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Phoenix Sanders

Rays Notes: Yarbrough, Sanders, Franco

By Darragh McDonald | May 3, 2022 at 9:16am CDT

Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough is going to start tonight’s game against the Athletics, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The southpaw has yet to make his season debut, as he landed on the injured list in April with groin tightness.

On a Tampa Bay team that frequently rotates players on and off the roster, Yarbrough has been one of the more consistent members of the club. Over the four seasons beginning in 2018, he’s appeared in 107 games, throwing 499 2/3 innings with an ERA of 4.30. He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, as evidenced by his 19.5% career strikeout rate. However, he’s limited walks to a career rate of 5.2% and has also been good at limiting hard contact.

The Rays have a decent number of potential starting pitchers on the injured list right now, including Shane Baz, Tyler Glasnow, Brendan McKay and Luis Patino. The club has already resorted to a few of their patented bullpen games to get through the first month of the schedule. A healthy and effective Yarbrough could be a valuable stabilizing force for a staff that’s been heavily worked in the season’s early going.

When Yarbrough comes off the IL, he might be switching places with righty Phoenix Sanders, reports Topkin. Sanders threw an inning in last night’s game and was supposed to head back out for a second until an issue with his back arose, according to manager Kevin Cash. Sanders, who turns 27 next month, is in his first MLB season and is off to a good start. Through 10 innings on the year, he has a 1.80 ERA, with nine strikeouts and just two walks.

As for Wander Franco, he’s been dealing with some hamstring tightness that kept him out of Sunday’s game. The issue doesn’t seem to be overly serious, as he was back in the lineup on Monday. The club tried to convince him to avoid running hard when possible, which he’s found difficult. “The coaches have said that to me,” Franco tells Topkin, “but (running hard) is definitely the way I’ve played since I was a kid, and that’s the form I’m going to play.” In last night’s game, Franco spent some time on the basepaths after hitting a couple of singles. He was pinch-hit for in the ninth inning, though the Rays were already up 6-1 at the time. Signed to an 11-year extension in the offseason, Franco figures to be the face of the Rays for the next decade-plus. The hamstring issue doesn’t seem to have hurt his bat at all, as he’s currently hitting .322/.341/.575 on the season, good enough for a wRC+ of 174.

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Notes Tampa Bay Rays Phoenix Sanders Ryan Yarbrough Wander Franco

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Rays Select Phoenix Sanders

By Anthony Franco | April 17, 2022 at 1:40pm CDT

Apr. 17: Knight has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Apr. 14: The Rays have selected right-hander Phoenix Sanders onto the major league roster, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In a corresponding move, reliever Dusten Knight was designated for assignment.

Sanders, 26, is getting a big league call for the first time. He was a 10th-round senior sign out of South Florida in 2017, signing for just $7.5K. The overwhelming majority of players in that demographic don’t advance to the majors, but Sanders earned his way there with an excellent five-year run in the minor leagues.

Aside from a rookie ball stint late in his draft year, Sanders hasn’t posted an ERA above 3.29 at any stop. He’s backed that up with excellent strikeout and walk numbers, routinely punching out upwards of 30% of opponents while only once dishing out free passes at a higher than average clip. Sanders, who has worked almost exclusively in relief, owns a 1.81 ERA in 49 2/3 Double-A innings and a 3.19 mark in 79 frames over parts of three seasons with Triple-A Durham. He’s fanned 31.1% of batters faced against a meager 4.6% walk rate at the top minor league level.

Sanders has never appeared on an organizational prospects ranking at either Baseball America or FanGraphs, but his consistently strong production caught the attention of the Tampa Bay front office. He’ll offer a fresh arm in the middle innings for manager Kevin Cash, having not pitched for Durham since last Friday.

Knight loses his roster spot just a day after being selected back to the majors. He’s a quick casualty of roster churn as the Rays shuttle through bullpen arms to cover a stretch of 13 games in as many days to open the regular season. The righty tossed 42 pitches in last night’s loss to the A’s, likely knocking him out of commission for the next day or two. Tampa Bay will now risk losing him on waivers to add to the immediate bullpen options at Cash’s disposal.

The 31-year-old Knight has logged big league time in each of the past two seasons. He struggled over seven appearances with the Orioles last year, allowing ten runs in 8 2/3 innings. He had a nice showing with Baltimore’s top affiliate, though, posting a 3.05 ERA in 38 1/3 frames with a 26.2% strikeout rate. Knight hasn’t allowed a run in four innings with Durham in 2022 and struck out three batters in 2 1/3 innings of one-run ball against Oakland yesterday.

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Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Dusten Knight Phoenix Sanders

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