The Tampa Bay Rays made several franchise altering moves this offseason as they traded away Shane Baz and Brandon Lowe in separate trades made just hours apart. The deals also included Jake Mangum and southpaw Mason Montgomery.
The inclusion of Montgomery was significant because the Rays have a lack of left-handed pitchers on the roster.
During the 2025 season, the Rays had a lack of left handed pitching as only four different southpaws took the rubber for them over the course of the season: Ian Seymour,
Garrett Cleavinger, Mason Montgomery, and Joe Rock.
Of those four, Seymour is likely ticketed for the starting rotation in Durham, Cleavinger should return in the Rays bullpen (although he has also been the subject of trade rumors), and Montgomery was traded. Rock didn’t receive much of a look from the Rays last season, which could indicate he eventually converts to relief, but enters camp as a starter alongside Seymour.
Over the course of the offseason, the Rays addressed the lack of left-handed pitchers on the roster as they would add Steven Matz on a Major League deal and then a duo of hurlers on minor league deals, John Rooney and Cam Booser.
Matz is expected to be an integral part of the starting rotation. Rooney ended last season on the Injured List as he underwent surgery to remove bone spurs and to treat tennis elbow, Marc Topkin reported on January 30th that Rooney might not be ready to start the season.
Then you have 33-year old Cam Booser, one of the oldest players in camp, and potentially the second southpaw on the bullpen depth chart.
How Booser Bubbled Up
You’d be forgiven for thinking Booser was a professional wrestler given his injury history, as he suffered a broken femur in high school requiring surgery, and later broke a vertebra during a session in the weight room. Later, he’d endure Tommy John surgery and then an elbow scope. Booser’s collegiate career came and went and he’d go undrafted. However, the Minnesota Twins saw enough to sign him as a non-drafted free agent in August 2013 .
Over his first few seasons in the Twins organization, Booser didn’t do much to stand out and then underwent surgery in 2015 after a horrific accident.
That offseason, while rehabbing from his surgery, Booser was riding a bike when a motorist ran a stop sign and plowed into the helpless Booser. The vehicle suffered a broken windshield and Booser suffered a broken sacrum. Booser eventually returned to the mound and again didn’t do much to warrant any positive attention from the Twins. Booser would be suspended for 50 games in 2017 due to testing positive for marijuana (minor league baseball stopped testing for marijuana in 2019).
Fed up, Booser stepped away from the game of baseball, and went home to Washington to pursue a career in carpentry. At least for a few years.
Then, after three years of retirement, Booser decided to become a coach at a training facility. One day on a whim, he decided to throw in front of a Rapsodo machine and clocked in at 98mph.
This led to Booser getting connected with Driveline in the hopes of resurrecting his career. Once Booser received the Driveline treatment, he was given an opportunity in the Indy Leagues
Kyle Rogers of Driveline filmed one of Booser’s outings, in which the resurgent lefty touched 99mph. This caught the attention of Carl Gonzalez, a one-time writer for Draysbay and current member of the Arizona Diamondbacks front office. Gonzalez alerted a scout for the Diamondbacks, Chris Carminucci, who informed his contacts of Booser’s potential, and the team would keep tabs on Booser.
Booser signed with the Chicago Dogs and became an instant sensation; however, although he had retired, the Minnesota Twins still controlled his rights. It took nearly a full offseason before the Twins finally granted Booser his release and the Arizona Diamondbacks quickly signed him to a minor league deal. Just like that, Booser was back on the track to the big leagues.
Of course, nothing in this story can be easy.
Booser returned to affiliated action in 2022 and spent the season in Double-A, until the Diamondbacks abruptly released him in July. He’d make 19 appearances and registered a 6.48 ERA | 6.60 FIP with a 25.6 K% & 18.8 BB% over 25 IP, so command was an obvious issue. However, instead of going back to carpentry, Booser ventured back to the Indy Leagues. This go around, he wasn’t quite as dominant but showed enough under the hood to garner the interest of the Boston Red Sox, signing a minor league deal in February, 2023.
The Triple-A Worcester Red Sox enjoyed the services of Booser throughout the 2023 season and the now 31 year old set a career high in innings pitched and appearances while greatly improving his command from the year prior while racking up a 26.7 K%. The Red Sox decided to bring Booser back the following year, but this time, he was given an invite to spring training.
He wouldn’t make the Opening Day roster, but just a few weeks into the season, the Red Sox made the decision to bring the 31-year old to Pittsburgh to make his first big league appearance.
A Spirited Debut
Booser had made it to the big leagues.
He took the mound on April 19th in Pittsburgh as the Red Sox took on the Pirates. Boston Manager Alex Cora gave Booser an opportunity to close out the game for Boston as they led Pittsburgh, 8-0, in the bottom of the 9th inning.
The first batter Booser faced was a former Rays first round pick, SS Alika Williams.
The very first pitch from Booser was a strike, a 96 mph fastball. Unfortunately it caught too much of the plate and Williams turned on it and sent it into the left field corner and raced to third for a triple. But Booser settled down after that and fanned Andrew McCutchen for his first career strikeout.
That was followed up by two weak grounders and Booser successfully sealed the Red Sox victory, albeit by allowing a run in an inning of work, a clearly cathartic moment for the journeyman.
Booser would spend the rest of the year on the shuttle between Boston and Worcester. Over 43 appearances, Booser compiled a 3.38 ERA | 3.80 FIP with a 23.5 K% & 8.7 BB% across 42 2/3 innings pitched; Booser also picked up a save.
Cam he make the Rays roster?
During the following offseason the Red Sox traded Booser to the Chicago White Sox, where he spent the 2025 season, and here was Baseball America’s blurb on Booser at the time:
Booser emerged as an unexpectedly reliable option in the middle innings for Red Sox manager Alex Cora in 2024. He attacks hitters with a mid-90s fastball, upper-80s cutter and a low-80s sweeper. Both his secondaries elicited whiffs roughly 31-32% of the time
Alas, Booser did not enjoy the same success South Side as he had in Boston.
Over 39 games, Booser compiled a 5.52 ERA | 6.26 FIP with a 24.5 K% & 13.3 BB% over 31 innings pitched. In November, the White Sox non-tendered Booser making him a free agent once again and thus the Tampa Bay Rays decided to sign the 33-year old to a minor league deal.
Given the Rays lack of left-handed pitchers in camp, there is a legitimate chance for Booser to make the Rays Opening Day roster depending on how Garrett Cleavinger and Joe Rock make it through the spring, and even if he does not, he’s a likely candidate to grace the mound for the Rays in 2026.
*10/7/2026 UPDATE*
The baseball regular season has now concluded and much has happened over the 162 game schedule. Junior Caminero fully established himself as one of the bright young stars in baseball. Chandler Simpson proved that his 2025 offensive success was no fluke and also dazzled defensively. Bryan Baker developed into the most successful closing pitcher in the game.
Also, Cam Booser became the Rays defacto southpaw in the bullpen.
At the end of Spring Training, the Rays informed Booser that he would not be making their Opening Day squad but would be added the 40-man roster and be one of the first arms called up should the opportunity present itself. The Rays also gave Booser the chance to seek employment elsewhere. The then 33-year old journeyman decided he wanted to remain with the Rays accepted his assignment to Triple-A Durham.
During a recent session with the media, Booser told reporters that Tampa Bay was a dream franchise for him
“For the majority of us middle-inning relievers, it’s always been a dream to come to Tampa [Bay],” Booser said. “You hear about it throughout your entire career, just how good they are at taking guys and just kind of revamping them or really helping them understand what they do well.”
Booser toiled away in Triple-A Durham for the first two months of the season. On May 31st, the Rays made the decision to bring Booser back up to the big leagues.
Ben Whitelaw at the time noted how Booser thus far had posted the best BB% of his career while also still harnessing swing and miss stuff during his stint with the Durham Bulls. Ben goes onto note how the Rays helped to improve Booser by “getting him in the zone more with his cutter”.
Ben goes onto say that, “cutters are naturally platoon-neutral offerings, so optimizing his cutter shape has helped him handle both righties and lefties.”
After his promotion to the big leagues, Booser almost immediately was given high leverage opportunity and rewarded the Rays faith by putting up some of the best numbers in the game over the rest of the season.
Booser finished the regular season with a 1.98 ERA | 2.93 FIP with a 29.6 K% and 3.9 BB%. Command had been an issue for Booser throughout his minor league career but he ranked 12th among 164 relievers with a 25.7 K-BB% (93rd percentile). Meanwhile opponents hit just .171 off of him, the 18th lowest for a reliever (90th percentile) since May 31st. Booser’s 0.76 WHIP was the 2nd lowest, tied with Josh Hader of the Houston Astros.
It truly was a remarkable season for Booser to had to his remarkable career.
