Left-hander Tyler Alexander has won the final spot in the Rays’ rotation, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He’ll actually pitch the fourth game of the season, with Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale and Zack Littell expected to line up for the first three and Ryan Pepiot apparently taking the fifth game. Topkin adds that Alexander could pitch behind an opener, but for all intents and purposes, he’s the final rotation member, beating out righties Jacob Waguespack and Chris Devenski. Waguespack and Devenski will be in the Rays’ bullpen. Also of note, Topkin reports that the Rays still haven’t decided on their backup catcher and final bench spot and could consider external options for either.
Alexander, 29, came to the Rays by way of a Nov. 10 waiver claim after the Tigers designated him for assignment. He entered camp expected to stretch out to three innings in order to serve as a long reliever — same as Devenski — but the pectoral strain suffered by young righty Taj Bradley opened up a rotation job that Alexander has now seized.
Starting is a familiar role for the left-hander, as Alexander has started 43 games in his MLB career — all coming with the Tigers. He started 32 games from 2021-22, at times functioning as an opener but also stretching out to a full starter’s workload. He’s completed six innings on seven different occasions in his career and has three starts of seven-plus innings. In all, Alexander has pitched 199 innings as a starter. He’s recorded a 4.70 ERA, 17.4% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate in that time, as compared to a 3.92 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 4.4% walk rate in 142 1/3 frames out of the bullpen.
Alexander has pitched well this spring. He’s tossed nine innings in official games and yielded just two runs on a dozen hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Alexander worked six innings and climbed to 89 pitches in a minor league game Sunday, per Topkin — numbers that aren’t reflected in his “official” spring statistics.
The Rays’ rotation is fluid enough right now that an early assignment in the rotation shouldn’t at all be viewed as a season-long spot on the staff. Alexander has a pair of minor league options remaining, and the Rays will be getting various pitchers back from injury as the year progresses. In addition to Bradley, whose timetable is still TBD, the Rays will also welcome back right-hander Shane Baz (2022 Tommy John surgery), left-hander Jeffrey Springs (April 2023 Tommy John surgery) and Drew Rasmussen (July 2023 internal brace surgery) at various points this season.
That said, injuries elsewhere in the rotation are an inevitability. Eflin has dealt with chronic knee injuries dating back to his amateur days. Civale has never reached even 125 innings in an MLB season due to frequent IL trips. Littell only just converted back to the rotation last summer, and Pepiot opened the 2023 season on the 60-day IL with the Dodgers due to a Grade 2 oblique strain. He pitched only 64 2/3 innings between the majors and minors combined. There should be innings to go around, if Alexander proves he’s up for the challenge.
The Rays can control Alexander through the 2025 season via arbitration. A successful season making starts would bode well for his arbitration outlook in a way that a season spent primarily in a swingman/mop-up role would not. He’s earning $1.95MM this year, so even if he steps up as a legitimate MLB starter, he won’t break the bank next winter.
As for the remaining bench spots, Topkin’s report on that front is plenty notable. The Rays already reassigned Francisco Mejia to minor league camp, leaving non-roster invitee Alex Jackson as the favorite to take the backup job behind Rene Pinto. That’s been the plan for much of the offseason, but Jackson also owns a woeful 48% strikeout rate in 192 MLB plate appearances and entered Monday’s Grapefruit League game hitting just .194/.235/.226 with a 32.4% strikeout rate in 34 plate appearances. To his credit, he went 2-for-2 and swatted his first spring homer, but Jackson has no MLB track record of which to speak and also hasn’t been particularly productive in Triple-A.
As for the final infield spot, Topkin lists 26-year-old Austin Shenton as a candidate. He’s yet to make his MLB debut but posted a massive .304/.423/.584 line with 29 homers and 45 doubles between Double-A and Triple-A last season. He’s had a poor showing this spring, however, hitting just .205/.225/.256 with a 32.5% strikeout rate in 40 trips to the plate (including today’s 0-for-4 with three strikeouts). The Rays are without infielders Taylor Walls and Jonathan Aranda to begin the season, as both are on the injured list.
There’s no shortage of veteran options and/or trade candidates the Rays could consider at either position. The Royals released veteran backstop Sandy Leon over the weekend, and out-of-options Giants catcher Joey Bart has been a speculative trade candidate for much of the spring. Infielders hitting the market late this spring include Eduardo Escobar, Elvis Andrus and old friend Matt Duffy.
Pepiot missed 5 months early last year with that oblique strain, to be specific. Everyone likes to gloss over that, but 5 months out has to be an all time record in pro sports for an oblique strain.
Incoming random change to spin rate/new pitch to arsenal and a sub-3.5 ERA
Honestly he’s really got that potential with or without the Rays. So it feels a lot more likely that he will do just that.
And a blown elbow
Alexander doesn’t bring the heat, but he knows how to pitch.
On November 10th, I misread Rays as “Reds”, and thought he was on Cincinnati this entire time.
I’ll await his inevitable breakout campaign in Tampa, followed by his inevitable Tommy John Surgery.
Joey Bart on line one…
Alexander is now a candidate for both the Cy Young Award and Tommy John surgery; in no particular order.
Why did the Tigers let him go for nothing? In this league, you just can’t give away talent like that.
Tyler Alexander set the MLB record for a reliever by striking out nine consecutive batters on 8/2/20.
If I remember correctly, he had 2 strikes on the 10th batter & then hit him with a pitch
Every Detroit fan: “where can I bet on the winner of the 2024 AL Cy Young Award?”
Sub 3 ERA over 100+ innings confirmed
Who’s joining FACTOR_ meal prep program?
Tim’s writing got me very intrigued but I hope he doesn’t quit his day job for Madison Avenue.
why did they close comments
Because everytime they post a sponsered article some people have to grip about or make a somewhat snide cooment about MLBTR trying to make money to support their business.
When comments are closed, people will, instead, jump to the nearest comment section and make a comment like “Who’s joining FACTOR_ meal prep program?”
Or maybe they think they might have misunderstood what “ad-free” meant when they subscribed to the site and are locked out of asking on the post itself.
Or maybe they take the passive/aggressive tact and spew on the next totally unrelated topic instead of going to the upper right hand corner and search for the “contact” button and ask Tim or another MLBTR person directly about it. The adults in the room understand why comments are closed, Strawman.
My apologies – you’re right that you should not be seeing sponsored posts. That is my error and something I should have fixed soon.
I appreciate that. Thanks so much for the update.
Tough to dispute that rotation sucks, but it’s the Rays so odds are they make it work. Another year of get good starts out of bullpen arms only for them to blow out their arm by season’s end.
I’m ordering a pizza…
The Rays have three #3 starters and one #4. And that’s being generous.