Maile’s Adjustments Pay Off

ST. PETERSBURG—Catcher Luke Maile made it to the big leagues last September. Now he wants to show he can stay.

Defense always has been Maile’s forte while he moved through a Rays system devoid of advanced catching prospects, even moreso with Justin O’Conner sidelined all season by back trouble.

But it was a recent improvement in Maile’s offensive game while playing at Triple-A Durham that earned him the new opportunity. The Rays called him up at the all-star break to replace Hank Conger, who was optioned to the Bulls, and gave him the chance to play on a somewhat regular basis.

“We brought Luke up last year to get some experience, and I think we kind of envisioned a scenario where he was going to be up here (at some point this year),” big league manager Kevin Cash said. “We need to find out a little bit about him.”

Maile, a 2012 eighth-round pick out of Kentucky, draws rave reviews for his defense.

But he knows how he does with the bat eventually will determine how much time he gets in the lineup and in the big leagues.

“I don’t want to be a one-way guy,” he said. “I want to be able to produce on the offensive front and not be an automatic out or a base clog. I want to be a guy who can do it all—move runners, make contact, drive the ball every once in a while and drive some runs in. That makes your defense stand out even more.’’

Maile said something clicked in early June at Durham—he hit .319/.405/.464 in 22 games that month—and he was able to adopt a more productive approach at the plate.

“I’ve just been trying to be myself,” Maile said. “There’s been some times when I’ve tried to do a little bit too much.”
Once he had some success, his confidence grew accordingly.

COOL RAYS

• Lefthander Justin Marks, a non-roster invitee to camp who has pitched one game in the majors, made history with Durham on Aug. 15, throwing a nine-inning no-hitter on 130 pitches.

• The Rays promoted first baseman Casey Gillaspie, a 2014 first-round pick, from Double-A Montgomery to Durham in mid-July. It’s another sign of a more aggressive promotional philosophy posture under general manager Matt Silverman’s regime.