Reddit AMA: Are Rays jelling better than last year?

On Wednesday, Rays beat reporter Adam Berry conducted an AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit. You can read the full transcript here. Here are some highlights, edited lightly for clarity and brevity:

I know that before the season a big topic of conversation seemed to be team cohesion. It was very unlike the Rays in 2024 to have some clubhouse problems pop up and in general the vibes of the team seemed off. From an outside perspective that seems mostly fixed, but what is your perspective on how the team is jelling this year compared to last?

I would agree with you. I'm usually somewhat of a chemistry skeptic -- winning tends to overshadow any issues there might be in the clubhouse, and it's hard to keep everyone happy all the time on a losing team -- but this has been a pretty cohesive group from the start of Spring Training. Even when things weren't going well during the first month or so, they really got along well and seemed to be pulling in the same direction.

I will say, with the unusual circumstances of this season at Steinbrenner Field, they made chemistry a focal point. One of the selling points for Danny Jansen was that he'd been through something like this, and he's been a really good influence. It's also just generally a very team-oriented group, and the addition of guys like Jake Mangum and Chandler Simpson (and, briefly, Travis Jankowski) has really only enhanced that.

What’s been the most impressive thing about the rookies this year? So many unique skill-sets!

I think it's just that -- they have unique skill sets, and they've been comfortable being themselves. Assuming you're talking about the position players here, mostly, I'll go through the three big ones...

Jake Mangum: No surprise, given his family history, that he plays the game with the sort of all-out intensity of a football player. He's a really natural defender in the outfield. He's a tough, contact-oriented at-bat. He runs well and runs hard. Considering how much time he spent in Triple-A, it would have been easy to try to change his game or lose faith. Really impressive that he stuck with it, and he's showing it can work at this level.

Chandler Simpson: He'd heard questions since he was drafted about his "90 speed, 10 power" profile, but he showed how it can work. He's just a highlight waiting to happen when he's at the plate or on the bases, turning routine grounders into hits and infield hits into triples. Granted, he was called up earlier than I expected, so he's still got some work left to do on his defense in particular. But when it works, what a blast to watch, right?

Kameron Misner: To be honest, I did not expect this level of defense in center field. His offense has regressed quite a bit since his great start, but it'd be hard to take him off the roster right now (especially with Jonny DeLuca out for an uncertain amount of time) when he's providing this much value in the outfield.

Do you think that the dawg, Brandon Lowe, would be a lifelong Ray, having regard to our tendency of trading players?

My guess is that won't happen, for the reason you mentioned, but he's at least expressed interest in the idea. It's at least worth noting that they didn't consider dealing him last year, despite moving a number of key players with years of club control remaining, and they picked up his option over the offseason with no intent to move him. He still has one more club option year remaining at $11.5 million, though, so he's getting into the timeframe where the Rays tend to trade players before they hit free agency.

Who's the funniest guy(s) on the team?

Pete Fairbanks is probably the easy answer here. Not sure it gets better than "an all-encompassing type of suck" or some of the other stuff he comes up with. He's really quick. Zack Littell also has a really dry sense of humor. Drew Rasmussen comes across as really intense in his interviews, especially postgame, but he can also sneak in some pretty good one-liners.

What is your berry of choice? Who would be your all time Rays dinner guests and why?

I'm going to go with the blueberry. Very popular in our house, between myself and our 2-year-old daughter.

And there are so many places to take that second question. That's a great one. Part of me would love to sit down Edwin Jackson and Rich Hill and just let them talk about their travels throughout MLB. The pitching dork in me would get a big kick out of listening to James Shields, David Price, Blake Snell, Shane McClanahan and Kyle Snyder talk about their craft. I was a fan of players like Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs before I started doing this for a living, so talking with them is always sort of surreal.

But I think I'll go with Joe Maddon, Evan Longoria, Willy Adames, Carl Crawford, John Jaso and Tyler Glasnow. Maddon can talk about anything with anyone. Longoria and Crawford are the franchise icons. Adames is an all-time glue guy. And Jaso and Glasnow would never let the conversation get stale.

What would your personal walk-up song be?

I'd probably be one of those players who had three walk-up songs per game, then switched them every homestand. The stadium ops people would hate me.

But I enjoy a sing-along that gets the crowd involved. Covering the Nationals for parts of 2012, it was always great when the crowd would hit the high note on "Take On Me" when Michael Morse came to bat. That's part of the reason I like Jake Mangum going with "Your Love" by The Outfield. So, with that in mind, and because I can't help but be my millennial self, I'll go with "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World, with the crowd doing the "whoa-oh-oh-oh"s.