The Rays are set to call up pitching prospect Anthony Banda, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin notes that it’s not yet clear whether the left-hander will merely be the 26th man for Saturday’s doubleheader or if he’ll be earning a longer look at the MLB level.
The centerpiece in the surprising trade in which Tampa Bay traded Steven Souza Jr. to the Diamondbacks, Banda has gotten off to a strong start in Triple-A Durham this season. Through 36 innings, the 24-year-old has posted a 44-to-16 K/BB ratio (11.0 K/9, 4.0 BB/9) with a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate and just one homer allowed. The resulting 3.50 ERA is bloated to an extent by a .375 average on balls in play behind Banda, with metrics like FIP (2.72) and xFIP (3.25) providing a more bullish outlook on his performance.
It won’t be the first MLB look for Banda, who pitched in eight games for the Diamondbacks in 2018 but struggled to a near-6.00 ERA in that small sample of work. The former top 100 prospect — Baseball America ranked him 88th heading into 2017 — had a rough season in both Triple-A and the Majors last year, but he’s looked much more like the 2016 version of himself so far with his new club.
Whether this proves to be a spot start or a longer-term audition for Banda, it’s hard to argue that he won’t have a crack at stepping into the team’s rotation at some point this season. The Rays entered the year planning to utilize a four-man rotation (Chris Archer, Jake Faria, Blake Snell and Nathan Eovaldi) with the would-be fifth slot in the pitching order being a “bullpen day” each week. However, Eovaldi was hurt early on in the season and has yet to pitch at the big league level.
Meanwhile prospects Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon were lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery, while right-hander Yonny Chirinos, who’d stepped up as the fourth starter in place of Eovaldi, is now out for a month himself. Whether in a traditional starting role or in a hybrid capacity on the team’s bullpen days, Banda should earn a chance to prove that he can be a fixture on the Tampa Bay pitching staff for years to come in the near future.
What happened to Banda in 2017? Completely faltered there after a magnificent 2016.
My bad — I drafted him in my keeper league and put bad juju on him.
Apparently I’ve done the same with Clayton Kershaw, as this is my first time having him this season, so no worries.
Man hopefully the Rays pull it all together one season. A 6 man rotation of:
Archer
De Leon
Honeywell
Banda
Faria
Snell/Eovaldi
Would be cool to see, even thought they’d still lose 90 games averaging like 3 runs per
I don’t think the Rays are far off. They’ve got some up-and-coming starting pitching. With some power they could be pretty good IMO
I don’t think they’re far off either; they have a lot of really intriguing arms both in the majors and the minors (especially once they’re all healthy). But the what if with them is always the offense, and who knows if they’ll ever get that.
The moment that Refsnyder no longer has a roster spot the closer to being a contending team again.
The rays are buried behind the Yankees and Red Sox. That group of arms looks to be solid in the coming years but a lot of those guys have hurt their stock with injury and bad performance already. They have very few long term assets in their starting lineup right now. That rotation isn’t good enough to carry that lineup. Not sure why you split snell/Eovaldi either. Snell has been the most impressive pitcher of that group and Eovaldi is a pending FA. Realistically their starting 5 next year will be Archer, Snell, Faria, Banda, and Honeywell once he’s healthy. With Only Adames, Arroyo and Bauers to add to that lineup that doesn’t look like a good team to me.
You need to rethink that Snell/Eovaldi part of your comment. The latter has never come close to Snell in terms of pitching ability. Snell is a budding #1 and should have been listed just behind (if not) in front of Archer.
Why is Snell grouped with Eovaldi? he’s likely the best pitcher on the list.
I also highly doubt that you see archer on this team when Honeywell is ready to return.
I find it funny that you say they’d still lose 90 games like they are some perennial last place team. Over the past decade the Rays have one 90 loss season and one last place finish. For comparison, the Red Sox have two 90 loss seasons during that span and three last place finishes.
Everyone has been extremely impressed with how the largest revenue Yankees were able to rebuild during a handful of 84-86 win seasons, but very quietly the smallest revenue Rays have spent the last handful of 78-80 win seasons rebuilding and are now on the cusp of seeing it payoff. The Rays very likely won’t be a playoff team this season, but don’t sleep on them. They’re farm system is one of the deepest and most diverse in baseball, with a lot of talent in the upper minors. The Rays are 1-2 seasons away from again being contenders and a thorn in the side of the large market ALE teams.
The rays won’t be a playoff team this year, they won’t be a playoff team next year. The rays completely botched trades with 2 players this offseason. Dickerson was a complete joke and odorizzi was another blunder to save cash. You gave up two assets for nothing. There’s no middle of the order hitter on the way up in the next two years either. That lineup seriously lacks that and will continue to unless they decide to spend some cash they don’t have.
“…who pitched in eight games for the Diamondbacks in 2018 but struggled to a near-6.00 ERA”
Huh?
He pitched in 8 games for the diamondbacks and pitched to an almost 6 ERA. Nothing confusing about that.