Ray embraces newest challenge with Rafters

Corey Ray's professional career began with a challenge.
Fresh off being selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2016 Draft, the Brewers' No. 2 prospect found out he would be bypassing the Class A Midwest League and heading directly to the Class A Advanced Florida State League to begin his professional career. He embraced the aggressive assignment to one of the Minor Leagues' least hitter-friendly circuits almost immediately.

"As athletes we want to succeed first and foremost, but we want to be challenged," Ray said. "I wanted a chance to be challenged and to see what I had. I think sending me to that league helped me more than any other league could have helped me because in that league you have to learn an approach to survive. The flaws in the swing and the flaws in your game get magnified really quickly."
Survival proved challenging in that first season as the center fielder hit just .247 in 57 contests with the Brevard County Manatees before getting sent down to Class A Wisconsin for the final three games. The Brewers sent him back to the Class A Advanced level for the 2017 season. However, Ray once again struggled on the stat sheet. He compiled a .238/.311/.367 slash line in 112 games with the Carolina Mudcats, despite escaping to the more hitter-friendly Carolina League with Milwaukee switching affiliates.
Rather than become frustrated, the 23-year-old used the tough times to learn some important lessons.
"I learned how important [an] approach is," Ray said. "Not only an approach, but how important a routine is. I think from time to time as baseball players when things go wrong we want to change our routine and we want to change something at the plate, but in the long run if we just stick to what we've been working on and we fall back to everything we work on, I think through the long haul everything will pay off."

The Brewers tested Ray again this fall by sending him to the Arizona Fall League to play for the Salt River Rafters. While the Louisville product has yet to advance beyond the Class A Advanced level, many of his teammates and opponents on the fall circuit have played at Double-A and beyond. Some have even acquired Major League experience.
"It's been a big challenge, a great challenge," Ray said. "I'm facing guys who, some have played in the big leagues. That's what I aspire to be, so to pick up things and to learn I think accelerates the developmental process."
MLB.com's No. 58 overall prospect has gotten off to a slow start with the Rafters, producing a .111 average through 10 games in the AFL. He placed third out of 27 participants in last Saturday's Bowman Hitting Challenge but still has just one extra-base hit and two RBIs against live pitching.
Ray said he hasn't paid much attention to his numbers since coming to the AFL, instead choosing to focus on more intangible objectives.
"I don't have any numerical goals and I don't have any personal goals," he said. "My goal is to come out and get better each and every day I step on the field. You can set numbers for yourself, but ultimately, they mean nothing."

The lack of statistical success has not affected Ray at all off the field. In fact, the Chicago native has embraced his difficulties as a crucial part of his growth as a player.
"I am in the Minor Leagues and I think that the numbers will come when they're supposed to come, and I'd rather they come later than early," Ray said. "I'd rather struggle now and figure out everything I need to do and everything I need to work on as a player and a person, and when it is time for me to get to the big leagues, to put up numbers in the big leagues.
"There's some guys, they just get in the Minor Leagues and they hit. Some guys can just hit. But for most of us regular people, you got to go through the Minors and you got to struggle and you got to learn, and that's what I'm doing."