Rays, Levi Stoudt Agree To Minor League Deal

The Rays are in agreement with right-hander Levi Stoudt on a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to Spring Training, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Topkin also reported this week that Tampa Bay was re-signing righty Kodi Whitley with a camp invite. Stoudt, who’ll be 29 next month, has four games of major league experience. Those came with the 2023 Reds, for whom he tossed 10 1/3 innings of 11-run ball. Stoudt subsequently spent time in the Baltimore organization and was on a minor league contract with the Phillies for 2026. He was out to a great start to the season, combining for 22 2/3 frames without an earned run between the top two minor league levels. There’s a decent chance he’d have earned himself a look in the Philadelphia bullpen had he not suffered an elbow injury in June that ended his season. A third-round pick by the Mariners in 2019, Stoudt got some prospect attention early in his career on the strength of a mid-90s fastball and good control. He averaged 96 mph on his fastball in Triple-A this year but threw his mid-80s slider at a massive 85% clip. The pre-injury results were encouraging, as Stoudt struck out 11 of 39 Triple-A opponents while allowing a total of six baserunners in 11 innings. Whitley will be on his third season in the Tampa Bay system. The 31-year-old righty (32 in February) tossed 32 innings with a 2.81 ERA out of the bullpen at Triple-A Durham this year. He struck out a solid 24% of opponents against an excellent 6.2% walk percentage. Whitley pitched parts of three seasons with the Cardinals (2020-22), compiling a 3.38 ERA across 42 2/3 career innings. View Comments (0)