Tyler Glasnow

Sunday: Glasnow has officially been activated from the injured list to start this afternoon’s game against Toronto.

Friday: The Rays will activate righty Tyler Glasnow to take the ball to start Sunday’s game, manager Kevin Cash told reporters including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio (Twitter link). Glasnow, who has been sidelined for much of the season with a forearm injury, is expected to be limited to two or three innings of work.

While Glasnow isn’t going to step right back into a full starting role, that was never the expectation. For one thing, he’s returning without the benefit of a lengthy minor-league rehab schedule. For another, he is needed in the majors as soon as possible with the Rays engaged in a closely fought battle for Wild Card position.

It’s hard to predict how the situation will unfold. Glasnow could perhaps build his arm strength up while working as an opener. Perhaps that’ll morph into something more akin to a typical starter’s workload as the postseason approaches.

Glasnow, who recently turned 26, is a key piece (in the present and the future) for a Tampa Bay organization that is hoping to return to full health in the pitching department at just the right time. Fellow hurlers Blake Snell and Yonny Chirinos are also trying to work back to the MLB bump. In eight starts to open the year, Glasnow pitched to a 1.86 ERA in 48 1/3 innings.

With the Rays seeking to hang on to a Wild Card spot, they will need whatever contributions they can get from several injured players — among them, righty Tyler Glasnow. Today’s update on the situation delivers a bit of a mixed bag of news on the exciting young hurler, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links).

Most importantly, Glasnow was able to make it through a 15-pitch bullpen session without incident. Indeed, he indicated that he’s feeling great about his chances of making it back to the majors after that session. The odds are “very high” that he’ll be ready to roll down the stretch, the hurler says just days from his 26th birthday.

It’ll still be some time before Glasnow has built up a pitch count and crossed a few other barriers (including reintroducing his full repertoire). But that process will be eased by the other major facet of today’s news on Glasnow. He indicated that he will not try to build fully back up to work as a starter. That’ll obviously be the long-term goal, but for the time being Glasnow will target a return in a short-relief capacity.

While that’s obviously disappointing to an extent, it reflects the simple realities of the situation. The Rays will surely be wary of taking too much risk with a major long-term piece, even in a season in which they’re in good position to crack the postseason. And there simply isn’t enough time (especially given the forthcoming end of the minor-league campaign) to stretch Glasnow out on anything less than an aggressive timeline. Bringing him back as a reliever — even an opener, Topkin notes — likely offers the best route to getting some impact and balancing the competing demands. If all goes well, perhaps it’s possible that Glasnow will be able to work more than one frame in key situations late in the year and/or in the postseason.

Rays righty Tyler Glasnow will not be allowed to throw for at least two weeks after his latest MRI, manager Kevin Cash told reporters including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio (Twitter link). The skipper says he doesn’t know whether the young righty will have time to ramp back up in order to return this season.

That’s not terribly encouraging news for the Tampa Bay organization, which is battling to stay within shouting distance of the division lead while holding on to Wild Card position. Glasnow has been sidelined for more than two months with forearm issues. He had raised hopes recently of a valiant return down the stretch, but the hour is beginning to get late.

With Glasnow reaching new performance levels early this year, the Rays had the makings of a three-headed monster in the rotation with veteran Charlie Morton and reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell. Though Morton has been an exceptional performer, Glasnow has been on the shelf since his eighth start of the year and Snell has failed to match his 2018 effort (in terms of earned run average, at least).

Understandably, the Rays are taking a cautious path with a key player-asset. Glasnow is set up for arbitration eligibility in the offseason as a Super Two, meaning he won’t be a free agent until 2024. That makes him an important piece in the long-term puzzle.

Glasnow’s long-term future remains bright, so long as he’s able to put this nebulous forearm problem behind him. He followed up a strong 2018 effort with 48 1/3 innings of 1.86 ERA ball to open the current campaign. Best of all, Glasnow averaged 10.2 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 with a 51.7% groundball rate. With a 97+ mph heater, 12.0% swinging-strike rate, and increasing ability to start batters off with strikes and stay in the zone, the talented righty has threatened to establish himself as a front-line starter.

Burgeoning Rays ace Tyler Glasnow has been on the shelf since May 10 with right forearm tightness, an injury that will keep him out for at least several more weeks after a recent setback. But Glasnow issued an encouraging update Sunday, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. The 25-year-old revealed his UCL “looks really good” and said that he expects to pitch again this season. He’ll still remain in shutdown mode over the next two weeks, though.

Tampa Bay lost to AL East rival New York in Glasnow’s most recent start, though the Rays still boasted a 23-14 record and a half-game lead over the Yankees at that point. The tables have turned during Glasnow’s lengthy absence, as the Rays have gone a middling 24-22 and now trail the Yankees by seven games. They still hold a one-game lead on the AL’s No. 1 wild-card position, however.

It’s obvious Glasnow’s injury isn’t the lone reason for Tampa Bay’s team-wide decline, but it clearly hasn’t helped. The 6-foot-8 hurler opened the season in dazzling fashion, with a 1.86 ERA/2.27 FIP, 10.24 K/9 against 1.68 BB/9, and a 51.7 percent groundball rate across 48 1/3 innings.

With reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell having taken sizable steps back this year, Glasnow’s injury has been all the more damaging to the club. Charlie Morton has been outstanding, and Yonny Chirinos has also done well in an expanded role, but the Rays have been limited to those two and Snell as traditional starters. The Rays could explore the market for starters before the July 31 trade deadline as a result, though they did just promote high-end prospect Brendan McKay. The 23-year-old gave Tampa Bay a much-needed six innings of one-hit ball in a win over Texas on Saturday.