting .292 with 25 doubles and 14 homers in 64 games. He continued to do well in 2018, which he split between Springfield and the AAA Memphis Redbirds, as he hit a combined .274/.359/.433 in 113 games. He was selected to play for the World Team in the 2018 Futures Game and in 2019 was a non-roster invitee to the Cardinals' major league spring training.

On August 12, 2019, with Jose Martinez being placed on the injured list, and with Randy hitting .368/.442/.562 to that point at the AAA level, he was called up to the big leagues. He made his debut two days later, on August 14th, going 2 for 4 in a 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals. In 19 games for St. Louis, he hit .300 with 1 homer and 3 RBI and impressed enough to be kept on the team's postseason roster. He went a combined 0 for 4 as a pinch-hitter in the NLDS and NLCS. On January 9, 2020, he and Martinez were traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in return for two prospects, Matthew Liberatore and Edgardo Rodriguez; the two teams also swapped Compensation Round draft picks.

He started the 2020 season in the Rays' alternative training site, only making his debut on August 30th. However, from that point on, he was red hot, hitting .281 with 7 homers and a slugging percentage of .641 in 23 games to win a starting job as the team's leftfielder during the postseason. In the Wild Card Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, he went 4 for 8 with 2 doubles and a triple and was off to the races. He had 8 hits and 3 homers in the Rays' win over the New York Yankees in the Division Series, and then hit another 4 homers in the ALCS, against the Houston Astros. That included a key two-run homer off Lance McCullers in the 1st inning of Game 7, and he was named the winner of the ALCS MVP Award. He cooled down in the World Series, as the Los Angeles Dodgers were onto him and avoiding throwing him too many of the fastballs on which he had feasted thus far. Still, in the 9th inning of Game 3, he homered against Kenley Jansen, an otherwise meaningless run in a 6-2 loss. That hit gave him a share of one record - most homers in one postseason, 8, tied with Barry Bonds, Carlos Beltran and Nelson Cruz - and the sole possession of another - most hits by a rookie in one postseason, 23, one more than the previous holder, Derek Jeter. He homered again in Game 4 to take sole possession of the record, although the Dodgers' Corey Seager was only one behind him, and in Game 5 he took over the all-time record for hits in one postseason with his 27th, passing Pablo Sandoval. In Game 6, he hit a 10th and final homer in the 1st inning, and added a 29th hit later on the game to finish the postseason with 29, as the Rays lost that game and the series. He also tied the World Series record for homer by a rookie, with three - joining Charlie Keller of the 1939 New York Yankees. His 64 total bases in the postseason also set a new record, by a wide margin while he tied David Freese of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals with 11 extra-base hits.

Following his appearance in the World Series, he made the news again that November when he was arrested in Mexico in conjunction with a domestic dispute. He was apparently visiting the Mexican state of Yucatan in order to make contact with his daughter, who had been born there shortly after he had defected from Cuba and established residency in the country. He was now estranged from the child's mother, and had been married with another woman just after the World Series, but had continued to support his daughter financially. It wasn't clear what exactly had happened, but he was arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping of his daughter, and of assaulting the mother's current partner. He was released a couple of days later when his former spouse announced that she did not wish to press charges. During the 2021 season, maybe those who expected him to keep up his otherworldly pace from the previous year's postseason were disappointed, but otherwise he had a very solid season in what was his true rookie year. He hit .274 in 141 games, with 32 doubles and 20 homers, scored 94 runs, drove in 69 and stole 20 bases with an OPS+ of 131. And then the postseason came around and he made Game 1 of the Division Series his personal playground against the Boston Red Sox on October 7th: he drew a lead-off and walked and scored the game's first run on a double by Wander Franco in the bottom of the 1st, hit a no-doubt homer off Nick Pivetta in the 5th, and in the 7th pulled off a straight steal of home with two out and lefty Josh Taylor on the mound as the Rays won, 5-0. He went 5 for 15 overall in the series as the Red Sox upset the Rays in four games.

In 2022, he hit .263 in 153 games for the Rays, with 41 doubles, 3 triples and 20 homers. He scored 72 runs and drove in 89 while stealing 32 bases. For the second straight year, he led the American League in caught stealing but again with a relatively low total: 12, after being caught 10 times as a rookie. His OPS+ of 124 was almost identical to that of his previous season. In the postseason, he failed to put his stamp on things as the Rays lost both games of the Wild Card Series to the Cleveland Guardians and he went 1 for 10 with a walk. He redeemed himself in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, however. Playing for the Mexican national team after having obtained Mexican citizenship, he was Mexico's best hitter as they reached the semi-finals for the first time in five appearances in the tournament as he went 9 for 20 (.450) with 6 doubles, 1 homer, 8 runs and 9 RBIs in 6 games. He also made a number of excellent defensive plays in left field and was named MVP of Pool C as well as one of three outfielders on the All-Tournament team. He was also the team's emotional leader, thoroughly enjoying himself from the first pitch to the last out. As one of the leaders of a Tampa team that was the best in baseball in the first couple of months of the 2023 season, he was elected to play in the All-Star Game for the first time. He confirmed his status as one of baseball's most charismatic young stars with his performance in the Home Run Derby which preceded the game by one day at T-Mobile Park, making it all the way to the final round before bowing out to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He actually hit more long balls than Vladdy overall - 82 to 72 - but hit two fewer in the final round. He finished the year at .254 with 23 homers and 83 RBIs in 151 games, for an OPS+ of 120, as he slumped in the second half. Still, his overall numbers were very similar to those of his first two seasons. One major improvement was in his walk rate, as he drew a career high 80 bases on balls, for an OBP of .364, leading to 95 runs. He then went 3 for 8 with a double against the Texas Rangers in the Wild Card Series, but the Rays were swept in two games.

He started off the 2024 season in a deep slump as he hit an atrocious .143 in 30 games in March and April, with 3 homers and 9 RBIs, coinciding with the Rays finding themselves in last place in the AL East. Two of the homers had been hit back in the season's first series, against the Toronto Blue Jays, but he had fallen into a torpor after that. He then hit .178 in May, but was back to career norms in the next two months, hitting .291 in June and .275 in July. After 100 games, his average was still only at .211 due to his first two very bad months, but he had hit 15 homers and driven in 27 runs and his OPS+ had risen to 105. On July 26th, he was involved in the first big trade before that year's trading deadline when he was sent to the Seattle Mariners in return for two prospects, OF Aidan Smith and P Brody Hopkins, and a player to be named later. He did something unusual before leaving for Seattle, walking through the left-field stands at Tropicana Field and personally thanking the fans for supporting him all those years.

Notable Achievements[edit]

2021 AL Rookie of the Year Award
2021 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
AL All-Star (2023)
2020 ALCS MVP
20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (2021-2024)

AL Rookie of the Year
2020	2021	2022
Kyle Lewis	Randy Arozarena	Julio Rodríguez

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Randy Arozarena

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