Coco

Montes

Montes had the option of becoming a free agent, but he’s accepted the assignment. The 28-year-old didn’t get into a game in three days with the Rays before being DFA’d on Saturday.

Montes has been removed from Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster to free up a spot for newly acquired infielder Tristan Gray. The 28-year-old figures to pass through waivers unclaimed and will likely wind up back at Triple-A Durham.

Montes receives the call to rejoin Tampa Bay’s bench mix with reserve outfielder Stuart Fairchild requiring a trip to the injured list with an oblique strain. The versatile 28-year-old got into five contests earlier this season for the Rays, going 2-for-10 with one RBI.

Montes didn’t get an at-bat in his three days of filling in for Yandy Díaz on the Rays roster.

Montes returns to the majors ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the Blue Jays with Yandy Díaz heading to the restricted list. The 28-year-old, who has gotten into five games this season at the highest level, figures to occupy a spot on the Rays’ bench for now.

Montes heads back to the minors to make room on Tampa Bay’s active roster for Travis Jankowski after spending a couple days with the club in a bench role.

Montes is able to get called up less than a week after being demoted to Durham, because he’s replacing Jake Mangum (groin) on the active roster. He’ll be a bench option for the Rays while he’s with the club.

Montes gets the boot from the active roster with Richie Palacios (finger) back off the injured list. The 28-year-old Montes will be up and down throughout the 2025 season and likely his career.

With Jonny DeLuca (shoulder) landing on the IL, the Rays will bring up Montes, who is currently 4-for-34 in Triple-A. Montes can play anywhere on the infield, which likely means Christopher Morel and Jose Caballero will continue to see most of their playing time in the outfield with DeLuca sidelined. Montes has not been playing well at Triple-A, but he’s on the 40-man roster and has two minor league options left, so he’s the logical call-up for the Rays with DeLuca not set to miss too much time.

DeLuca has been playing great baseball to start 2025, going 10-for-23 with four steals while providing strong defense in center field. The logical replacement for him would be Chandler Simpson, but it seems that the Rays don’t want to start the clock on his service time, and DeLuca may not be out for that long. Coco Montes will be called up from Triple-A, which means both Kameron Misner and Jake Mangum should get plenty of starts in the immediate future.