Rays' Derek Norris: Making Tampa Bay debut Tuesday

Norris will make his first appearance for the Rays in Grapefruit League play Tuesday against the Twins, Steve Carney of 620 WDAE AM reports. He'll catch and bat third in the order.

Analysis:

After he was released by the Nationals shortly after the club signed Matt Wieters, Norris latched on with the Rays and projects to serve as their primary catcher until Wilson Ramos (knee) is cleared to return behind the plate, perhaps at some point in May. The Rays will throw Norris into the fire right away in his team debut, as the backstop will serve as the battery mate for ace Chris Archer, who is making his final start of the spring. Norris offers more offensive upside than the catchers the Rays have relied on in recent years, but his impressive pop comes with the drawback of poor contact rates. He struck out in a career-worst 30.3 percent of his plate appearances last season with the Padres, which contributed heavily in limiting his batting average to an awful .186.