Strong to quite strong?!
One week into the season is hardly the time to speak praises of a player, however, the Rays have a few guys that are off to a nice start. Steven Souza, Logan Morrison, and Corey Dickerson are off to solid starts for the 3-2 Rays.
Dickerson showed very well during the spring with a .379/.410/.603 slash line. He tied 1B/OF prospect Jake Bauers with a team-high four home runs, and led the team in hits (22) during 22 games.
Starting the season, manager Kevin Cash entrusted Dickerson with lead-off responsibilities. He has led-off and been DH in each of his three starts. On Wednesday, he became the fourth Rays DH (Matt Joyce, Johnny Damon, Rocco Baldelli) to hit a lead-off home run.
Souza has three doubles in his last two games, enters Saturday night with a 4-game hitting streak, and has only struck out twice this season. After the game on Friday night Souza had this to say of his teams recent performance…
“We can do this for a month. We can do this for a day. The key is we have to be able to do this for 162 days…If we can play like this the majority of the time, we’re going to be right where we want to be at the end of the year”
Morrison had three hits on opening day and through five games this year, he is tied for second place in the AL with eight hits. Only Nomar Mazara of the Texas Rangers (11) has more.
Morrison did not enjoy much success to start the 2016 season, the first baseman has made April his friend so far this year, batting .533 through five games.
Last April is just a memory.
LoMo is 5-for-9 and swinging a hot bat to start the year. pic.twitter.com/Z7DHpppHN6
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 6, 2017
Next Stop Yankee Stadium
The Rays wrap up their four-game set with the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon. From there they will travel to New York and battle the Yankees on Monday afternoon – the home-opener at Yankee Stadium.
Don’t be surprised to see these three continue their success in the Bronx. Check out the career averages for each of them…Corey Dickerson – .304 ___ Logan Morrison – .279 ___ Steven Souza – .291
