Vidal Bruján

Vidal Bruján Esteva

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.

• Debut July 7, 2021

• Born February 9, 1998 in San Pedro de Macorís, San Pedro de Macorís D.R.

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Biographical Information

Vidal Bruján was signed by the Tampa Bay Rays on October 17, 2014 when he was just 16 and a skinny teenager weighing barely 145 pounds. He was obviously a long way from the Show at that point and started his pro career in 2015 with the DSL Rays where he hit .301 in 60 games. He moved to the GCL Rays in 2016, hitting .282 in 49 games, and the Hudson Valley Renegades in 2017, where he hit .285 in 67 games. He emerged as a true prospect the next year, 2018, when he was named a mid-season and post-season All-Star in the South Atlantic League, and a Low Class A All-Star by Baseball America as well as a Rays organizational All-Star after hitting .313 in 95 games with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. If that wasn't enough, he was promoted to the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League at the end of the season, and hit .347 there in 27 games. His combined batting line in 122 games was .320/.403/.459 with 112 runs scored, 25 doubles, 7 triples and 9 homers.

He split the 2019 season between Charlotte and the AA Montgomery Biscuits, putting up some good numbers again, .277/.346/.389 in 99 games, with 56 runs and 40 RBIs. He then played in the Arizona Fall League after the season and was selected to play in the "Rising Stars Game", the circuit's All-Star Game. That came after repeating as an organizational All-Star and being named to the Florida State League mid-season All-Star team. He then had to miss all of 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues, although he was able to get some playing time with the Toros del Este in the Dominican League.

He started the 2021 season in AAA with the Durham Bulls, where he hit.259 with 9 homers and 29 RBIs in his first 49 games and was named to the American League team for the 2021 Futures Game. He had played mostly in the outfield with Durham after being a middle infielder for his first five pro seasons, but he was listed as an infielder on the Futures Game roster. A few days later, on July 7th, he was called up to Tampa to make his debut as the Rays played a doubleheader at home against the Cleveland Indians. He went 1 for 3 with a run scored in the opening game, then 0 for 3 in the nitecap, but more importantly caught the last out of the game in right field, a fly ball off the bat of Harold Ramirez that ended a 4-0 seven-inning no-hitter for the Rays. The original plan was to send him back to Durham after the game, allowing him to head off to Denver, CO to take part in the Futures Game, but instead the Rays kept him on the roster. He ended up playing 10 games for Tampa, hitting .077. In the minors, he batted .262 in 103 games and for Durham, with 12 homers, 77 runs scored and 56 RBIs.

He started the 2022 season with Durham, batting .300 in his first 16 games, before getting the call to Tampa. He played 52 games in the majors and hit .163 with 3 homers and 16 RBIs for an OPS+ of 42. That got him more time in the minors, where he hit .292 in 63 games for Durham, with 56 runs scored. He did make his postseason debut that year, going 1 for 2 as the Rays lost to the Cleveland Guardians in the Wild Card Series. In 2023, it was more of the same: solid numbers for Durham - .272/.362/.477 with 10 homers, 41 runs and 32 RBIs in 59 games - but a complete struggle in the bigs, where he hit just .171 in 37 games. Following the season, he was traded along with P Calvin Faucher to the Miami Marlins in return for three minor leaguers.

In his first season with Miami in 2024, he received more playing time in the majors than he ever had in Tampa - in fact, he only played two games in the minors with the AAA Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp - and while his hitting improved, he was still well below average and could not hold on to a regular job. On September 19th, he contributed to a historic performance when called to come in as a mystery pitcher with the Rays trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers, 14-4, after 8 innings. It was his second appearance in the role, having pitched an inning and given up two runs to the Chicago Cubs on August 24th. This time, though, he failed completely in his mission of getting the top of the 9th out of the way, as he gave up six runs on five hits and a hit batsman while getting only two outs. Three of the runs scored on the third homer of the game by Shohei Ohtani, who completed a historic performance in which he went 6-for-6, homered three times, scored four runs and drove in ten, while becoming the first-ever member of the 50-50 club. Manager Skip Schumaker had to turn to backup catcher Jhonny Pereda to record the final out as Miami lost the game, 20-4.

Related Sites

• Vidal Bruján on mlb.com