The Major League career of Aubrey Huff began when in Tampa Bay, where he would play his first six seasons.

Randy Winn was a switch-hitting Outfielder who was plucked from the Florida Marlins in the Expansion Draft.  Winn had yet to break into the Major League level, and his debut at Baseball's highest level occurred in Tampa.

With the Tampa Bay Rays for three seasons (2008-10), Matt Garza started 94 Games.  The righthander would win 11 Games in his first year there, but his crowning achievement was in the ALCS, where he won two Games with a 1.38 ERA, an effort that took Tampa to play in their first World Series.

Rocco Baldelli had an excellent rookie season in 2003 when he debuted in the Majors with the Rays.  Finishing third in American League Rookie of the Year voting, the Centerfielder was seventh in Stolen Bases (27) and tenth in Hits (184), and he would bat .289 with 11 Home Runs.  The 2004 season was also good, with him having a career-high in Home Runs (16) and RBIs (74), and he was first among the AL Centerfielders in Assists and Range Factor per Game.  That was sadly the beginning of the end for Baldelli.

Call him Melvin Jr, or B.J., but we think the former Upton who played for the Rays was a pretty damned good baseball player.

Signed as an Amateur Free Agent in 2007, Dominican Pitcher, Alex Colome, would reach the main Tampa Bay roster in 2013.  He would play only a handful of games for the Rays in 2013 and 2014, and while he had yet to have a defined role in 2015, he remained on the roster for the bulk of the season, starting 13 Games and throwing for 109.2 Innings.

Logan Forsythe may not have been considered a utility player, but it is hard not to think of him that way.  When he was traded from San Diego before the 2014 season, Forsythe's first year as a Ray saw him play at least one game at Second, Short, Third, First, Left, and DH.  He didn't move around because he was poor defensively, as he never had a negative Defensive bWAR year in Tampa.  It sounds like quite a versatile player!

Alex Cobb was a fourth round pick in 2006, and he would work his way up the ranks to the big club in 2011, where he would start nine games, impressing the brass enough to be named a member of the starting rotation early in 2012.

The best three seasons of Jason Bartlett’s career were with the Tampa Bay Rays (2008-2010), the second of what would be three Major League teams that he would play for.

After having been named an All-Star four times in his career, Fred McGriff was left available in the 1998 Expansion Draft, and the Tampa Bay Rays were able to have the hometown star as an inaugural Ray.

A bona fide flamethrower during his time with Tampa, Chris Archer debuted with Tampa in 2012, a year after he was in the minors and traded from the New York Mets.  Archer would begin an inconsistent career as he was often brilliant and often shellacked. 

With the fun (or demonic?) nickname of “Hellboy," Jeremy Hellickson debuted for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010 after being a fourth-round pick in 2005.  He appeared in eight games, winning four of them, and as he did not exceed rookie limits, he was classified as one in 2011.  As a rookie, Hellickson would have his best season in the Majors, going 13-10, with a career-best 2.95 ERA, and would win the American League Rookie of the Year.

It seemed so strange to us to rank Charlie Morton after only two seasons with the Rays, but we place an equal premium on seasonal dominance as we do the overall picture.  As such, here he is.

Matthew Joyce played his first 92 Games of his Major League career with the Detroit Tigers (2008), and he would be traded after to Tampa, where he spent most of 2009 honing his craft in the Minors. 

Blake Snell began his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he played for five years, where it can be argued that he had one monster season and the rest being average to mediocre.  

Carl Crawford was a second round pick in 1999 and would debut for Tampa in 2002 playing 64 Games.  The following season would be his coming out party as he would collect 177 Hits and had an American League leading 55 Stolen Bases.  The Leftfielder would remain one of the better hitters and better base stealers over the next few seasons.  From 2004 to 2010, he would have at least 180 Hits, with the exception of 2008, where he was reduced to 109 Games due to injury.  Crawford would have four seasons where he led in Triples and had another three Stolen Base top finishes in addition to his 2003 season mentioned above.

Kevin Kiermaier might go down in hstory as the greatest defensive player in Tampa Bay history.

David Price was the first overall draft pick in 2007, and he would make his highly anticipated Rays debut in September of 2008.  He played in the Rays' postseason run to the World Series in a relief capacity, but come the next season, and he was ready to take on his intended role as a starter.

When you talk about versatile players, Ben Zobrist often comes to the forefront of the mind.

Zobrist arrived in 2006 in a trade from Houston, where he was able to make his Major League debut with the Rays.  Zobrist was a role player for the next two years and would become the starting Shortstop for Tampa, but he would often play Second Base and Outfield and fill in where ever he was needed.  

Evan Longoria came in the Tampa Bay Rays organization as the 3^rd Pick of the 2006 Amateur Draft, and two years later, he would be the starting Third Baseman.  It was an excellent debut for Longoria, who had 27 Home Runs, was an All-Star and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award.  He would help them reach their first World Series, though they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies.