Rays and Red Sox have shown interest in Liam Hicks

The Rays have faced three lefties in a row, and Hicks started the middle game of the three while sitting tonight and on Wednesday. Nick Fortes will be out there at catcher.

Hicks put the Rays on the board with a leadoff homer in the second inning off Brandon Young. After a lineout in the fourth, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth with a left-handed reliever on the mound. The 27-year-old backstop has enjoyed a breakout campaign, hitting .283/.371/.446 with 17 homers, 62 runs scored, and 72 RBI across 465 plate appearances.

Aranda will get a rare breather in this one with left-hander Trevor Rogers toeing the slab for the Orioles. Liam Hicks will start in his place at first base and will bat eighth for the Rays while Kenny Piper does the catching.

Nick Fortes will get a day-game-after-a-night-game start against RHP Shane Bieber. Since being acquired by the Rays, Hicks has almost exclusively played catcher — he has just one start at first base and stayed in the game as a pinch-hitter twice as a catcher alongside 10 starts at catcher.

Hicks’ homers are rarely bombs, but he drilled a Jack Perkins pitch 401 feet to right center today. It was the fourth time in 830 career plate appearances that he’d hit a ball 400 feet. Hicks is batting .308/.438/.654 with two homers and nine RBI in eight games since joining the Rays.

Seems like a routine day off for Díaz. Liam Hicks will play first base and Jonathan Aranda will DH. Victor Mesa Jr. will shift into the leadoff spot.

After hitting into a ground out in his first at-bat, Hicks’ second at-bat came with the bases loaded in the third inning. He cleared them all with a grand slam to right field off Gabriel Hughes. Hicks later added a double in the sixth. The 27-year-old is hitting .285/.366/.444 with 15 homers, 55 runs scored, and 66 RBI across 414 plate appearances.

Hicks draws an extremely favorable setting for his Tampa Bay debut since he’ll have the opportunity to do some damage in Coors Field’s high-octane offensive environment. The 27-year-old backstop qualifies as one of the Rays’ biggest trade deadline swings in several years and should help fortify the middle of their lineup heading towards the home stretch. He was hitting 282/.363/.432 with 14 homers and 62 RBI across 409 plate appearances for the Marlins prior to the trade.

The 27-year-old Hicks, who won’t be a free agent until after 2030, is probably overachieving some at .282/.363/.432 as a sophomore this year, but he’ll still provide a nice lift over the Rays’ catching duo of Hunter Feduccia and Nick Fortes. Since Hicks and Feduccia are lefty hitters and Fortes is a righty, it’s Feduccia who would seem to be in line for a demotion. No official word yet on whether the Marlins will promote Agustín Ramírez. They already had Brian Navarette up as a third catcher with Hicks often DHing, so they could pick someone else if they don’t see Ramírez getting enough playing time as a DH and backup to Joe Mack.

Brayden Taylor is one of three prospects Miami is getting back, says Will Sammon. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman says Adrian Santana and Jacob Kisting are the other two. The Marlins didn’t have a dire need for Hicks as a catcher following Joe Mack’s emergence, so this makes a ton of sense. The Rays will probably send down fellow left-handed-hitting catcher Hunter Feduccia and keep Nick Fortes as Hicks’ backup. The Marlins could recall Agustín Ramírez to DH and play behind Mack.