Rays right-hander Taj Bradley, who underwent an MRI after being scratched from Tuesday’s spring begin, will open the season on the 15-day injured record after being recognized with a pectoral pressure, supervisor Kevin Money introduced Wednesday morning (X hyperlinks through Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Occasions). Bradley shall be shut down from throwing completely for “a minimum of” the subsequent two weeks and shall be reevaluated at that time. Even in a best-case state of affairs the place he’s cleared to renew throwing at that time, he’d must construct again up and go on a minor league rehab project earlier than he’s an choice to rejoin the massive league rotation.
Bradley’s pec pressure is the newest in a sequence of well being troubles for a Rays rotation that’s among the many most gifted within the sport however can also be presently among the many most injury-ravaged. He’ll be a part of Shane McClanahan (Tommy John surgical procedure in August 2023), Jeffrey Springs (Tommy John surgical procedure in April 2023) and Drew Rasmussen (inside brace surgical procedure in July 2023) on the injured record for a Tampa Bay membership that’s nonetheless awaiting the return of former high pitching prospect Shane Baz, who underwent his personal Tommy John process in 2022.
On the floor, Bradley’s loss might not appear crucial. The 22-year-old debuted to appreciable fanfare in 2023 however turned in an uneven season, in the end ending the 12 months with a 5.59 ERA in 104 2/3 massive league frames. It wasn’t probably the most thrilling debut for a pitcher who entered the season extensively thought-about among the many sport’s high 50 to 75 total prospects. Bradley had his share of sturdy performances however struggled as a rule in his first style of the majors.
Regardless of the shaky bottom-line run prevention numbers, Bradley provided loads of cause for optimism. His 28% strikeout charge is properly north of the league common, whereas his 8.5% stroll charge is strong. He averaged a robust 96.2 mph on his heater and posted barely better-than-average marks in swinging-strike charge (11.3%) and opponents’ chase charge (32%). His major difficulty final 12 months, each within the massive leagues and in Triple-A, was seeing an inordinate proportion of his fly-balls go away the yard (19.2% within the majors, 23.1% in 10 Triple-A begins).
Nevertheless, that hasn’t been a difficulty for Bradley up to now, even in his first run via the Triple-A stage in 2022. Earlier than the ’23 season, Bradley had posted a significantly lower-than-average HR/FB mark all through his minor league profession. Metrics like xFIP and SIERA, which normalize a pitcher’s HR/FB charge, considered him in a much more favorable gentle (3.83 and three.82, respectively). And with 142 1/3 innings pitched in 2023, Bradley was set to enter the 2024 season with out limits on his workload. A breakout season appeared fairly believable.
Any such steps ahead shall be positioned on maintain indefinitely in the interim, which is a significant setback for a Rays membership that’s already uncharacteristically skinny on rotation depth. Tampa Bay will enter the season with Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale and transformed reliever Zack Littell within the high three spots of the rotation. Twenty-six-year-old Ryan Pepiot, acquired from the Dodgers within the Tyler Glasnow commerce, will possible seize the No. 4 spot on the employees. He’s lengthy been a touted prospect and carries glorious ends in the majors, however accidents have additionally recurrently restricted him. He opened 2023 on the 60-day IL with a Grade 2 indirect pressure and pitched simply 64 2/3 frames total.
Rotation alternate options in camp embody Jacob Lopez, Tyler Alexander and Chris Devenski, all of whom are on the 40-man roster. Alexander has began video games for the Tigers up to now and had been ticketed for a swingman function with Tampa Bay, however he might conceivably get a glance early in ’24 now. He and Devenski have been each being stretched out to deal with a minimum of three innings at a time in camp, and both might be pushed past that time.
Relating to non-roster gamers, former NPB starter Naoyuki Uwasawa and high prospect Mason Montgomery are probably the most attention-grabbing candidate names within the group. Uwasawa, 30, has a profession 3.19 ERA in 9 NPB seasons and tossed 170 innings of two.96 ERA ball for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2023, however he’s a soft-tosser with sub-par strikeout charges even in Japan. He’s been rocked for 13 runs in simply 5 2/3 innings in spring coaching up to now. Montgomery, in the meantime, has simply 16 innings above the Double-A stage underneath his belt and has been tagged for 3 runs in his 4 1/3 spring frames.
Money indicated that the Rays would take into account a number of in-house choices to exchange Bradley within the rotation. Nevertheless, one other damage on an already thinly stretched pitching employees will undoubtedly result in each hypothesis and a few inside discussions about including from exterior the group. The Rays’ projected $99M Opening Day payroll (through RosterResource), considerably extremely, is already a franchise report for the membership. That casts doubt on whether or not they’d even be capable of herald one of many second-tier remaining arms in free company, corresponding to Michael Lorenzen or Mike Clevinger.
That stated, a number of veteran arms on minor league offers elsewhere within the league will possible choose out within the latter levels of camp, plus a slew of pitchers made obtainable through DFA and waivers as different golf equipment set their Opening Day rosters. It wouldn’t be stunning to see the Rays add some additional depth in some type between now and Opening Day, significantly if they start to get the sense that Bradley’s damage would require an extended shutdown interval than that best-case outlook of two weeks.
