Taylor Walls News: Fading into part-time role

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.