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