After adding a starter Sunday in acquiring Freddy Peralta, the Rays addressed another area of need in upgrading the catching position, acquiring Liam Hicks from the Marlins on Monday.
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The Rays are sending three minor-leaguers to Miami: infielders Brayden Taylor and Adrian Santana, and pitcher Jacob Kisting. Taylor is rated by MLB.com as the Rays’ No. 16 prospect, Kisting is No. 26 and Santana is No. 27.
Hicks, 27, is a left-handed hitter from Canada who was drafted (ninth round, 2021) out of Arkansas State and signed by Texas. He was traded to Detroit in July 2024, then taken in the December 2024 Rule 5 draft by the Marlins. He made his major-league debut in 2025. The Rays were hoping to take Hicks in the Rule 5 draft, but the Marlins beat them to it.
This season, Hicks is hitting .282 with 14 homers, 62 RBIs and a .795 OPS over 101 games. The Marlins made him available due to the emergence of another lefty-hitting catcher, rookie Joe Mack.
Hicks is in the midst of a breakout second MLB season.
He has already set career highs in home runs, RBI and runs scored with 54. He is adequate defensively at catcher (his minus-1 defensive runs saved at the position, according to FanGraphs, ranks tied for 23rd out of 54 catchers with at least 250 innings behind the plate entering Monday).
Hicks is also striking out just 9.5% of the time while posting a 9.8% walk rate. All of those stats rank among the top 10 among qualifying players whose primary position is catcher.
Catcher and second base are two positions the Rays have been open to upgrading. Hicks presumably will replace Hunter Feduccia, the lefty-hitting part of the current platoon with Nick Fortes, who was acquired from Miami at last year’s deadline.
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Feduccia, acquired at last year’s deadline from the Dodgers, is hitting .234 with two homers, 12 RBIs and a .646 OPS. He also has made a series of defensive misplays.
Taylor, 24, is hitting .284, with a .384 on-base average, with 17 homers and 56 RBI (and 20 steals in 26 attempts) in 88 games at Double A Montgomery. His stock has risen in the eyes of evaluators in recent months.
The left-handed hitter was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 19th round, out of TCU, in 2019. He can play shortstop, second base and third base; 62 of his starts have come at third base this season.
Kisting, a right-hander, was a 14th-round pick of the Twins in the 2024 draft (out of Bradley University) and is 6-0 with a 1.67 ERA at High A Bowling Green. Kisting, 23, has allowed just 75 baserunners, with 96 strikeouts, in 86 innings, over 18 appearances and 16 starts.
Santana, a switch-hitting shortstop/second baseman, was selected 31st overall by the Rays in 2023, out of Doral Academy. He’s hitting .316 (.381 on-base) with three homers and 23 RBI, with 23 steals in 28 attempts, in 51 games at High A Bowling Green. Santana, 21, is considered a highly skilled defender at shortstop.
Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald contributed to this report.
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