Baz was traded from the Pirates to the Rays as the player to be named later in the Chris Archer deal, Jon Heyman of FancredSports.com reports.
As expected, the PTBNL in the Archer deal is better than the typical final piece in a deal like this, as Baz was the No. 12 overall pick in the 2017 draft and netted a slightly over-slot $4.1 million bonus. He has struggled with his command/control as a pro, walking 37 batters in 69 innings across stops in the Gulf Coast League and Appalachian League. However, as a 19-year-old with frontline-caliber stuff, it's not that surprising that he is still honing that aspect of pitching. Baz has 50 strikeouts in 45.1 innings in the Appy League this year, and had fanned 12 over 9.2 scoreless innings in his last two starts for Bristol. He slots in behind Brent Honeywell, Brendan McKay and Matthew Liberatore as the fourth-best pitching prospect in a stacked Rays farm system.