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Rays’ Ryan Thompson To Undergo Thoracic Outlet Surgery

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Rays reliever Ryan Thompson will undergo surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). That’ll officially end his 2021 season, although the team expects he’ll be ready for Opening Day 2022.

Thompson hasn’t made a big league appearance since June 27, when he landed on the injured list with what the team initially termed shoulder inflammation. He embarked upon a minor league rehab assignment in mid-August but apparently continued to deal with issues that’ll require surgical repair. He’s already on the 60-day injured list, so today’s development won’t affect the Rays’ roster situation.

Thoracic outlet syndrome has become increasingly commonplace in recent years, although the track record of pitchers recovering from the procedure remains mixed. A few hurlers (most prominently Matt Harvey and Thompson’s teammate Chris Archer) continued to deal with injuries and/or ineffectiveness upon returning from TOS surgery. That’s not a universal fate, though. Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly, for instance, underwent thoracic outlet surgery last September but returned to open this season in the Arizona rotation. Aside from a battle with COVID-19, Kelly has remained healthy all season and has settled back in at his general level of 2019-20 performance.

Thompson’s not a household name to many fans around the league, but he’s been part of an under-the-radar yet highly productive Rays’ relief corps. The sidearming righty made his big league debut last season and quickly emerged as one of Tampa Bay’s higher-leverage bullpen options. He owns a 3.28 ERA over 60 1/3 MLB innings with average or better strikeout (24.2%), walk (6.9%) and ground-ball (53.6%) numbers.

Rays To Recall David Robertson

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The Rays are planning to recall veteran reliever David Robertson to the big league roster before tomorrow evening’s game against the Red Sox, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players tomorrow, so no corresponding move is necessary.

It’ll be Robertson’s first big league action since April 2019. The veteran righty suffered a UCL tear that spring, eventually requiring a Tommy John surgery that wiped out both the rest of that season and his entire 2020 campaign. Robertson tossed a couple showcases over the offseason but ultimately didn’t sign over the winter.

Instead, Robertson was among the handful of longtime big leaguers to join the U.S. National team for this year’s Summer Olympics. He showed well enough there to land a major league contract with Tampa Bay, although he agreed to a temporary assignment to Triple-A Durham to build up arm strength. Robertson has been stellar with the Bulls, tossing six scoreless innings with twelve strikeouts and a lone walk issued.

While it has been almost three years since Robertson was healthy, he was one of the league’s most durable and productive relievers for much of his tenures with the Yankees and White Sox. The 36-year-old owns a 2.90 ERA over 663 2/3 big league innings, and he tossed 60+ innings with a sub-4.00 ERA in every season from 2010-18.

Anything resembling that level of production would be key for a Rays’ bullpen that has dealt with myriad health issues this season.  While Robertson will step in as an option for manager Kevin Cash, it seems Tampa Bay can’t count on immediate contributions from either Ryan Thompson or Oliver Drake.

Thompson, who has been out since June 30 with shoulder inflammation, continues to feel soreness and isn’t expected to begin throwing any time soon, manager Kevin Cash told Topkin. Drake, meanwhile, isn’t expected to pitch this season, according to Cash. Drake has been plagued by a flexor strain since last October; he was expected to begin a rehab assignment in July but apparently suffered some form of setback. Both players are already on the 60-day injured list.

Rays Select Dietrich Enns

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The Rays announced they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Dietrich Enns. Righty Chris Mazza was optioned to Triple-A Durham to open active roster space, while fellow righty Ryan Thompson was transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Tampa Bay signed Enns out of independent ball last August, and he’s now in line to make his team debut a little less than a year later. The 30-year-old has two career big league appearances under his belt, both of them with the 2017 Twins. He bounced between a couple affiliated organizations and independent teams before landing with the Rays.

Assigned to Triple-A Durham, Enns pitched his way back to the big leagues for the first time in four years with a very strong season. He’s made fourteen appearances (ten starts), totaling 59 innings of 2.44 ERA ball. Enns’ peripherals back up the elite run prevention, as he’s punched out a whopping 32.3% of batters faced against a tiny 6.5% walk rate. Those numbers are even more impressive when considered against the league’s hitter-friendly environment. Enns ranks 3rd in ERA, fourth in strikeout rate, and third in strikeout/walk rate differential among the 49 Triple-A East pitchers with 50+ innings pitched this season.

Thompson landed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation on June 30. He’ll miss at least sixty days from the date of that original placement, meaning he can’t return to the majors until the end of this month. The sidearming reliever has quietly worked to a 2.38 ERA/3.17 SIERA across 34 innings this season.

Rays Place Ryan Thompson On 10-Day Injured List, Recall Ryan Sherriff

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The Rays announced a pair of corresponding roster moves, with Ryan Thompson heading for the 10-day injured list because of right shoulder inflammation and Ryan Sherriff returning from Triple-A.

Thompson’s IL placement is retroactive to June 28th, the day after his last appearance. That outing was Thompson’s first in 36 appearances this year in which he allowed multiple earned runs. On the whole, the 29-year-old right-hander has been stellar with a 2.38 ERA/3.09 FIP in 34 innings.

The Rays are very familiar with Sherriff, who has been up and down the past two seasons, though with limited mound work. Including his four outings this season, Sherriff has 14 appearances covering 13 innings for Tampa since 2020. He allowed just one earned run on 11 hits and three walks while striking out five. Though he’s typically been unhittable against lefties, same-handed hitters have gone 3-for-6 with a walk against him this season.

Rays Announce Multiple Roster Moves

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The Rays announced several roster moves this morning (MLB.com’s Juan Toribio was among those to tweet the full list), including the news that Manuel Margot has been activated from the COVID-19 injury list.  The club also selected the contract of right-hander John Curtiss from its alternate training camp, and also called righty Ryan Thompson back up to the MLB roster.  To create room, Oliver Drake has been placed on the 10-day injured list with right biceps tendinitis, while left-hander Sean Gilmartin and catcher Kevan Smith have been designated for assignment.

Margot’s placement on the COVID list as a matter of procedure, as he was away from the club for personal reasons and had to undergo mandatory intake screening upon returning.  Thompson is also “back” with the team in pretty short order, as he started yesterday’s game against the Yankees and was then optioned to the minor league training grounds.  Continuing the trend of rapid-fire Rays transactions, Gilmartin’s contract was only selected two days ago, and he recorded one appearance of 3 1/3 innings (giving up three runs in an 8-4 loss to the Yankees in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader) before being sent into DFA limbo.

Smith was also a pretty new entry to the roster, as the Rays selected his contract back on July 30.  Manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that the Rays would ideally like to retain both Gilmartin and Smith if they aren’t claimed on waivers by another team.

Drake pitched the final inning of the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader, and now has a 3.38 ERA in 5 1/3 innings this season.  The well-traveled Drake has seemingly found some stability in Tampa Bay, with a 3.23 ERA, 3.36 K/BB rate, and 10.9 K/9 over 61 1/3 relief innings since the Rays acquired him prior to the 2019 season.

Curtiss signed a minor league deal with Tampa during the offseason and is now on pace to appear in his fourth big league season.  The right-hander has a 6.75 ERA over 17 1/3 career innings scattered across the 2017-19 seasons, as a member of the Twins and Angels.  Curtiss was also briefly in the Phillies organization last season but didn’t receive any MLB playing time.

Rays To Select Contract Of Ryan Thompson

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11:03am: Southpaw Aaron Loup will also be selected to the 40-man and added to the Opening Day roster, the club has announced. He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.

8:09am: The Rays have decided to carry sidearmer Ryan Thompson on the Opening Day roster, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. He’ll be selected to the 40-man roster today.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Thompson can carve out a MLB career after an impressive showing during this year’s two training periods. The former minor-league Rule 5er will finally get his first shot after first reaching the upper minors in 2016.

Thompson, 28, is said to deliver a low-nineties heater from an unusually low angle. It’s “pretty, pretty nasty” stuff, according to skipper Kevin Cash. Topkin goes on to discuss the final remaining roster calls facing the Rays, who’ll have to make formal decisions today.

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