Prior to the start of each season, the Draysbay community takes part in an excercise in which the top prospects in the Tampa Bay Rays system are ranked by popular vote.
This season, the Draysbay community
ranked the top 25 prospects in the Rays system with several others receiving votes but just falling shy of making the cut.
With the 2025 season officially over, we can now look back and see how each prospect performed and whether their stock has improved, remained the same, or fallen over past several months.
An important note:
This is not a re-ranking of the Rays top prospects but a review of the prospects in the order that they were ranked entering the season.
Also, I will not be featuring players no longer within the Rays organization.
#17: Ian Seymour
What Danny wrote entering the season:
The Rays organization’s other Virginia Tech man with a big smile (I’m looking at you Erik) has a funky delivery, with a high over the top movement that requires atypical hip movement and a strong head jerk; it’s not one you’d teach your kids, but his consistent success speaks for itself. After a strong return from Tommy John surgery in 2023, Seymour ranked among the top ten pitchers in all of minor league baseball with 162 strikeouts across Double- and Triple-A, fully regaining his pre-surgery form and 92 mph fastball. His change up is the star of the show, tunneling exceptionally well with his fastball, but if he sticks to pitching multiple TTO he has a variety of breaking balls to work with.
The Rays 2024 minor league player of the year made his return to Triple-A Durham in 2025 and picked up where he left off early on in the season and earned a promotion to the big leagues in June making his big league debut, tossing two scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox. It was a brief cameo as Seymour return to the minor league but only for a month as he rejoined the Rays in mid July and stuck on the active roster (there was the matter of him being optioned but was recalled the next day) throughout the rest of the season.
After spending the majority of his time in the bullpen, the Rays transitioned him into a starter role or bulk pitcher over the final few weeks of the regular season and overall, Seymour provided the Rays with a very solid campaign.
Stats by Month:
- April:
- AAA: 2.01 ERA | 3.88 FIP | 29.9 K% | 6.3 BB% | .226 AVG | 31.1 IP | 5/6 GS/G
- May:
- AAA: 4.56 ERA | 3.33 FIP | 37.4 K% | 6.5 BB% | .263 AVG | 23.2 IP |5/5 GS/G
- June:
- AAA: 1.78 ERA | 3.46 FIP | 21.2 K% | 5.1 BB% | .202 AVG | 25.1 IP | 4/4 GS/G
- MLB: 0.00 ERA | 4.14 FIP | 22.2 K% | 22.2 BB% | .000 AVG | 2 IP | 0/1 G/GS
- July:
- AAA: 1.59 ERA | 1.73 FIP | 21.7 K% | 0.0 BB% | .304 AVG | 5.2 IP | 1/1 GS/G
- MLB: 2.08 ERA | 2.21 FIP | 20.0 K% | 2.9 BB% | .242 AVG | 8.2 IP | 0/6 GS/G
- Aug:
- MLB: 3.57 ERA | 2.87 FIP | 36.3 K% | 7.7 BB% | .190 AVG | 22.2 IP | 2/7 GS/G
- Sep:
- MLB: 4.56 ERA | 3.77 FIP | 20.6 K% | 8.4 BB% | .250 AVG | 23.2 IP | 3/5 GS/G
2025 SEASON NUMBERS:
AAA: 2.62 ERA | 3.46 FIP | 29.2 K% | 5.6 BB% | .236 AVG | 14.9 WHIFF% | 86 IP | 15/16 GS/G
MLB: 3.63 ERA | 3.19 FIP | 26.4 K% | 7.9 BB% | .218 AVG | 12.1 WHIFF% | 57 IP | 5/19 GS/G
The 27-year old former 2nd round pick figures to fight for a spot in the starting rotation in 2026 as he put together a very solid audition in 2025. However, space in the current rotation is limited so it remains to be seen whether the Rays will allow Seymour to keep starting or move him back to the bullpen.
So is Seymour’s stock improving, the same, or falling?
