My Two Cents: Rays Get Hot in 'City Connects,' But Win Streak More About Jonny DeLuca

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jonny DeLuca is many things, but being superstitious isn't one of them. The 25-year-old Tampa Bay Rays outfielder is SoCal cool, has a great head of hair and can even talk skateboarding like the rad kids.

So cool.

Those skills have all come in handy since DeLuca made his 2024 debut last Friday. He missing the first month of the season with a broken hand after getting hit by a pitch in spring training. He freely admits that patience is NOT one of his virtues, and it's been tough to bide his time during six weeks of rehab.

But he's sure made up for lost time. He's played four games so far — and the Rays have won all four games to pull back to .500 with an 18-18 record. He went 1-for-4 with 3 RBIs in Friday's 10-8 win over the New York Mets. He went 0-for-3 on Saturday — the Rays won anyway — and then had a two-run walk-off triple on Sunday in the Rays' 7-6 10-inning win. Then on Monday he went 2-for-4 again and drove in four runs, two on a second-inning single and two more on a fifth-inning homer.

If you're scoring at home — and good for you — that's 5-for-15 with 10 RBIs in just four days. Ten RBIs is a good month for some people. He's done it in four days.

That's a breath of fresh air for the Rays, who have been struggling to score for much of the season so far.

"The at-bats he's had with guys on base have been really impressive,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. "We all want all players, all young players, to get off to a good start when they come off the IL. They do that and you'll see of better version of them when they aren't stressing about getting their numbers or contributing. He's certainly done that. He's gotten off to a hot start, he's had great at-bats, played good defense and made a couple good throws.''

DeLuca, a Thousand Oaks, Calif. native, came to the Rays this offseaon along with pitcher Ryan Pepiot in the Tyler Glasnow trade. The Rays are expecting big things from him, and felt like they got two quality players in that trade, one made out of necessity from a financial standpoint.

"Jonny did a good job in spring training of getting to know his teammates and being one of us, one of the guys,'' Cash said. "Then you go absent for a little while with nothing that he did wrong. I would guess it relaxes the player a little bit (to get off to a hot start.)

It has been good to see, especially for a Rays team that was in last place for much of late April and were four games under .500 for the first time since 2018. Before these four wins, they went on a 2-8 skid and lost by five runs or more four times. They went winless (0-4-1) in five straight series.

DeLuca's arrival to Tropicana Field coincided with the long-awaited Rays debut of their sharp "City Connect'' jerseys. They wore them all weekend as planned and swept the Mets. They were supposed to go back to their traditional uniforms on Monday for the first of three games with the Chicago White Sox, but the players said no.

Superstition maybe, but you don't change up a good thing. The threads? They stayed.

"I'm not superstitious, but I just think it's a fun thing to do,'' DeLuca said. "In baseball it's hard not to be superstitious, but we're just going to ride these out and have fun with it. I love them. They're great. I think they did a great job with them.

DeLuca's 10 RBIs are a head turner, especially when you figure that left fielder Randy Arozarena only has 11 RBIs in 129 at-bats. Starting center fielder Jose Siri only has seven RBIs in 91 at-bats. Right fielder Richie Palacios only has six in 78 at-bats and Curtis Mead, who was sent down to Triple-A Durham to make room on the roster for DeLuca, had only five RBIs in 87 at-bats.

So a hot bat helps. DeLuca is thrilled with his start, obviously, and he's just trying to take it all in and keep it simple. The hits are great, and so is the winning. They've had 42 hits as a team since Friday night.

"I'm keeping a simple approach and not trying to do too much. Everybody is contributing right now and it's fun to just be a little piece of that,'' DeLuca said. "The stats are good right now, but any way I can contribute is what I want. Everyone knows hitting is contagious and when one guy gets going it spreads. That's happening with all of us right now.''

Cash has penciled him in the lineup every day, twice in center field and twice in right. Steady playing time has helped.

"Playing every day is great. It helps getting into a routine, getting into a rhythm,'' said the right-handed-hitting DeLuca. "Hitting can be streaky, so once you get in a good rhythm, it's fun to get going.''

The six weeks of rehab wasn't easy because he desperately wanted to be out on the field with his new teammates. Now he's finally getting to do that.

"I did (get frustrated). I might have put on a great face (in spring training) but it sucked,'' DeLuca said. "What motivates you when you're on a rehab assignment is to just get back as quick as possible and contribute in any way. It's tough watching from the seats, so it's fun to get back out there. ... I'm not good at (having patience), but the trainers have kept me sane. I was going a little psycho just trying to get back.''

Playing well and looking good in the skateboard-infused jerseys all goes hand in hadn.

"I did a lot of skating and a lot of surfing growing up, so that was a cool connection with the City Connects. I'm a SoCal kid, so I think these are great.''