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Rays Reinstate Drew Rasmussen

By Darragh McDonald | August 7, 2024 at 1:05pm CDT

The Rays announced that right-hander Drew Rasmussen has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Righty Joel Kuhnel was optioned to Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move. The club had a couple of vacant 40-man spots after their deadline dealings and their count in that regard now climbs to 39.

Rasmussen, now 29, has been on the IL all season after undergoing internal brace surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in July of last year. It’s not the first time that doctors have done work in that area of his elbow, as he underwent Tommy John surgery twice in college.

Those continual issues with his elbow have played a role in his circuitous journey. The Rays actually drafted him in the first round of the 2017 draft, between his two Tommy John surgeries, but didn’t sign him due to concerns in his physical. After he returned to college and went under the knife a second time, he was signed by the Brewers after that club selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 draft.

He worked his way up through the farm and then broke into the majors as a reliever with Milwaukee in 2020 and 2021. It was in May of 2021 that the Rays traded Willy Adames and Trevor Richards to the Brewers to get Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen. Though the Rays had walked away from the chance to sign him a few years prior, it seems they kept an eye on him and were encouraged by his progress.

They stretched him out after that deal, giving him ten starts in the latter half of the 2021 campaign. He was then able to fully grab hold of a rotation job in 2022 by making 28 starts with a 2.84 earned run average, 21.4% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate. He kept things rolling with a 2.62 ERA in eight starts last year before landing on the IL and eventually requiring yet another surgery.

Coming back from so many operations will be a challenge but it seems he and the Rays will take it a bit easy by keeping him in a multi-inning relief role for now. He started a rehab assignment last month and made five minor league appearances, none longer than two innings. Earlier this week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Rasmussen would be coming back in a relief role rather than getting fully stretched out.

Despite recently trading away Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin, the Rays have a strong rotation mix that currently consists of Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell. They also have Tyler Alexander doing solid work as a bulk guy behind an opener. Ryan Pepiot is on the injured list with a knee issue but could be back shortly.

For now, the club will assess Rasmussen out of the bullpen and decide how to proceed. He is making $1.8625MM this year, his first arbitration season, and can be controlled via arb for two more campaigns after this one. Each of those aforementioned rotation options projects to be a part of next year’s rotation mix, when Shane McClanahan will also return from his own Tommy John surgery layoff.

The Eflin and Civale deals have shown that the club is not afraid to deal established guys and then replace them with their own internal options, as Baz and Springs were also coming back from surgeries as those deals were lined up. Whether they decide to move Rasmussen back to the rotation next year or not, it seems fair to expect trade rumors around their pile of potential starting pitchers this offseason.

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Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Drew Rasmussen Joel Kuhnel

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View Comments (12)
Post a Comment

12 Comments

  1. vaderzim

    11 months ago

    Dude was dominating last year. Didn’t even look hurt when he was taken out after 7 innings of 1 hit ball. Then suddenly, Tommy John. I’m happy he’s back though!

    4
    Reply
    • Old York

      11 months ago

      Wearing my tin-foil hat, I’m sure MLB is forcing these players to act injured because they don’t want to make the batters look terrible.

      Reply
      • ChuckleCheetah

        10 months ago

        Give me some of whatever you’re smoking.

        Reply
  2. Blue Baron

    11 months ago

    vaderzim: There was likely more to it than you knew about.

    Reply
    • Bob Lablah

      11 months ago

      Thanks Capt. Obvious!

      6
      Reply
      • Paleobros

        11 months ago

        You mean Baron Obvious

        4
        Reply
      • Blue Baron

        11 months ago

        It wasn’t obvious to vaderzim, but thanks Captain Snark.

        Reply
  3. Old York

    11 months ago

    Just in time for the playoff push.

    Reply
  4. sad tormented neglected mariners fan

    11 months ago

    I completely forgot the rays had a big 3 in starters since they were all down for so long

    I also forgot about how good the rays were when they were pitching

    Reply
    • itsmeheyhii

      11 months ago

      DR was a strikeout machine before he got hurt. Loved betting his over on Ks.

      1
      Reply
  5. holecamels35

    11 months ago

    I’m afraid he will get hurt again. It seems like these operations aren’t helping much as a lot of guys are getting hurt again almost immediately.

    Reply
    • layventsky

      11 months ago

      The way pitchers are throwing nowadays has made them much more prone to UCL injuries than they were decades ago. You can’t reinforce a ligament with metal plates.

      1
      Reply

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