The Rays announced they’ve selected right-hander Chris Ellis to the big leagues. Fellow righty DJ Johnson has been transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40–man roster, while southpaw Ryan Sherriff was optioned to Triple-A Durham to clear active roster space.
Ellis was originally a third-round pick of the Angels in 2014. A fairly well-regarded pitching prospect early in his career, he was traded to the Braves (as part of the Andrelton Simmons deal) and then to the Cardinals (as part of the return for Jaime García). He never made it to the majors with St. Louis, but he did log one big league appearance with the 2019 Royals as a Rule 5 pick.
Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, Ellis has spent the season with Triple-A Durham. He’s had a rough go of things in a hitter-friendly Triple-A environment, pitching to a 6.32 ERA over 15 appearances (13 starts). Ellis’ strikeout and walk rates (22.7% and 10.9%, respectively) are both a little worse than league average, but his biggest issue has been the home run ball. Ellis has coughed up 14 homers over 57 innings with the Bulls (a lofty 2.21 HR/9).
Ellis is at least stretched out, though, making him equipped to work multiple innings if needed. He’s worked five-plus innings in each of his four most recent starts with Durham, so he’ll serve as a swingman for a Rays pitching staff that has been hit hard by injuries this season. Ellis still has all three minor league option years remaining, so the Rays can move him back-and-forth between Tampa Bay and Durham without exposing him to waivers so long as he sticks on the 40-man roster.
The Rays acquired Johnson from the Indians just before the July 30 trade deadline. The 31-year-old only made three appearances with his new club before going down with the shoulder injury August 8, which manager Kevin Cash described at the time as “pretty severe.” Today’s transfer officially rules Johnson out for the remainder of the regular season. While he could technically return for a Tampa Bay postseason run, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s instead shut down for the year altogether.
Haven’t heard about This guy, but everyone deserves a shot
Was a decent prospect on the Angels, then shipped to the Braves in the Andrelton deal. Then the Cardinals picked him up from the Braves in the Jaime Garcia deal not long after. He didn’t do very well at the upper levels of the minors, and the Royals took a flier on him later on. Then the Rays.
Thanks for re writing the article!
Cute, but only the first paragraph was written at the time I commented.
They really should include time stamps when they update articles. They do it for some. Not all.
If they publish an article and have to put “more to come”, or some variation, they should post the new information with a time stamp.
Rays taking arm cycling to a whole other level this year
He’ll be DFA’ed in 24 hours
I’ll be back.
While quite likely he won’t make it a week, I kind of hate that this is allowed. Maybe allow the DFA but guys get paid 2 weeks at a time. Therefore, if you call a guy up for a day, he gets 14 days paid minimum. It just seems very unfair to the player, esp. if they get called up, eat up innings and then adios.
Haha
LOL…Rays FO forgot they needed starting pitching, now making up for it via the bargain bin. May as well call Big Game James…. This is why we cannot hVe nice things (world series title).
if only they could have had that Rich Hill guy…
Bring back the LOOGY!!!
Me and you crypto!
I love it, tstats
So a pitcher to face one batter and that’s it? I can understand if you need that last out but a pitcher should be able to get 3 outs
They are bringing up junk from the 4 corners of the earth to pitch for this team. yet Honeywell cant even get a look, they are offically done with him why dont they admit it and tell us why. Attitude?, health,? Ect