Rays' Thriving Prospect Highlights Lineup for Game Against Pirates

Here is the lineup for the Tampa Bay Rays for their Monday showdown against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Aug 16, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; A Tampa Bay Rays helmet sits in the dugout before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays will be getting set for another spring training game, this time against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

On Monday, it will be the 10th game of spring training for the Rays, and they currently have a 3-6 record. While wins and losses aren’t overly important in these games, there have been some lopsided losses for Tampa Bay so far. 

As the team prepares for the regular season, they are currently trying to get some of their young players reps and figure out what the roster will look like. On Monday, the Rays will be giving some players a chance to get some playing time that likely won’t be on the roster. However, one of their young prospects who is performing well will be playing. 

Jacob Melton Thriving

#Rays lineup at #Pirates: pic.twitter.com/mWPxpRAsN8

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) March 2, 2026

It has been a very strong spring so far for the talented outfielder. As the key piece in the trade that sent Brandon Lowe to the Pirates, Melton is a talented prospect who could be a contributor for the team this year. 

While Tampa Bay did put a lot of focus this winter on improving the offensive production for the outfield, Melton might be playing well enough to force his way onto the team to start the campaign. 

The young outfielder did get some time in the majors with the Houston Astros last year, and that might have really helped his development. With the way that Melton is performing so far, it will be interesting to see if he does end up making the Opening Day roster for Tampa Bay. Even though that would create a bit of a logjam in the outfield, it would be a good problem to have.