DRB Prospect Review: #5 Curtis Mead
It’s a been a struggle for Mead at the Major League level
Over the offseason, the Draybay community takes part in an exercise in which we compile a list of 30 prospects in the Rays system based on popular vote.
Now that the 2024 season has concluded, we can look back at these rankings and see how each individual player performed.
Reminder, this is a review of the prospects ranked heading into the 2024 season. This is not an updated ranking. Draysbay will begin the voting for the 2025 community top prospects later this offseason.
We have already covered the following:
- #30. Erick Lara.
- #29. Kenny Piper
- #28. Tanner Murray
- #27. Jacob Lopez
- #26. Marcus Johnson
- #25. Cole Wilcox
- #24. Dru Baker
- #23. Trevor Martin
- #22. Joe Rock
- #21. Ian Seymour
- #20. Tre’ Morgan
- #19. Brailer Guerrero
- #18. Jose Urbina
- #17. Mason Auer
- #16. Adrian Santana
- #15. Chandler Simpson
- #14. Osleivis Basabe
- #13. Mason Montgomery
- #12. Austin Shenton
- #11. Colton Ledbetter
- #10. Santiago Suarez
- #9. Dominic Keegan
- #8. Jonny DeLuca
- #7. Yoniel Curet
- #6. Brayden Taylor
We resume the reviews at #5.
5. Curtis Mead
Before the Season
23 | BT: R/R | 6’ 2” | 171
AAA | .294/.385/.515 (.900 OPS, 123 wRC+) 278 PA, 9 HR, 4 SB
MLB | .253/.326/.349 (.675 OPS, 95 wRC+) 92 PA, 1 HR, 0 SB
Mead has nothing left to prove in the minors, even though injuries and a careful approach at the plate have made his major league appearances thus far somewhat muted. The Australian punished pitches in the zone, and has a plus hit tool that should make him a solid major league contributor. Defensively his best home is second base due to some limitations with his arm, but he can fake it on the left side of the infield with the best of ‘em.
How it Went
Curtis Mead has once again proven himself to be more than capable of being an above average offensive player in the minor leagues, but also once again failed to translate those abilities to the big league level. Mead was able to make the Rays Opening Day roster, but would be demoted to Triple-A in mid-May. He returned to the Rays in July, but for less than a month and he would finish the season back in Durham. Mead’s defensive shortcomings were also on display as he produced -3 DRS in just 159 innings at second base.
Final 2024 Statline:
AAA: .288/.359/.481 | 13 HR | 11 SB | 15.6 K% | 7.1 BB% | 117 wRC+ | 410 PA
MLB: .238/.282/.287 | 1 HR | 2 SB | 22.7 K %| 4.5 BB% | 67 wRC+ | 132 PA | -0.3 fWAR
Curtis Mead has graduated from prospect consideration.