Walls went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and was caught stealing in Thursday's game against the Phillies.
Walls started his fifth straight game at shortstop and has gone 7-for-17 at the plate in that span. He also has four runs scored in that stretch, while raising his average to .205. As the latter number indicates, Walls is a light hitter, limiting his fantasy appeal even if he continues to get consistent at-bats.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Playing time trending up
Rotowire
Walls will start at shortstop and bat eighth in Wednesday's game against the Phillies, Ryan Bass of FanDuel Sports Network Sun reports.
Walls will make his fourth straight start, with the Rays going up against two lefties and two righties during that span. The defensive-minded Walls owns a measly .504 OPS on the season and appeared to have fallen behind Jose Caballero on the depth chart at shortstop, but a surprise 4-for-5 performance in Sunday's 7-5 win over the Yankees might have enabled Walls to regain some job security.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Productive across weekend series
Rotowire
Walls went 4-for-5 with a double and two runs scored Sunday against the Yankees.
Walls has lost playing time to Jose Caballero since April 19, but he started two of three games against the Yankees over the weekend. He combined to go 4-for-7 with an RBI and two runs scored, though he's still hitting only .192 for the season across 192 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Fading into part-time role
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Royals, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Though the Rays have valued Walls' dependable glove at shortstop over the last few seasons, he's routinely struggled to make much of an impact at the plate. Walls has taken another step back with the bat so far in 2025, slashing just .155/.247/.197 with one extra-base hit (a home run) and a 24.7 percent strikeout rate across 81 plate appearances. While the Rays probably won't phase Walls out entirely, he seems to have moved into more of a part-time role of late, as he'll hit the bench for the fifth time in the last eight games. Jose Caballero may have overtaken Walls as manager Kevin Cash's preferred option at shortstop.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Homers in win
Rotowire
Walls went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Sunday's win over the Padres.
Walls got the Rays on the board with a solo home run to center field. It was his first home run and first extra-base hit of the season. He's now driven in a run in consecutive games but is hitting just .164/.260/.209 with six RBI, nine runs scored and a 9:19 BB:K in 77 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Resting Wednesday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the lineup for Wednesday's game against Arizona, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls has gone 0-for-9 over his last three games and will now grab a seat on the bench while Jose Caballero picks up a start at shortstop and bats ninth.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Sitting Saturday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Yankees, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls owns a .459 OPS across 30 plate appearances over his last eight games and will now take a day to collect himself. Jose Caballero will fill the resulting void at shortstop and bat eighth.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Heading to bench Thursday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Angels.
Walls will get a breather for the day game after he started in each of the Rays' last three contests. Jose Caballero will pick up the start at shortstop in place of Walls, who has produced a .143/.273/.143 slash line with three stolen bases, two runs and one RBI over 33 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Battling quad injury
Rotowire
Walls left Saturday's Grapefruit League game with a quad injury, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
The injury is expected to be minor, as Walls is projected to return to the lineup Thursday. He had a solid spring prior to being sidelined, collecting five hits across 16 at-bats -- albeit with only one extra-base hit. Walls is slated to begin the season as the Rays' starting shortstop with Ha-Seong Kim (shoulder) sidelined.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Sitting Sunday
Rotowire
Walls is absent from Sunday's lineup against Boston, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Jose Caballero will start at shortstop and bat eighth in Tampa Bay's regular-season finale. Unless he pinch hits Sunday, Walls will end the year having slashed .183/.282/.248 with 16 stolen bases, one home run and 14 RBI over 252 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Idle Friday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Red Sox.
Walls will yield to Jose Caballero at shortstop for the second time in three games. In September, Walls is 12-for-50 (.240) with five stolen bases, eight runs and seven RBI.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Heading back to bench Wednesday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.
Walls will hit the bench after a stretch of three consecutive starts and five starts in the past six games. The infielder has produced a weak .546 OPS in September, but that mark is actually an improvement over his season-long OPS of .519. He continues to see semi-regular playing time largely because of his defensive work.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Out of Sunday's lineup
Rotowire
Walls is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Guardians.
Walls started Friday and Saturday and will sit for Sunday's series finale after going 1-for-7 with three strikeouts. Jose Caballero is starting at shortstop and batting seventh.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Getting sixth straight start
Rotowire
Walls will start at shortstop and bat seventh in Monday's game against the Phillies, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will pick up his sixth consecutive start at shortstop and may have at least temporarily reclaimed a near-everyday role from Jose Caballero. The Rays will have room in the middle infield for both players while Brandon Lowe (finger) is on the bench Monday for a fourth straight game, but Walls has made a case for continuing to see regular playing time once Lowe returns. Over his last five starts, Walls has gone 5-for-15 with a home run, three walks, five RBI, four runs and two stolen bases.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Fills stat sheet in win
Rotowire
Walls went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two RBI, an additional run scored and a stolen base in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Orioles.
Walls had his best game of the season Saturday, homering for the first time this year in the third inning and swiping his 13th bag in the eighth. The shortstop has produced on just six hits in his past 10 games, scoring six times while driving in seven runs. On the season, he is hitting just .178 with 12 RBI and 23 runs scored across 212 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Rare offensive spark
Rotowire
Walls went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored Friday against the Padres.
Walls delivered a two-RBI single in the second inning, bringing his total on the season to only seven RBI across 193 plate appearances. He remains in a semi-regular role at shortstop for Tampa Bay and has stolen 11 bases on the season, but he otherwise offers a poor fantasy profile.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Taking seat Saturday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Dodgers.
Walls had started six of the Rays' last seven games, but he'll give way to Jose Caballero at shortstop Saturday. Walls is 11-for-48 (.229) with five runs, six stolen bases and more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) in August.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Resting Saturday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the Rays' lineup for Saturday's game against Baltimore, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls owns a .157/.283/.198 slash line through 145 plate appearances on the season, and he'll step out of the lineup against the formidable Corbin Burnes. Jose Caballero will shift to shortstop in Walls' place while Curtis Mead starts at the hot corner.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Picks up steal in win
Rotowire
Walls went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in Saturday's 6-1 win over the Astros.
Walls recorded just his fifth hit in his last 16 games. Despite the struggles with getting on base, he's logged three steals during his slump, in part thanks to drawing eight walks over those contests. He's posted a punchless .156/.277/.193 slash line with no home runs, six steals, four RBI and 12 runs scored over 130 plate appearances this year. He appears to still be the Rays' preferred shortstop despite adding nothing with the bat and also being a poor fielder -- per Statcast, he has recorded a -4 mark in Outs Above Average in his first year exclusively at the position.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Idle Friday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the Rays' lineup for Friday's game against the Astros, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls has gone just 1-for-14 with nine strikeouts over his last five games, and he'll now get a day off to regroup. Jose Caballero will slide over to cover shortstop while Curtis Mead starts at the hot corner.
