Walls is absent from Sunday's lineup against Boston, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Jose Caballero will start at shortstop and bat eighth in Tampa Bay's regular-season finale. Unless he pinch hits Sunday, Walls will end the year having slashed .183/.282/.248 with 16 stolen bases, one home run and 14 RBI over 252 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Idle Friday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Red Sox.
Walls will yield to Jose Caballero at shortstop for the second time in three games. In September, Walls is 12-for-50 (.240) with five stolen bases, eight runs and seven RBI.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Heading back to bench Wednesday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.
Walls will hit the bench after a stretch of three consecutive starts and five starts in the past six games. The infielder has produced a weak .546 OPS in September, but that mark is actually an improvement over his season-long OPS of .519. He continues to see semi-regular playing time largely because of his defensive work.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Out of Sunday's lineup
Rotowire
Walls is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Guardians.
Walls started Friday and Saturday and will sit for Sunday's series finale after going 1-for-7 with three strikeouts. Jose Caballero is starting at shortstop and batting seventh.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Resting Thursday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the Rays' lineup for Thursday's game versus Cleveland, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will take a seat Thursday after going 1-for-3 with an RBI during Wednesday's game against the Phillies. In his place, Jose Caballero will start at shortstop and bat sixth.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Getting sixth straight start
Rotowire
Walls will start at shortstop and bat seventh in Monday's game against the Phillies, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will pick up his sixth consecutive start at shortstop and may have at least temporarily reclaimed a near-everyday role from Jose Caballero. The Rays will have room in the middle infield for both players while Brandon Lowe (finger) is on the bench Monday for a fourth straight game, but Walls has made a case for continuing to see regular playing time once Lowe returns. Over his last five starts, Walls has gone 5-for-15 with a home run, three walks, five RBI, four runs and two stolen bases.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Fills stat sheet in win
Rotowire
Walls went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, two RBI, an additional run scored and a stolen base in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Orioles.
Walls had his best game of the season Saturday, homering for the first time this year in the third inning and swiping his 13th bag in the eighth. The shortstop has produced on just six hits in his past 10 games, scoring six times while driving in seven runs. On the season, he is hitting just .178 with 12 RBI and 23 runs scored across 212 plate appearances.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Rare offensive spark
Rotowire
Walls went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored Friday against the Padres.
Walls delivered a two-RBI single in the second inning, bringing his total on the season to only seven RBI across 193 plate appearances. He remains in a semi-regular role at shortstop for Tampa Bay and has stolen 11 bases on the season, but he otherwise offers a poor fantasy profile.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Heading to bench Wednesday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Mariners.
Walls will hit the bench for the series finale after starting each of the past three games, allowing Jose Caballero to pick up a start at shortstop. The Rays value Walls' glovework in the middle infield, but he's been one of the league's least productive hitters this season. Among the 378 players who have logged at least 150 plate appearances heading into Wednesday, Walls ranks 375th with a .493 OPS.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Taking seat Saturday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Saturday's game against the Dodgers.
Walls had started six of the Rays' last seven games, but he'll give way to Jose Caballero at shortstop Saturday. Walls is 11-for-48 (.229) with five runs, six stolen bases and more walks (six) than strikeouts (four) in August.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Seeing steady starts at shortstop
Rotowire
Walls will start at shortstop and bat seventh in Thursday's game against the Athletics.
Though he appeared to be at risk of moving into more of a part-time role when the Rays recalled infielder Junior Caminero from Triple-A Durham on Aug. 13, Walls still looks to be the team's top option at shortstop. Walls will pick up his fifth start in six games Thursday, while Jose Caballero has instead taken the bigger hit from a playing-time perspective following the arrival of Caminero. Caballero boasts the better fantasy profile of the two players thanks to his willingness to run (35 steals in 48 attempts this season), but the Rays seem to place greater value on Walls' defense at shortstop.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Two steals in Wednesday's loss
Rotowire
Walls went 1-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases and one run scored in Wednesday's 2-1 extra-inning loss to the Astros.
Walls had one of the Rays' two hits in the contest. The shortstop has managed to log four steals on five attempts over 11 games in August while batting .269 (7-for-26) this month. It's a welcome sign of success at the plate when compared to his meager .169/.290/.231 slash line for the year. Walls has added nine steals, four RBI, 16 runs scored and no home runs over 155 plate appearances. With third-base prospect Junior Caminero replacing Curtis Mead in the majors, Walls' playing time could take a hit since Jose Caballero will likely have to get more of his time at shortstop moving forward.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Resting Saturday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the Rays' lineup for Saturday's game against Baltimore, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls owns a .157/.283/.198 slash line through 145 plate appearances on the season, and he'll step out of the lineup against the formidable Corbin Burnes. Jose Caballero will shift to shortstop in Walls' place while Curtis Mead starts at the hot corner.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Heading to bench Wednesday
Rotowire
Walls is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Cardinals, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will get a breather Wednesday after he had started in each of the previous three games while going 1-for-10 at the dish, bringing his average down to a lowly .148 for the season. Jose Caballero will step in at shortstop for Walls, who is still valued for his defense even though the metrics are not exactly glowing in that regard this season. Walls should be considered at risk of moving into more of a utility role if he's unable to start offering more production at the plate.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Picks up steal in win
Rotowire
Walls went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in Saturday's 6-1 win over the Astros.
Walls recorded just his fifth hit in his last 16 games. Despite the struggles with getting on base, he's logged three steals during his slump, in part thanks to drawing eight walks over those contests. He's posted a punchless .156/.277/.193 slash line with no home runs, six steals, four RBI and 12 runs scored over 130 plate appearances this year. He appears to still be the Rays' preferred shortstop despite adding nothing with the bat and also being a poor fielder -- per Statcast, he has recorded a -4 mark in Outs Above Average in his first year exclusively at the position.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Idle Friday
Rotowire
Walls isn't in the Rays' lineup for Friday's game against the Astros, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls has gone just 1-for-14 with nine strikeouts over his last five games, and he'll now get a day off to regroup. Jose Caballero will slide over to cover shortstop while Curtis Mead starts at the hot corner.
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Rays' Taylor Walls: Sitting Saturday
Rotowire
Walls is not in the starting lineup for Saturday's game against Cincinnati, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will get a breather Saturday after going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in Friday's 3-2 loss to Cincinnati. Jose Caballero will start at shortstop Saturday and bat seventh against Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott.
Walls is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the Yankees, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Walls will get a breather for Monday's day game after he started each of the first three contests of the series versus the Yankees, going 1-for-7 with a double, three walks, a stolen base and a run. Jose Caballero will step in for Walls at shortstop.
