Tigers fans have to laugh as hated former outfielder cracks Rays' Opening Day roster

It only took Ryan Vilade 17 major league games with the Tigers to become an enemy of fans.

He was called up for the first time in May 2024, after Detroit sent Parker Meadows to Triple-A for a much-needed reset, and was optioned and recalled twice more throughout the season. He hit .178 with a .452 OPS for the Tigers, and his most memorable moment in a Tigers uniform was when he botched a diving play against the Mariners in August, which allowed Seattle to walk things off in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

Vilade elected free agency at the end of that season and then split his 2025 between the Cardinals and Reds organizations. Cincinnati sent him to the Rays in a cash trade this past offseason, where he joined former Tigers top prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy.

Malloy was optioned to Triple-A, but per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Vilade is making his first Opening Day roster in his nine-year professional career.

It would be one thing if Vilade had actually hit well in spring training, but he batted .217 with a .628 OPS. The Rays must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Former Tigers outfielder Ryan Vilade gets first Opening Day nod with Rays

Unfortunately, there's always reason to be afraid that the Rays would figure out a way to fix him. Although they're far better known for their absurd pitching lab, which takes guys like Tyler Glasnow and spins them into players they can trade away before they're set to make hundreds of millions of dollars, the Rays have a little bit of devil magic and can never be counted out to be sneaky contenders.

They added a couple of pitchers and outfielders on short-term deals in the offseason, but the Rays are never big spenders. They count on homegrown guys like All-Stars Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero — and sometimes it works.

Wherever he's gone, fans have fallen for Vilade's pretty respectable stat lines in Triple-A. In Toledo, he hit .278 with a .795 OPS between major league stints. He was .296/.917 with the Reds' affiliate, which led some fans in Cincinnati to believe that they should've given him more a chance. Tigers fans (and now Cardinals fans) know that's a slippery slope.

Vilade's 17 games with the Tigers represent the most playing time he's ever gotten in a single season. Maybe he'll top that this year in Tampa Bay, but we don't expect it to be fruitful for anyone involved.