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Injury Notes: Anderson, Patiño, Brieske

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Tampa Bay Ray veteran reliever Nick Anderson’s 2022 season is officially over, as per Marc Topkin of Tampa Bay Times. One of the leaders of Tampa Bay’s famed relief corps will call 2022 a lost season, having dealt with a torn elbow ligament in March 2021 and, more recently, plantar fasciitis on his right foot. Anderson did make it back to Triple-A, but posted a 6.19 ERA in 16 innings and gave up 5 home runs in the small sample. This poor showing led the Rays to opt to keep him in Durham, despite their constant bullpen shuffling.

In the three prior seasons, including the 6 innings pitched in 2021, the righty has put up a dominant 2.89 ERA in 87 1/3 innings, with a high 39.6 K% and a low 6.7 BB%. The Rays still have control over Anderson for the next three years, but with his recent injury troubles, it will be interesting to see if they tender him a contract for the 2023 season.

Other injury updates from around the league…

  • Rays’ former top prospect Luis Patiño was scratched from his Triple-A start due to “right shoulder discomfort,” as reported by Topkin. Patiño has had a rough 2022 season, with the starter posting a 8.10 ERA in 20 innings, giving up 6 home runs and walking 13 batters. In Triple-A Patiño has fared better, pitching to a 4.38 ERA in 37 innings, which is more in line with the 4.31 ERA in 77 1/3 innings that he posted last season in the majors. Regardless, Patiño’s injury comes at a crucial time with the Rays looking to hold onto a wildcard spot, and any further impediments may bring his season to an early close.
  • Detroit Tigers’ rookie Beau Brieske, who has been on the injured list since August 10th with right forearm soreness, will look to the 2023 season. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch has announced that the starter will not pitch again this year, reported by Evan Woodbery of Michigan Live, with the club not wanting to “ramp him back up for just one start” after his first major league season. Brieske’s rookie season was largely productive, with the newcomer starting 15 games, tied for second-most among Tigers pitchers, and pitching to a 4.19 ERA in 81 2/3 innings.

Rays Claim Bligh Madris

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The Rays announced Friday that they’ve claimed first baseman/outfielder Bligh Madris off waivers from the Pirates. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Durham. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay transferred right-hander Ryan Thompson to the 60-day injured list due to triceps inflammation.

Madris, 26, made his big league debut with Pittsburgh earlier this season, appearing in 39 games but stumbling to a .177/.244/.265 batting line through his first 123 Major League plate appearances. The lefty-swinging Madris, however, has been far better in Triple-A Indianapolis, where he’s posted a .294/.366/.482 batting line in 2022 (124 wRC+). Because he was just selected to the 40-man roster this season, Madris has two option years remaining beyond the current campaign.

Beyond veteran David Peralta, the Rays’ outfield mix is primarily right-handed at the moment. Each of Jose Siri, Manuel Margot and Randy Arozarena swing from the right side of the dish. Tampa Bay has given left-handed-hitting infielder Jonathan Aranda a handful of looks in left field at the minor league level this season, but he’s yet to play the outfield in the Majors. Madris won’t be dropped directly into that mix just yet, but he’s posted a decent .261/.336/.449 against righties this season, so perhaps he’ll get a look as a platoon option at some point before season’s end. He won’t be eligible for any postseason consideration, however, as he wasn’t in the organization prior to Sept. 1.

As for Thompson, he only went on the injured list in late August, so today’s move to the 60-day IL formally ends his season. A Rule 5 pick out of the Astros organization back in 2018, Thompson has risen to be an important member of the Rays’ bullpen. He’s tossed 42 2/3 innings of 3.80 ERA ball this year and, dating back to 2021, carries an overall 3.17 ERA with a 24.1% strikeout rate 6.3% walk rate and 50% ground-ball rate in 76 2/3 innings of relief work. He’s picked up 21 holds and three saves in that time, drawing high-leverage work with increasing frequency.

Thompson will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter. The Rays can control him through the 2025 season, but he can now be officially ruled out for the remainder of the current season and for any postseason games Tampa Bay might play.

Shane Baz Not Expected To Return This Season

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Rays right-hander Shane Baz, who has been out since July 14 due to an elbow sprain, will not make it back to a Major League mound in 2022, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Baz has resumed throwing, but it seems there’s simply not enough time to get him built back up to the point where he’d be a viable option for Tampa Bay.

It’s a sour note on which to end an already injury-decimated season for Baz, who entered the year ranked as one of the top-ranked prospects in all of baseball. The 23-year-old righty underwent an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow back in early April — a minor surgery that was originally only expected to halt him from throwing for around three weeks. He wound up taking more than two months to return to the big league mound, however, and just one month after returning from that issue, the current elbow sprain popped up to shut him down again.

In all, Baz pitched just 27 big league innings plus another 13 while on a minor league rehab assignment from that original injury. He struggled mightily in his first and last starts of the season (combined 12 runs in 4 2/3 innings), but those served as bookends for a tantalizing run of four starts that displayed why Baz is so highly touted: three runs on 16 hits and six walks with 26 punchouts in 22 1/3 innings. Overall, Baz posted a 5.00 ERA in his 27 frames, but it’s quite possible that the elbow was an issue in his final outing, when he was hammered for seven runs.

If there’s a silver lining it’s that Baz is once again throwing, and the Rays have given no indication that any surgery is on the horizon. Sprains, by definition, involve some degree of stretching and/or tearing in a ligament, so any “elbow sprain” for a pitcher always comes with some concern regarding potential surgery (be it ligament replacement/Tommy John surgery or a less-invasive but still significant operation, such as Primary Repair).

Baz will pick up a year of service for his 2022 season, having spent the entirety of it on either the Major League injured list or the active Major League roster. He’s still controllable for another five years beyond the current campaign, however, setting the stage for him to join the likes of 2022 Cy Young candidate Shane McClanahan and late-blooming breakout hurlers Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs in the rotation for the foreseeable future. The Rays also extended Tyler Glasnow, who’s wrapping up rehab from Tommy John surgery, just last month. He’s now signed through the 2024 season.

Between that quintet and a host of other talented arms and prospects — Yonny Chirinos, Luis Patino, Josh Fleming and Taj Bradley among them — the Rays perennial pipeline of high-end pitching appears as strong as ever.

Rays Activate Shane McClanahan

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Sept. 15: McClanahan has formally been activated from the injured list. Fellow lefty Josh Fleming was optioned to Triple-A Durham to open a roster spot.

Sept. 14: The Rays are going to reinstate left-hander Shane McClanahan from the injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Blue Jays, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan, 25, had his Cy Young-caliber season interrupted a couple of weeks ago. He was set to start against the Marlins on August 30 but felt something during his pre-game warmup and never actually made it into the game. He was placed on the 15-day injured list the next day with his injury listed as a shoulder impingement. At that time, manager Kevin Cash expressed confidence that an extended absence wouldn’t be necessary, with that assessment proving to be true as McClanahan is returning after a minimum stint.

McClanahan debuted last year with an excellent 3.43 ERA over 123 1/3 innings, though took his game to another level here in 2022, prior to the injury. He’s currently sporting an ERA of 2.20 through 147 1/3 innings this year, along with incredible strikeout, walk and groundball rates of 32.5%, 5.4% and 52.3%, respectively. He and Verlander seemed to be the frontrunners in the AL Cy Young race, though both of them went on the IL around the same time. Verlander seems poised to return this week as well, allowing that competition to continue, though the injuries have allowed others to gain ground.

If McClanahan is able to avoid any lingering effects of the injury and pick up where he left off, it will be a huge boost for the Rays. They face long odds of repeating as AL East champions since they are currently 6.5 games behind the Yankees with just three weeks left on the schedule. However, they are in the midst of a three-team melee for the Wild Card, with the Jays currently on top but only half a game ahead of the Rays and Mariners. The nearest non-playoff team, the Orioles, are five games back, making it likely that the three teams currently in playoff position will hold on. However, the final positioning will also matter, since the top seed will have home field advantage for all three games (if necessary) in the first round of the playoffs.

McClanahan will jump into the rotation next to Corey Kluber, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs, with Ryan Yarbrough likely also picking up some bulk work behind an opener. McClanahan would likely be the club’s preferred choice to take the ball in game one of a postseason series, though they will first have to worry about clinching a spot.

Elsewhere on the roster, the news on Ryan Thompson isn’t as good. Topkin relays that the right-hander is done for the season after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his right elbow. Thompson has already been on the 15-day IL since late August but will likely be transferred to the 60-day IL once the club needs to open a roster spot. He finishes the year with a 3.80 ERA over 42 2/3 innings, along with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 51.2% ground ball rate.

Injury Notes: Scherzer, Lowe, Cavalli, Ashby

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The Mets have been without Max Scherzer for the past ten days, as the three-time Cy Young winner has battled some fatigue in his left oblique. That was a bit of a concern given that a strain in the muscle cost him around two months earlier this season, but Scherzer looks as if he’s on track to be reinstated when first eligible next Monday. He made a rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse tonight, tossing 59 pitches over 3 2/3 innings. After the game, Scherzer told reporters he feels “excellent” and would be ready to rejoin the big league rotation at the beginning of next week (via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com).

Scherzer’s prompt return is obviously a boon for a Mets team battling for a division title down the stretch. At 89-55, New York holds a half-game advantage over the Braves in the NL East. They’re a postseason lock, but securing the division is likely to come with a first-round bye as a top-two seed in the National League. New York is five games clear of the third-seeded Cardinals, who lead the NL Central, putting the East winner in good position to join the Dodgers in earning an immediate trip to the NL Division Series.

Some other injury updates around the game:

  • The Rays just placed Brandon Lowe on the 10-day injured list yesterday, the second baseman’s third such stint of the 2022 season. Manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that an MRI revealed some inflammation in Lowe’s back. He’s headed for further evaluation to determine treatment possibilities, but Cash indicated the club is still hopeful he’ll return to the diamond this season. The Rays look set to mix-and-match at second base while Lowe’s out, giving the last three starts at the position to Taylor Walls, Jonathan Aranda and Isaac Paredes respectively. Walls is the best defender of the group, but he’s not hit well this year. Paredes has only a .293 on-base percentage but has connected on 18 home runs in 92 games. Aranda has only 15 big league games under his belt, but he’s raked at a .318/.394/.521 clip through 465 plate appearances with Triple-A Durham.
  • Nationals right-hander Cade Cavalli has been out for the past two weeks after being diagnosed with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. That seems likely to end his season, as manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com) that Cavalli is unlikely to make it back to game action this year. With three weeks remaining and the Nationals virtual locks for last place, there’s no reason for the club to take any chances with the prized young hurler. Martinez indicated that Cavalli has been cleared to start throwing after a brief shutdown period and the team feels he’ll be able to work from a mound before the season is out, but it seems that’ll be in a bullpen session rather than in-game work. Cavalli, generally regarded as the top pitching prospect in the organization, made his first MLB appearance on August 26. He’s likely to compete for a job in the season-opening rotation as Washington continues their rebuild next year.
  • Aaron Ashby returned to a mound for the first time since landing on the injured list three weeks ago, tossing an 18-pitch bullpen session this afternoon (reported by Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). He’s scheduled for another bullpen session over the weekend. The Brewers remain hopeful the southpaw will be able to make it back this season, although he’d work in shorter stints due to the abbreviated ramp-up period. Ashby has started 17 of his 23 appearances this year, but he came out of the bullpen for nine of his 13 outings in 2021. He’s thrived as a reliever in his MLB career, posting a 3.63 ERA with a 36.2% strikeout rate through 34 2/3 innings in that capacity. Ashby has been a bit more erratic when trying to navigate a lineup multiple times as a starter, although he’s still flashed the swing-and-miss and ground-ball combination that made him such a promising pitching prospect. Milwaukee sits two games back of the Padres for the National League’s final Wild Card spot, so they’d surely welcome any contributions they can get from the 24-year-old for the stretch run.

Rays Place Brandon Lowe On Injured List

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The Rays announced they’ve placed second baseman Brandon Lowe on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 12, with lower back discomfort. Backstop René Pinto was recalled from Triple-A Durham to take the open active roster spot.

It’s the third IL stint of what has to be a frustrating season for Lowe. He suffered a stress reaction in his lower back in mid-May, an injury that required a multi-week shutdown and two-month absence. He returned in mid-July but went back on the shelf with a calf contusion in late August. That second stint proved brief, as Lowe was reinstated after a minimal 10-day absence last week, but he’s now again headed back to the injured list.

The Rays haven’t indicated how long they anticipate Lowe being out of action, but it’s an ill-timed absence as the end of the regular season nears. Tampa Bay trails the Yankees by 5 1/2 games in the AL East and is unlikely to capture the division title, but they’re battling for Wild Card position. The Rays, Mariners and Blue Jays occupy the AL’s three Wild Card spots and are all within half a game of one another. With a 5 1/2 cushion over the nearest non-playoff team, the Orioles, it seems likely all three will make it to the postseason. Securing the top Wild Card spot entitles a team to home-field advantage in the first-round playoff series, with all three games (if necessary) taking place at the higher seed’s ballpark.

Tampa Bay’s efforts to secure that position will be dealt a blow with Lowe again hitting the shelf. Isaac Paredes, Jonathan Aranda and Taylor Walls look like the top candidates to step in at the keystone, with the club losing some infield depth yesterday when Yu Chang was nabbed off waivers by the Red Sox. Lowe isn’t having his best season, but his .221/.308/.383 line still checks in a hair above league average by measure of wRC+.

Rays Make Several Roster Moves

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Sep. 13: The Rays announced that Criswell has been returned to Triple-A. Additionally, they have recalled Josh Fleming and Yonny Chirinos, with the latter serving as the “29th man” for today’s doubleheader.

Sep. 12, 1:05pm: Topkin relays that McKay has indeed been transferred to the 60-day IL to open up another 40-man roster spot. The Rays also announced the moves, saying that Criswell has been “added” to the roster, with Guerra and Herget “selected.” That would seem to suggest that Criswell is a COVID substitute, temporarily taking Raley’s place on the roster. That means he will be eligible to be removed from the roster at a later date without being placed on waivers.

9:05am: The Rays are making a series of changes to their pitching staff prior to a big five-game series in Toronto that starts tonight (Twitter links from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Three right-handers will be added to the roster: Cooper Criswell, Kevin Herget and Javy Guerra. Two other righties, Luis Patiño and Calvin Faucher, were optioned after yesterday’s game to open a couple of spots on the active roster. Left-hander Brooks Raley will open a third by being placed on the restricted list, ineligible to cross the Canadian-American border due to his unvaccinated status. None of Criswell, Herget or Guerra are on the 40-man roster, which is currently at 39. Raley won’t count against that number while on the restricted list, leaving the club still to open one spot. Speculatively speaking, they could transfer lefty Brendan McKay to the 60-day injusted list in the wake of the news of his Tommy John surgery.

Criswell, 26, made his MLB debut last year with a 1 1/3-inning cup of coffee with the Angels. They placed him on the 60-day IL this year due to shoulder soreness and eventually lost him to the Rays on a waiver claim in July. Since that claim, Criswell has thrown 27 1/3 innings over eight games for the Triple-A Durham Bulls. He has a 3.95 ERA in that time with a 20.8% strikeout rate, 4.7% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate. He was designated for assignment in July, getting outrighted after clearing waivers. He will get the start for tonight’s game and could give the Rays at least a few frames. Each of his last eight appearances have been between three and four innings.

Herget, 31, spent many years in the Cardinals’ system and one in Cleveland’s before joining the Rays on a minor league deal. He was selected to Tampa’s roster in August but got designated for assignment before making his MLB debut. He’s thrown 91 2/3 innings over 19 appearances for the Bulls on the year, making him another multi-inning option for the Rays. He has a 2.55 ERA for the season with a 24.7% strikeout rate, 3.8% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate.

Guerra, 26, has 34 innings of MLB experience thus far, mostly with the Padres. He was traded to the Rays in April for cash considerations but was designated for assignment in May, clearing waivers and getting outrighted to Durham. He briefly returned to the team as a COVID substitute the last time the Rays traveled to Toronto. He’s been used in the more traditional single-inning reliever role, having thrown 41 1/3 innings over 43 Triple-A games this year. He has a 1.74 ERA in that stretch with a 31.9% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 47.1% grounder rate.

Thanks to tomorrow’s doubleheader, the Rays and Jays will be playing five games over the next four days, making it fairly logical for Tampa to add some fresh arms. Josh Fleming and Jimmy Yacabonis are also traveling with the team on the taxi squad, making them candidates to be the club’s “29th man” for the twin bill. Along with the Mariners, the Rays and Blue Jays are holding down the American League Wild Card spots, with all three teams within half a game of each other. That means these contests will be key in determining the postseason picture in a few weeks’ time. In this year’s new playoff format, the first round is played entirely in the home field of the top-seeded team, so there’s a meaningful difference between having the first Wild Card spot and the second/third.

Red Sox Claim Yu Chang, Designate Jaylin Davis

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The Red Sox have claimed infielder Yu Chang off waivers from the Rays, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Chang had been designated for assignment last week. In a corresponding move, outfielder Jaylin Davis has been designated for assignment by Boston.

Chang, 28, has been a fixture of transaction logs this year, now joining his fourth organization of the season. He began the year with the Guardians but was designated for assignment in late May. He got traded to the Pirates for cash considerations but was designated for assignment again after a month in Pittsburgh. The Rays claimed him off waives from the Bucs and have kept him around for the past two months.

Chang was a fairly well regarded prospect but hasn’t yet had strong results in the major leagues. Since he is out of options and can’t be sent to the minors, he’s been continually nudged off rosters all year, with some other club always stepping up to give him another shot. His overall batting line this year is .216/.280/.324 for a wRC+ of 77. He has been better in recent months with the Rays, however, hitting .260/.305/.385 for a wRC+ of 101. Whether Chang’s bat has turned a corner or not, he will at least provide defensive versatility, having spent some time at each of the four infield positions this year.

The Red Sox are 69-72 on the year, leaving them 10 games out of a playoff spot with just over three weeks remaining on the schedule. With their hopes of competing effectively dashed at this point, they can use their remaining games to evaluate players prior to the winter, with Chang now entering the mix. The club’s current infield picture includes Xander Bogaerts, Trevor Story, Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Christian Arroyo, with Bogaerts expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent this winter. The Sox make sense as a fit for a free agent shortstop to replace Bogaerts, though if they don’t succeed in signing one, they could also slide Story over and make Arroyo the everyday second baseman. That would give Chang a path to a job as a utility/bench infielder.

As for Davis, 28, the Red Sox claimed him from the Giants in April but passed him through waivers a couple weeks later. He was selected back to the roster in July. He has a great batting line in the majors though in a tiny sample of just 27 plate appearances. He’s hit .333/.407/.375 in the bigs this year despite striking out 40.7% of the time. He’s hit just .198/.315/.318 for Triple-A Worcester while going down on strikes in in 30.8% of his 305 plate appearances. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Sox will have no choice but to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days. Since Davis was previously outrighted, he’d have the ability to reject an assignment and elect free agency in the event he clears waivers again.

Edwin Jackson Announces Retirement

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Former All-Star Edwin Jackson took to Instagram this evening to officially announce his retirement from Major League Baseball. The right-hander pitched parts of 17 seasons in the majors, getting to the highest level every year between 2003-19. Jackson suited up for 14 different MLB teams, setting the all-time record for most uniforms donned.

“19 years ago today I was blessed with an opportunity to tie up my laces and step on the field to make my debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Jackson wrote. “Today I am happily hanging up my cleats and closing a 22-year baseball career.” Jackson went on to thank his wife, parents, sisters, children and the rest of his family before expressing his gratitude to various coaches, trainers and doctors who assisted him. “This game has taught me many life lessons and allowed me to evolve into the person I am today! I will forever have memories that will live within me from the game I love and dedicated my life to. Thank you baseball for an amazing life experience I will never forget,” he concluded.

A sixth-round draftee of the Dodgers out of a Georgia high school in 2001, Jackson emerged as one of the sport’s best pitching prospects not long thereafter. He broke into the big leagues exactly 19 years ago on his 20th birthday, starting three of four appearances down the stretch. He bounced on and off Los Angeles’ active roster for the next couple seasons before being traded to the then-Devil Rays over the 2005-06 offseason.

Jackson worked primarily as a reliever for his first season in Tampa Bay, but he took a full turn of starts by the 2007 campaign. That kicked off a stretch of seven consecutive seasons in which he surpassed 30 starts and 160 innings. Jackson pitched in Tampa Bay through 2008 before being dealt to the Tigers for outfielder Matt Joyce. He tossed a career-best 214 innings the next year, posting a 3.62 ERA. Jackson earned an All-Star nod with a 2.52 mark through that season’s first half.

The next offseason, his nomadic career continued. Detroit flipped Jackson to the Diamondbacks as part of a three-team blockbuster that netted Detroit Max Scherzer and sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. His stint in the desert was rather brief — he’d wind up traded again at that summer’s deadline — but it provided one of the more memorable moments of his career. On June 25, 2010, he tossed a no-hitter against his former team at Tropicana Field. He threw a staggering 149 pitches in the outing, striking out six but issuing eight walks. Then-manager A.J. Hinch stuck with Jackson despite his high pitch count, and he completed one of the more remarkable single-game performances by a player in recent memory.

Not long after, the last-place club dealt Jackson to the White Sox in a trade that landed Arizona Daniel Hudson. Jackson pitched well in 11 starts down the stretch, and he got off to another solid start in 2011. The White Sox fell out of contention the latter season, though, and he was on the move again. The Blue Jays acquired Jackson from the White Sox on the morning of July 27, but his stint in Toronto lasted only a few hours. Toronto promptly flipped him to the Cardinals in a deal that sent Colby Rasmus north of the border.

Jackson played in St. Louis for the second half, pitching to a 3.58 ERA through 12 starts. He made four starts in the postseason, and while his playoff numbers weren’t great, the Cardinals secured the World Series title in a dramatic series win over the Rangers. Fresh off winning a title, Jackson signed with the Nationals during his first trip through free agency. He spent the 2012 campaign in the Nats rotation, helping Washington to their first playoff appearance since moving to D.C.

The next winter, Jackson inked a four-year, $52MM pact with the Cubs. He continued to soak up innings but didn’t post especially strong numbers in Chicago. After two and a half seasons, he was released. That kicked off an even more rapid trip around the league, as Jackson suited up with the Braves, Marlins, Padres, Orioles, Nationals (again), A’s, Blue Jays and Tigers (again) over the next four years. He alternated between the rotation and the bullpen throughout that time, generally serving as a depth option.

While Jackson signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in 2020, he didn’t make it back to the majors. He did appear on the U.S. Olympic team last summer and expressed a desire to get back to the big leagues, but he didn’t get another opportunity with an affiliated organization.

Altogether, Jackson pitched in 412 major league games. He tossed 1960 innings with a 4.78 ERA, striking out a bit more than 1500 batters and winning 107 games. According to Baseball Reference, Jackson banked upwards of $66MM in earnings and incredibly logged some action for almost half the league. MLBTR congratulates Jackson on his lengthy, accomplished career and wishes him all the best in retirement.

Brendan McKay To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Rays southpaw Brendan McKay will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’s expected to miss the entire 2023 campaign.

It’s the latest in a staggering series of significant injuries for the former #4 overall pick. McKay hasn’t thrown a single major league pitch since 2019, as he’s been plagued by an almost unfathomable string of bad luck. He missed the shortened 2020 season on account of a shoulder problem that eventually required surgery. The rehab from that procedure kept him out of action until late June 2021. Just a few outings into a minor league rehab stint, McKay suffered a flexor strain in his forearm that again proved to be season-ending. He was then diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and underwent surgery to correct that issue last November.

McKay spent most of 2022 on the injured list recovering from the TOS procedure. He set out on a rehab assignment in mid-July and spent his allotted 30-day window pitching back to Triple-A. The Rays then formally reinstated McKay from the IL but kept him in Durham on an optional assignment. A few days later, he suffered a UCL injury while pitching with the Bulls.

Before all of the injuries, McKay was one of the sport’s most unique young talents. A two-way superstar at the University of Louisville, he’s continued to dabble in the two-way experiment in pro ball. McKay has performed better on the mound than he has a first baseman, and he had a fairly promising debut showing three years ago. While he only managed a 5.14 ERA through his first 49 big league frames, McKay punched out an above-average 25.9% of batters faced against just a 7.4% walk rate. It seemed as if he’d be a key piece of the rotation for the next few seasons, but the injuries have thrown that off track.

Last offseason, MLB granted the Rays a fourth minor league option year in recognition of McKay’s injury troubles. He’d spent the first few months of the season on the MLB injured list. While he was eventually activated and optioned, McKay only spent 17 days on optional assignment. According to his transactions log at MLB.com, he’s been recalled and placed on the MLB 15-day injured list. Players only exhaust an option year if they spend 20+ days in the minors during a season. It appears the Rays will keep him on the MLB IL — thus paying him a prorated $700K minimum salary and allowing him to accrue service time — to avoid exhausting that final option year. Tampa Bay figures to transfer him to the 60-day IL to free up a spot on the 40-man roster when necessary.

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