28-year old lefty swinging Casey Kotchman was hitting .333 as recently as August 19th for the Rays. But, he has been slumping lately with the bat for the Rays. He has now played in 129 games for the Rays this year and he is 138 for 440 (.314 avg, .816 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 9 homers, 45 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Kotchman has been a huge surprise for the Rays and he is one of the big reasons that they have stuck around in the playoff hunt all year long. Now they need his bat to heat up again as they are now only 4.5 games behind the Red Sox for the A.L. Wild Card spot.

26-year old righty swinging infielder Sean Rodriguez has pretty much taken over as the starting SS for the Rays. He got the chance because the Rays have tired of running out Reid Brignac (.194 avg) and Elliot Johnson (.195) at SS. Rodriguez has played in 104 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 66 for 300 (.220 avg, .672 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 6 homers, 28 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Rodriguez has played well defensively at SS and he always hustles which gives him points with manager Joe Maddon. The Rays need him to pick it up with the bat a little bit in September to help them chase down the Yankees.

When the Rays dealt with the Cleveland Indians to bring in 31-year old righty swinging catcher Kelly Shoppach with the thought that he would give them power behind the plate. His power has been sporadic at best, while often looking hopeless at the plate. Shoppach has played in 70 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 32 for 179 (.179 avg, .582 OPS) with 16 runs scored, 7 homers, 18 RBIs and an amazing 64 whiffs. Shoppach has now played in 133 games in his first two years with the Rays and he is 63 for 337 (.187 avg, .614 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 12 homers and 35 RBIs. I will be shocked if the Rays bring back Kelly Shoppach for a third season in 2012.

The Rays felt that they could deal shortstop Jason Bartlett over the winter for bullpen help because they thought 25-year old lefty swinging shortstop Reid Brignac was ready to take over. Brignac played in 113 games last year for the Rays and he was 77 for 301 (.256 avg, .692 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 8 homers, 45 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. This year has been a different story though as Brignac can’t hit out of a wet paper bag right now. Brignac has played in 51 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 24 for 139 (.173 avg, .419 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 1 homer, 8 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Rays would probably send Brignac to AAA if they had a legit option ready in the minors to replace him, but they don’t right now.

29-year old lefty swinging outfielder Sam Fuld was red hot at the start of the season for the Rays, but he’s ice cold now. In his last 10 games, Fuld is 3 for 45 (.067 avg) with 3 runs scored, 0 homers, 1 RBI and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 31 games for the Rays this year and he is 31 for 125 (.248 avg, .683 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 1 homer, 19 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. Fuld has still been an asset defensively but the Rays need him to get his bat back on track or they are going to have to look at alternatives in LF.