(via Tampa Bay Rays Communications) - The Tampa Bay Rays have traded right-handed pitcher John Curtiss to the Miami Marlins in exchange for minor league first baseman Evan Edwards. Following the trade, the Rays 40-man roster stands at 39 players.
Curtiss, 27, went 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA (25-IP, 5-ER) in 17 appearances (three starts) last season, his first in the Rays organization. He was selected from the alternate training site on August 9 and remained on the active roster for the remainder of the season. From the date of his selection through season’s end, his 17 appearances ranked fourth on the team behind Pete Fairbanks (21), Aaron Loup (20) and Ryan Thompson (20). In the 2020 postseason, he went 1-0 with a 6.30 ERA (10-IP, 7-ER) in nine appearances (one start). In Game 1 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees, he made his postseason debut and yielded a grand slam to Giancarlo Stanton, the first allowed in Rays postseason history. In Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and recorded the win when the Rays won, 8-7, on Brett Phillips’ game-tying hit and game-ending Dodgers errors in the bottom of the 9th inning.
Curtiss has spent parts of the last four seasons in the majors with the Minnesota Twins (2017-18), Los Angeles Angels (2019) and Rays (2020) and is 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA (42.1-IP, 18-ER) in 35 career appearances (three starts). He was selected by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2014 Amateur Draft out of the University of Texas.
Edwards, 23, was not part of the Marlins 60-man player pool for the 2020 season but played in the Instructional League in October. He was selected by the Marlins in the fourth round of the 2019 Amateur Draft out of North Carolina State University. In his only professional season, he earned a promotion to Class-A Clinton after five games with Short-A Batavia and hit .281/.357/.442 (77-for-274) with nine home runs and 50 RBI in 73 games between the two levels. From the date of his Clinton debut through the end of the season, he ranked among Midwest League leaders in home runs (8, tied for ninth), RBI (48, second), hits (73, tied for third) and total bases (113, tied for fourth). As a senior at North Carolina State, he led the team with 60 RBI, 51 walks and a .455 on-base pct. and finished second with a .330 avg. (76-for-230) and 14 home runs.
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