ORLANDO, Fla. — Spring training rolls along for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Pitchers and catchers reported to camp last week. On Monday, the team had its first full squad workout at ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Manager Kevin Cash said there was a good energy to the day, that guys were happy to reunite and see one another.

As for the workout itself, Cash said they kept things pretty light for pitchers. The plan is for those guys to start ramping up their workload with live batting practice over the next four days. The Rays pitching staff has been dominating the headlines this spring, but the team is confident their offense will make a lot of noise this year, too.

They didn’t make any upgrades to their lineup, banking instead on young players, like Wander Franco and Josh Lowe, to step up this season. The Rays are also looking to Randy Arozarena to capitalize on a solid 2022 season in which he led the team in hits, home runs, RBI and stolen bases. 

“Who wouldn’t sign up for his last two and a half seasons at the major league level,” Cash said of Arozarena. “He’s very driven to find that consistency throughout the year. He’ll go a month where he’s the best player in baseball, and then maybe goes quite a little.

“But in fairness to Randy, at the end of the year, you see he’s putting up some pretty special statistics. We’d be thrilled if he could do it again and if he continues to get better, that’s fine too.”

Arozarena said he wants to improve on his numbers but also mentioned his decision making, in particular. He wants to be smarter on the base paths and to make better decisions at the plate.

If he does all that, the Rays believe there’s a good chance we could see Arozarena suiting up for his first career All-Star Game this season.

The Rays will hold four more practices here before heading to Fort Myers on Saturday for their first spring training game against the Minnesota Twins.