Rays right-hander Matt Andriese has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his hip, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). The injury will likely sideline him into the month of August, according to Topkin. Well-regarded prospect Jacob Faria has been recalled to start in place of Andriese this week and could be in line for a long-term audition in the rotation.
Per Topkin, Andriese needs a “few weeks” off his hip before he’s able to begin a throwing program and then build up arm strength. There’s no fracture in the hip, and Andriese will not require surgery.
Andriese, 27, may not carry much name recognition among casual fans, but he’s been a key member of the Tampa Bay rotation thus far in 2017. Through 61 innings, he’s logged a 3.54 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 46.4 percent ground-ball rate. That performance had earned him a definitive spot in the Tampa Bay starting five after splitting time between the rotation and bullpen a year ago.
With Andriese out for upwards of two months, it seems that the Rays will deploy a rotation of Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb, Erasmo Ramirez and Faria for the time being. Top prospect Jose De Leon is on the disabled list in Triple-A with a right lat injury, so he isn’t an option to step up for the time being. Southpaw Blake Snell has been excellent since being optioned to Triple-A earlier this year, but the Rays, at least for now, seemingly want to see sustained success out of the longtime top prospect before bringing him back up to the Majors, where he struggled to begin the year.
As for Faria, you’d be hard-pressed to argue that the 23-year-old hasn’t earned a lengthy look in the Majors. Through 58 1/3 innings of Triple-A work this year, he’s pitched to a 3.07 ERA with 12.9 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 41.5 percent ground-ball rate. He’s already made his big league debut with the Rays as well, making a spot start last week during which he limited the White Sox to one run on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts across 6 1/3 innings.
Gotta love Rays SP depth. Faria has shown he owns AAA hitters, and pumped to see what he can do at the MLB level on a consistent basis. Then again, still have Snell, Honeywell, De Leon * and Yarbourough in the fold should he falter…
Still unfortunate to lose Andriese. He was doing very well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of Hu after his performance the other day.
Still unfortunate to lose Andriese. He was doing very well. I think we might see more of Hu after his performance the other day though.
Hope for Andriese’s sake, it heals and heals well. Depending on the location of the fracture and how well it heals, this could be nothing much or could be a career ending injury.. Know someone with a stress fracture in the hip and surgeons could not get it to heal and took 6 operations and a whole bunch of metal to do the trick. The leg was never the same.
Agree 100% I hope Matt’s hip heals with rest. At least it’s not a stress fracture but a stress reaction which means his hip is hurt but they can’t find the cause or see it on the MRI.