TAMPA — Looking to upgrade their overall outfield production this offseason, the Rays have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent center fielder Cedric Mullins, a source told MLB.com on Wednesday.
The club has not confirmed the agreement, which is pending a physical. Terms of the deal have not yet been reported.
The Rays intend to slot Mullins into center field, though their outfield situation remains unresolved due to the number of options they have on their roster — a glut that will only grow whenever Mullins’ addition is made official.
Tampa Bay could pair the left-handed-hitting Mullins in center with right-handed-hitting Jonny DeLuca, who missed nearly all of last season due to injuries. The Rays also have lefty-hitting corner outfielders Josh Lowe, Jake Fraley and Chandler Simpson, switch-hitter Jake Mangum, and two outfielders who could play the infield in Richie Palacios and Ryan Vilade.
One of baseball’s most entertaining center fielders, Mullins has a penchant for making seemingly impossible catches while roaming the outfield. It’s easy to see why he has graded out as a plus center fielder, according to outs above average, every year since debuting with the Orioles in 2018. His OAA this past season was +4.
Mullins didn’t get regular playing time in Baltimore until 2021 and immediately became one of the best outfielders in MLB. Besides his +11 OAA that year, Mullins slashed .291/.360/.518 over 675 plate appearances and had a 137 OPS+. He was an All-Star, a Silver Slugger winner and the first Oriole to record a 30-homer, 30-steal season.
Since then, however, some of Mullins’ offensive numbers have sagged considerably. Over the past four seasons, his slash line is .237/.308/.403 with a slightly-above-league-average 102 OPS+. The bottom fell out in 2025, when, after a hot first few weeks, he fell into a prolonged slump, batting .208 with a .636 OPS over his final 69 games with Baltimore before he was traded to the Mets on July 31.
New York was in desperate need of an upgrade in center field, but Mullins’ bat stayed quiet in Queens as he had a .182 average and a .565 OPS through 42 games.
While his average and on-base percentage may never reach 2021 heights again, Mullins has hit between 15-18 homers every year since 2022, and his stolen base total didn’t fall below 19 in any year during that span. His sprint speed was in the 77th percentile in ‘25, so the 31-year-old still has plenty of juice in his legs.
Mullins’ homer total is also likely to remain serviceable as long as he continues to regularly pull and elevate pitches. His 29.6% pulled airball rate last season ranked eighth among qualified players and was a career high by 4.1 percentage points.
