Williams is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Brewers.
Ben Williamson will cover shortstop in the series finale in Milwaukee after Williams had occupied the position in each of the Rays' first five games. The 22-year-old rookie has gotten off to a slow start, slashing just .158/.200/.211 while striking out in six of his 21 plate appearances.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Wins shortstop job
Rotowire
The Rays recalled Williams from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday and will have him start at shortstop in Thursday's season opener at St. Louis, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
The injury to Taylor Walls (oblique) made Williams' call-up likely, and the Rays have now made it official. Williams had a solid showing this spring with a .779 OPS, one home run and one stolen base, though it came with a 1:7 BB:K. The 22-year-old has major swing-and-miss issues, but Williams could hit for enough power and steal enough bases to be a viable fantasy contributor even if he proves a drag in the batting-average category.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Could start Opening Day
Rotowire
Williams is back with the Rays in big-league camp Thursday and could begin the season as the club's primary shortstop since Taylor Walls is out with an oblique injury, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Williams was optioned to Triple-A Durham on Tuesday but is back in Tampa Bay's Grapefruit League lineup Thursday following Walls' injury, which has an undisclosed recovery timeline. The 22-year-old Williams is now the favorite to begin the season as the Rays' starting shortstop, though he still needs to be added back to the big-league roster. The club could consider some outside options, but it's a tight window to do so with Opening Day just one week away.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Beginning season at Triple-A
Rotowire
The Rays optioned Williams to Triple-A Durham on Tuesday, Ryan Bass of FanDuel Sports Network Sun reports.
Williams was competing with Taylor Walls at shortstop with the Rays, but instead Williams will begin the season at Triple-A. The 22-year-old got his first taste of the big leagues last season and posted a .573 OPS with five home runs, 12 RBI, 11 runs scored, two stolen bases and an ugly 6:44 BB:K across 106 plate appearances. Williams should be back in the majors at some point in 2026.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Out again versus righty
Rotowire
Williams is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the White Sox.
Williams started the Rays' last game Sunday versus a lefty and hit a homer, but this marks the second straight time he's been out of the lineup against a right-hander. It's unlikely Williams will fall into the short side of a platoon, but it will be the left-handed-hitting Tristan Gray handling shortstop again Tuesday.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Swipes first bag
Rotowire
Williams went 1-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored Sunday against the Cardinals.
Williams made his second big-league start and continued to flash his fantasy upside. After homering in his debut, Williams tallied his first steal and has attempted a stolen base in each of his first two contests. His ability to make consistent contact remains a concern, but there is considerable power and speed intrigue in his profile that has already been on display.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Goes yard in major-league debut
Rotowire
Williams went 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI and an additional run scored in Friday's 10-6 win over the Cardinals.
Making his big-league debut, Williams went deep in the seventh inning to give the Rays a 9-6 lead. As long as Ha-Seong Kim (back) is on the 10-day injured list, Williams should be able to handle everyday reps as Tampa Bay's shortstop. Williams slashed a pedestrian .213/.318/.447 with 55 RBI but did launch 23 homers and steal 22 bases over 451 plate appearances with Triple-A Durham in 2025, so fantasy managers in deeper settings can consider adding the rookie infielder for his power and speed potential.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Receiving promotion to big leagues
Rotowire
The Rays will call up Williams from Triple-A Durham on Thursday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Ha-Seong Kim (back) is headed to the 10-day injured list, and Williams should man shortstop for the Rays regularly while Kim is out. Williams has not had a great 2025 season with Durham, slashing just .213/.318/.447 with a 34.1 percent strikeout rate. He has, however, socked 23 home runs and stolen 22 bases, so there is a tempting combination of power and speed if Williams is able to make enough contact.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Assigned to Triple-A
Rotowire
Williams will begin the season at Triple-A Durham, MLB.com reports.
Williams, 21, slashed .256/.353/.469 with 20 home runs and 33 stolen bases at Double-A Montgomery in 2024 and will move up to Durham to start this season. The shortstop has a chance to debut in 2025 if things go well in the International League.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Returns from week-long absence
Rotowire
Williams (hand) returned to action Tuesday for Double-A Montgomery and has gone 1-for-7 with two walks, a run and an RBI while starting at shortstop in the club's last two contests.
Williams missed a week of action with a hand injury but was never placed on Montgomery's 7-day injured list. The 20-year-old shortstop prospect is hitting .289/.374/.537 with 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases across 230 plate appearances in the Southern League this season.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Dealing with hand injury
Rotowire
Williams is considered day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the hand during Wednesday's game with Double-A Montgomery, MLB.com reports.
X-rays and an MRI came back clean, so it appears as if Williams has avoided serious injury. That's positive news, as he's had an excellent season with Montgomery, maintaining a .928 OPS with 10 home runs and 15 stolen bases across 49 games.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Stock way up at Double-A
Rotowire
Williams is slashing .336/.410/.571 with five home runs, nine steals, a 24.6 percent strikeout rate and a 72.3 percent contact rate in 29 games for Double-A Montgomery.
Williams has plus power, above-average speed and a chance to develop into a 70-grade defender at shortstop, it's just a question of how good his hit tool will be. While Williams' .432 BABIP is obviously inflating his line somewhat, his start to the season is encouraging, as he had a 31.8 percent strikeout rate and a contact rate below 65 percent last year. The Rays are getting good real-life shortstop play from Jose Caballero (0.8 fWAR), and Williams isn't on the 40-man roster, so he may still spend most, or all the season in the upper levels of the minors, but his dynasty stock is trending steeply up.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Falls off after hot start
Rotowire
Williams is hitting .255/.347/.489 with 13 home runs, 21 steals and 41:125 BB:K in 82 games for Single-A Charleston.
Yep, that's 125 strikeouts in 82 games for Williams -- good for an ugly 32.9 percent strikeout rate. He came out of the gate on fire, putting up a .323 average and 1.018 OPS through his first 33 games of the year, but in the 50 games since, he's put up a .208 batting average and .710 OPS. The stolen-base production has fallen off, too -- he's gone 0-for-2 over his last 16 games. Williams still boasts an intriguing power-speed blend, and he's considered a good bet to stick at shortstop, so there's still plenty to dream on here, but as the Rays (and fantasy managers) have seen with the travails of Josh Lowe this year, a subpar hit tool can prevent the other tools from showing through regularly.
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Rays' Carson Williams: Enticing results in Single-A
Rotowire
Williams is hitting .323/.418/.600 with four homers, 12 steals, 1 RBI and 25 runs across 33 games for Single-A Charleston.
That 1.018 OPS is the good news; the bad news is that Williams has a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. He's also drawing walks at a decent clip (13.1 percent), but he'll need to cut down on those swing-and-miss issues to have any hope of hitting for decent average in the big leagues. Nonetheless, it's been an incredible start to the year for Williams, who's shown a ton of extra-base ability with 10 doubles and seven triples to accompany his four long balls. Considering his exploits on the bases, it seems like evaluators may have underestimated his speed. He should be a big riser on the midseason prospect lists.
