Kevin Cash

Kevin Forrest Cash (born December 6, 1977) is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Previously, Cash played catcher in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Houston Astros.

As a player, Cash was listed at 6 ft and 200 lb; he batted and threw right-handed.

Cash was a second baseman for Northside Little League in Tampa, Florida, on the team that reached the 1989 Little League World Series.

He attended Gaither High School, but initially failed to make the Cowboys baseball team.

After graduating in 1996, he played college baseball for the Florida State Seminoles baseball team under head coach Mike Martin.

While at Florida State, Cash started 148 games as an infielder.

He batted .299 with a career on-base plus slugging (OPS) of .923.

On February 26, 1998, he participated in the first-ever Tampa Bay Devil Rays game, an exhibition game against the Seminoles at Al Lang Field.

He also appeared in two College World Series (1998, 1999) for Florida State, including a second-place finish in 1999, when he was voted second-team All American at third base by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

He was also named MVP of the Tallahassee Regional in the 1999 College World Series.

In the summer of 1999, he played for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Cash volunteered to play catcher for Falmouth, and threw out two runners in his first inning behind the plate.

He went on to earn league All-Star and team MVP honors.

In August 1999, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent.

Cash began his professional career with the Hagerstown Suns in the South Atlantic League.

After primarily playing third base in college, he was told to learn how to catch.

Cash was roommates with Josh Holliday.

That year, he hit .245 with 10 home runs and 28 RBI in 59 games.

In 2001, Cash was a member of the Dunedin Blue Jays.

His presence behind the plate, alongside Josh Phelps, led to Jayson Werth moving to the outfield that year.

He Hit .283 with 12 homers in 105 games in High-A and threw out over 50 percent of base runners.

Cash was moved to Double-A for the 2002 season.

During his time with the Tennessee Smokies, he hit .277 with eight home runs and a league-leading 44 RBI while also throwing out 42 percent of base runners.

Cash was promoted to Triple-A in June.

He hit .220 with 10 home runs and 26 RBI in 67 games for the Syracuse SkyChiefs, before getting called up to the majors in September.

He made his major league debut on September 6 and collected his first hit on September 11.

Cash started the 2003 season back in Triple-A, where he hit .270 with eight home runs and 37 RBI in 93 games.

He also participated in the All-Star Futures Game.

In 2004, Cash was the starting catcher to begin the season until he went on the disabled list in May.

He was then usurped by Gregg Zaun, who hit well in his absence.

Cash ultimately hit .193 while throwing out 44 percent of base runners in 60 games that year.

On December 12, 2004, Cash was traded to the then-Tampa Bay Devil Rays for pitcher Chad Gaudin.

He began the season on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, but returned to the majors in June and hit a home run on the first pitch of his first at-bat.

He hit just .161 in 13 games and was optioned to Triple-A on July 22.

On August 11th, Cash was promoted to the majors.

He hit his first major league home run on September 27.

He was the bullpen coach for the Cleveland Indians before being hired as the Rays' manager in December 2014.

Cash was the American League Manager of the Year in 2020 and 2021, the first AL manager to win the award consecutively.

Cash will enter the 2024 season as the longest-tenured manager in MLB.