Rays President, Baseball Operations Erik Neander was named Major League Baseball’s 2026 Executive of the Year during the annual General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas. Neander, who also earned the accolade in 2019, joined the Milwaukee Brewers Matt Arnold as the award’s only multi-time recipients since its inception in 2018. The winner is decided by a vote of executives from all 30 teams prior to the start of the postseason.
“I am both humbled and honored to be recognized by Major League Baseball
and the executives who voted on the award,” Neander said. “This recognition deserves to be shared across our entire staff, as well as the players who left it all on the field. It’s our collective commitment that allows something like this to be possible. Our pursuit of a World Series is only heightened by our recent experience. We will be relentless in our efforts to bring a championship to the fans of Tampa Bay.”
The Rays finished the 2026 regular season with a 98-64 record, earning the No. 1 seed in the American League (AL) for the fourth time in franchise history (2020-21, 2010) while capturing their fifth AL East title (also: 2008). They swept the New York Yankees in the American League (AL) Division Series (3-0) and defeated the Cleveland Guardians, 4-2, in the AL Championship Series to make the third World Series appearance in franchise history, joining 2020 and 2008. The club’s 106 combined wins between the regular season and postseason surpassed 2008 (105) for the most in franchise history.
From the conclusion of last offseason through the beginning of 2026 spring training, Neander and his group added 12 new players to the Rays 40-man roster and completed 16 offseason trades involving nearly 40 players, including a trio of three-team deals. Before spring training, he signed left-handed pitcher Cam Booser, right-handed pitcher Nick Martinez, and outfielder Cedric Mullins in free agency and traded for outfielders Victor Mesa Jr. and Ryan Vilade — all five players made the Rays World Series roster. Ahead of the trade deadline, Neander acquired catcher Liam Hicks, AL Championship Series Most Valuable Player right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta, and right-handed pitcher Tyler Wells, each of whom made key contributions during the Rays postseason run.
Every player on the Rays current 40-man roster has been acquired since Neander was appointed the club’s top-ranking baseball official, including 26 via trade. Additionally, the Rays farm system was rated No. 1 in the game by Baseball America in the publication’s most recent update in August, with seven Tampa Bay prospects ranked among the top 100 in baseball, highlighted by outfielder Theo Gillen (No. 5) and infielder Grady Emerson (No. 13).
The Rays have made the postseason six times during Neander’s 10 seasons at the helm (2017-26), with the club’s .557 winning percentage (846-672) in that span ranking third in the AL behind the Houston Astros (.585) and Yankees (.581). The Rays six postseason appearances since 2019 are sixth most in the majors, and they are one of three franchises to appear in multiple World Series since 2020 along with the Astros (two) and Los Angeles Dodgers (three).
A Virginia Tech graduate, Neander joined the Rays in January 2007 as a baseball operations intern and was hired full-time in October 2007. He was named senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager on Nov. 4, 2016, and promoted to president, baseball operations on Sept. 8, 2021. The Oneonta, N.Y. native is the eighth-longest-tenured head baseball operations executive with his current team by hiring date in the majors behind New York-AL’s Brian Cashman (Feb. 3, 1998), San Diego’s A.J. Preller (Aug. 6, 2014), Los Angeles-NL’s Andrew Friedman (Oct. 14, 2014), Toronto’s Mark Shapiro (Aug. 31, 2015), Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto (Sept. 28, 2015), Cleveland’s Chris Antonetti (Oct. 6, 2015), and Arizona’s Mike Hazen (Oct. 16, 2016)
