NEW YORK -- Nick Fortes grew up a Rays fan. Now, after a whirlwind 24 hours, he's playing for them.
The Rays landed Fortes from the Marlins as their new catcher after trading Danny Jansen to the Brewers on Monday night. News of the pair of trades broke just minutes before Monday's series opener against the Yankees in New York, and the Fortes deal became official on Tuesday morning.
By Tuesday afternoon, Fortes had arrived in the Rays’ clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. And on Tuesday night, he was Tampa Bay's starting catcher, making his debut for the team he grew up watching in DeLand, Fla.
"It's pretty cool," Fortes said, donning his new Rays cap and uniform for the first time. "It's surreal, honestly. I grew up watching the Rays. Loved this team. Loved watching all the guys -- Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford, James Shields, all those guys. So it's pretty surreal to be in this uniform."
Fortes remembers watching Longoria hit his iconic walk-off home run in Game 162 to send the Rays to the playoffs in 2011. He remembers watching the electric Crawford run the bases. He remembers watching Big Game James. He remembers watching Ben Zobrist and admiring how the superutility man could play anywhere on the field.
But the Marlins were the only team he'd known in his professional career. Miami picked Fortes in the fourth round of the 2018 Draft, and he'd played 363 games there over five big league seasons. He was a career Marlin yesterday. Today, he's a Ray.
"It's strange. This is my first time getting traded," Fortes said. "I was drafted by the Marlins, so I'm thankful to that organization. But I'm super excited for a fresh start here in Tampa. It's an adjustment, but it's a good one, so I'm excited to see what the future holds."
Manager Kevin Cash said Fortes is going to fill the same role as Jansen, and he will play a lot over the final two months of the regular season.
The Rays will have to get Fortes up to speed quickly. Learning the ins and outs of a new pitching staff midseason isn't easy, and Fortes acknowledged it will be a big adjustment for him. His first afternoon in a Tampa Bay uniform was spent in meetings, getting to know his teammates and pulling the Rays’ pitchers aside for some one-on-ones.
But his first meeting with Cash put him at ease. The Rays are confident in him as their backstop.
"He was just telling me to be myself," Fortes said. "They really value me as a defensive-minded catcher. And to just go out there and do my thing that I've been doing all year. So that was really encouraging. [The Rays] were just being super supportive and welcoming."
And Fortes' first game went as smoothly as he could have hoped for, given that he had to handle the Rays' staff on the fly. Even something so basic as where he positions himself behind the plate involves knowing the styles of every pitcher.
"I'm trying to do my best with navigating where these guys like me to set up in order to give them the best chance for success," Fortes said after his Rays debut. "That's gonna be a learning curve for me, to figure out what these guys like to see back there from me."
He added: "The whole staff did a really good job of bringing me up to date and filling me in on everything I needed to know. So I really appreciate that."
Fortes is a strong receiver, blocker and pitch framer -- starter Joe Boyle could tell after just one game, saying Fortes' receiving skills jumped out immediately -- and he also has a quick arm in the running game. He's a lighter hitter, who is batting .237 with two home runs and a .633 OPS in 60 games after going 0-for-2 in his Rays debut, but he does have strong contact skills, with low swing-and-miss and strikeout rates.
"I've always been more of a defensive-minded catcher first," Fortes said. "I take a lot of pride in it. And with the bat, as far as that goes, it's just put together good at-bats and do whatever it takes to help the team win, in whatever scenario that arises."
But the defense is the No. 1 reason why the Rays’ front office targeted him.
"The greatest appeal of Nick Fortes is what he does on the defensive side," Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said Tuesday morning. "Just a catcher with really good makeup, good character, works well with a staff, really excellent defensively, is going to help us on the run prevention side. And then offensively, probably a little more of a situational-style hitter who can put a ball in play. … That's Nick."
Jansen was a clubhouse favorite with Tampa Bay. But he can become a free agent after this season, and the 28-year-old Fortes is under team control until 2029.
"We think the world of Danny," Neander said. "That's really difficult. We think Fortes is a capable catcher, who creates his impact differently than Danny does. But the chance to carry him beyond 2025 was certainly a consideration as we do our best for this year, but also the seasons immediately thereafter."
Fortes became available due to a roster crunch at catcher in Miami, where the Marlins are trying to give playing time to offense-oriented rookies Agustín Ramírez and Liam Hicks.
So once the Rays made the decision to send Jansen to Milwaukee for 21-year-old infield prospect Jadher Areinamo, they quickly went out and got Fortes.
"It’s bittersweet," Neander said. "Because Jano -- everything that we thought we were getting with Danny Jansen, we got it and more. But Nick's a good one in and of himself, and this time of year, you’ve got to make tough decisions."