Remember outfielder Jake Cave? Most Twins fans probably do. Cave, whom the Twins acquired as a minor leaguer from the New York Yankees for right-hander Luis Gil in March 2018, played a good amount of center field for Minnesota in the late-2010s/early-2020s while Byron Buxton was sidelined for numerous injuries. He was actually a decent hitter with the Twins earlier in his career, hitting .262/.329/.466 (11 wRC+) with 21 home runs, 52 extra-base hits and 70 RBI in 163 games from 2018-19. Per Defensive Runs Saved, Cave has generally been an average corner outfielder but below-average center fielder.
His career dropped off from there, as he posted a sub-.600 OPS each season from 2020-22. He spent the 2023 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, hitting .212/.272/.348 (65 wRC+) in 65 games, and the 2024 season with the Colorado Rockies, slashing .251/.290/.396 (75 wRC+) in 123 games before heading overseas to play for the KBO's Doosan Bears. Cave, a left-handed hitter, hit .299/.351/.463 with 16 homers and 87 RBI across 136 games with the Bears last year, then appeared in 47 games with the Mexican League's El Águila de Veracruz this season, slashing .309/.340/.474. Cave's solid foreign league stats were enough to earn him another opportunity with an MLB organization, as the outfielder just signed a minor-league deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, according to El Águila de Veracruz. Per MLB.com's transactions tracker, Cave has been assigned to Triple-A Durham.
What will former Twin Jake Cave's role be with Rays?
The Rays could use some outfield help. The team's outfield mix consists of Chandler Simpson, Cedric Mullins, Jonny DeLuca, Víctor Mesa Jr. and Ryan Vilade. While the two righties, DeLuca and Vilade, are having solid seasons, the other three are lefties who each had a wRC+ below 73 as of this morning. Another lefty outfielder in the organization, Jake Fraley, underwent a hernia procedure last month and is still on the IL. Jacob Melton is also a lefty on the club's 40-man roster, but he was just reinstated from the minor-league IL a couple of days ago.
It's doubtful the Rays have big plans for Cave. They likely just view him as a depth piece. Cave's strong foreign league stats prove he still could have some gas left in the tank, but he still likely isn't a big-league regular at this point in his career. He never really was, anyway, mainly serving in a bench role for most of his time in the majors.
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