11:03am: Southpaw Aaron Loup will also be selected to the 40-man and added to the Opening Day roster, the club has announced. He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.
8:09am: The Rays have decided to carry sidearmer Ryan Thompson on the Opening Day roster, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. He’ll be selected to the 40-man roster today.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Thompson can carve out a MLB career after an impressive showing during this year’s two training periods. The former minor-league Rule 5er will finally get his first shot after first reaching the upper minors in 2016.
Thompson, 28, is said to deliver a low-nineties heater from an unusually low angle. It’s “pretty, pretty nasty” stuff, according to skipper Kevin Cash. Topkin goes on to discuss the final remaining roster calls facing the Rays, who’ll have to make formal decisions today.
I thought he retired twenty years ago, lol
Had the same reaction…outfielder comes back as reliever?
And the Ryan Thompson linked above is STILL the wrong one. Instead of some 20-year-old college 1B, it should be this guy:
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=tho…
I can’t wait to see that fastball at however low of an angle Thompson throws it from.
Oh and can’t wait to see Loup again.
i think you guys already mentioned Loup’s selection in a previous post
This guy was lights out in training camp. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s yet another gem emerging from the depths of the Ray’s pitching corps. Those coaches work some magic down in Tampa…