Here's What Tampa Bay Rays Manager Kevin Cash Had to Say About Plan, Trade For Forrest Whitley

The Rays acquired the former top prospect from the Houston Astros on Friday afternoon, and Cash says they will use him in the bullpen.

Houston Astros starting pitcher Forrest Whitley (60) works out during spring training practice at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

NEW YORK - The Tampa Bay Rays acquired former top prospect Forrest Whitley for cash considerations on Friday afternoon, and manager Kevin Cash confirms that they will use him in the bullpen moving forward.

Speaking before Friday's series-opener against the New York Mets, Cash said that he didn't know much about Whitley, but that he is excited to see pitching coach Kyle Snyder work with him.

Not a ton. I mean, I saw him just like you guys did in Houston. It's pretty big stuff. I think that Kyle's really good at what he does, and hopefully with some good messaging and Forrest, maybe a change of scenery, I have no idea, will help him. But we really like the arm. Really like the off-speed pitches, the weapons that he has. But you just want to get him in here and get to know him.

A former Top-100 prospect in the sport, Whitley was ranked as the No. 41 prospect in 2021 by MLB Pipeline. He was as high as No. 19 during the 2020 campaign and reached No. 7 in 2019.

Now 27, he's a former first-round pick of the Astros (No. 17) out of high school. He's appeared in just eight major league games in his career, going 0-0 with an 8.44 ERA. He started just one game in 2024 at the minor league level, making 32 relief appearances, so the decison to put him in the bullpen makes sense.

Whitley had also been suspended during the 2018 season for violating the league's Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment program. He got 50 games for that, as noted by MLB.com.

Whitley will report to the Rays, but it's unclear exactly when he'll join the roster.

The Rays play the Mets on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET.