The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired outfielder Jacob Melton and right-handed pitcher Anderson Brito from the Houston Astros in a three-team trade. The Rays traded infielder Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum and left-handed pitcher Mason Montgomery to the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Pirates sent right-handed pitcher Mike Burrows to the Astros. The Rays 40-man roster currently has 38 players.
Melton, 25, is coming off an injury-shortened 2025 season in which he split time with the Astros and Triple-A Sugar Land, playing a total of 67 games. The left-handed outfielder made his Major League debut on June 1 against the Rays at Daikin Park. He hit .157 (11-for-70) with one triple, 7 RBI, six walks and seven stolen bases in 32 games over four stints with the Astros. He made 22 starts, including 14 in center field, seven in left field and one in right field. In 35 games with Sugar Land, the Medford, Oregon native hit .286/.389/.556 (36-for-126) with 16 doubles, six home runs, 17 RBI, 22 walks and 12 stolen bases. After the season, Melton was named the Astros’ No. 1 overall pick and was labeled as the farm system’s best defensive outfielder and also had the best Strike-Zone Discipline by Baseball America. He was also named Houston’s No. 2 prospect by MLB.com. A second-round selection (No. 64 overall) by the Astros in the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon State University, the 6-foot-1, 208-pound Melton is a career .255 hitter (257-for-1,009) with 59 doubles, three triples, 48 home runs, 139 RBI, 116 walks and 93 steals bases spread over 262 minor league games over four seasons.
Brito, 21, went 0-1 with a 3.28 ERA (49.1IP, 18ER) and .202 (36-for-178) opponent batting average in 12 starts with Class-A Asheville this past season. He allowed two runs or fewer in nine of his 12 starts and pitched 4.0 innings or more in six of them. Over two minor league seasons, the native of Estado Sucre, Venezuela, went 4-3 with a 2.36 ERA (103.0IP, 27ER), 147 strikeouts and a 1.10 WHIP while holding opponents to a .177 (64-for-362) batting average over 27 appearances (21 starts). Rated as the Astros No. 3 prospect by Baseball America and No. 7 by MLB.com, Brito was signed by Houston as an international free agent on November 1, 2023.
In 745 games over eight seasons with the Rays, Lowe hit .247/.326/.481 (657-for-2,657) with 126 doubles, 12 triples, 157 home runs, 446 RBI, 282 walks and 33 stolen bases. The two-time All-Star concluded his tenure in Tampa Bay ranked among the franchise’s all-time leaders in home runs (3rd, 157), extra-base hits (6th, 295), runs scored (6th, 415), RBI (7th, 446), total bases (7th, 1,278), hits (8th, 657), doubles (8th, 126) walks (8th, 282) and matches played (8th, 745). His seven years and 57 days of service with the Rays ranks fifth in club history, behind Evan Longoria (9,170), Kevin Kiermaier (8,131), Carl Crawford (8,072) and Ben Zobrist (7,134).
The 29-year-old Mangum made his Major League debut in 2025 and batted .296 (120-for-405) with 18 doubles, one triple, three home runs, 40 RBI, a .330 on-base percentage, a .368 slugging percentage, 27 stolen bases and an MLB-leading 36 infield hits in 118 games. The Mississippi State University product was the Rays MLBPAA Heart and Hustle Award recipient and was named the club’s Co-Outstanding Rookie by the Tampa Bay chapter of the BBWAA along with outfielder Chandler Simpson. He was acquired from the Miami Marlins on December 8, 2023, as the player to be named later to complete a November 17, 2023 trade in which the Rays also received infielder Erick Lara and right-handed pitcher Andrew Lindsey in exchange for infielder/outfielder Vidal Bruján and right-handed pitcher Calvin Faucher.
Montgomery, 25, made a career-high 57 relief appearances during two stints with the Rays last season. He went 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA (46.0IP, 29ER) and 63 strikeouts with Tampa Bay and 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA (9.0IP, 2ER) with 15 strikeouts in nine appearances with Triple-A Durham. In 66 games spanning two Major League seasons, Montgomery pitched to a 5.01 ERA (55.2IP, 29ER) with 80 strikeouts. The southpaw was originally selected by the Rays in the sixth round (191st overall) of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of Texas Tech.
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