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Tyler Glasnow

AL Notes: Glasnow, Twins, Frazier

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Rays righty Tyler Glasnow seemed to be embarking on an uber-breakout campaign this year before being sidelined with forearm issues. The 1.86 ERA, 10.24 K/9 and 2.31 FIP marks he submitted in his first eight 2019 starts became the talk of baseball for a time and positioned Glasnow as the possible usurper of the Cy Young throne held by teammate Blake Snell.

Since hitting the injured list, Glasnow has embarked on a lengthy rehab that could culminate in the coming week. MLB.com writer Juan Toribio passes on that Glasnow will pitch two innings for the clubs Durham affiliate on Monday, whereafter the org will decide on the location of his next appearance (link).

To truly help a 79-58 team trying to break through the postseason barricades, Glasnow will need to be in top form when he returns to the team–a return that is expected to be in a short relief capacity. Still, this latest stop in his rehab suggests that Tampa could soon be making one of the most impactful additions of the AL playoff race this month. With tonight’s win over Cleveland, the Rays entered into a tie with Oakland for the second Wild Card play-in spot.

Two more notes from AL contenders…

  • Somehow, the Twins hit six home runs tonight and still lost a 10-7 decision to the lowly Tigers. However, this would be called “burying the lead” in journalism: the real story is that the final home run of the night–a blast off the bat of Mitch Garver in the ninth inning–brought Minnesota’s home run total to 268 on the year, setting a new single-season team record. Though this record doesn’t have obvious trade or free agent implications, it’s still an impressive mark for a team that was largely debrided for organizational inactivity this offseason. Amazingly, the club has already received 20-plus homers from seven different players, with 38 home runs coming from the catching position alone (which is itself a record for an American League team). It’s hardly a surprise that such a powerful club holds an 83-52 record and +172 Run Differential, not to mention a 4.5 game lead in the AL Central. The home run record was previously held by last year’s Yankees team.
  • Tomorrow will likely see social media ablaze with news of Sept. 1 roster call-ups, but word of one particular promotion stood out from the transaction morass today. Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier is a player of considerable pedigree who has mostly logged solid offensive results at the major league level (103 wRC+ in 392 career at-bats). Nonetheless, his team saw fit to demote Frazier to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre in June, sparking both trade rumors and reports that highlighted an organizational mandate to Frazier regarding his suspect defense. September hope will spring eternal for the 24-year-old outfielder, however, as it appears that the man known as “Red Thunder” will rejoin his big league bombers when rosters expand today.  Frazier, for one, is excited: “Honestly feels like the first time I got called up all over again,” Frazier told Conor Foley of The Times-Tribune in Scranton (link). While in Triple-A this year, the right-handed hitter produced a .244/.302/.431 batting line.

AL Notes: Rays, O’s, Alberto, Tigers, Hardy

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Let’s kick off the week with updates on a trio of American League clubs…

  • The wild card-contending Rays haven’t set specific timetables for the returns of injured starters Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yonny Chirinos, but the three figure to come back in that order, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Glasnow, who has been out since early May with a forearm injury and will finish 2019 as a reliever, could rejoin the team in the second week of September, per Topkin. Meanwhile, Snell is “probably 10 days behind [Glasnow] at least,” according to manager Kevin Cash. Snell, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow a month ago. Chirinos has been down for three weeks with an inflamed right middle finger – an injury that has thrown a wrench into a solid season for the 25-year-old.
  • Utilityman Hanser Alberto was waiver fodder last offseason, switching teams on multiple occasions before finally settling in with the Orioles for good in March. Since then, the 26-year-old has enjoyed what has easily been a career season. He’s slashing .314/.337/.440 with 10 home runs in 432 plate appearances, and the right-hander been downright dominant against lefties – whom he has victimized for a .402/.422/.540 line over 180 PA. A .446 batting average on balls in play has buoyed Alberto’s numbers versus southpaws, though, and Statcast isn’t really buying into his above-average production. Nevertheless, he’ll garner trade interest in the offseason, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com hears. It’s up in the air whether the O’s will strongly consider moving Alberto, who has played second and third with regularity this year and will enter arbitration for the first time in the offseason.
  • Tigers lefty Blaine Hardy’s season came to an end two weeks ago when he underwent a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow. Looking ahead to the offseason, Hardy realizes his Tigers tenure could conclude next. “You know and I know I might not be in Lakeland next year,” the 32-year-old told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News, referring to the team’s spring training home in Florida. Hardy has been a fairly successful reliever in Detroit since he debuted in 2014, but after elbow issues helped limit him to a 4.47 ERA/5.72 FIP with 5.89 K/9 and 2.64 BB/9 in 44 1/3 innings this year, it’s possible the Tigers will non-tender the soon-to-be out-of-options hurler as he readies for his second trip to arbitration. Regardless, Hardy’s glad he decided to call it a year instead of trying to gut out his elbow problems through the season. The Tigers were on the verge of demoting Hardy to Triple-A Toledo before his PRP injection, leading him to tell McCosky: “I had so many people in my corner say it would’ve been career suicide if I decided to go down to Triple-A and keep pitching through this. If something happened, and they found the tear at Triple-A, it would have been hard to retro it back to a big-league deal.”

Latest On Tyler Glasnow

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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.

Latest On Tyler Glasnow, 3 Other Injured Rays

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It’s unclear whether injured Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow will be able to pitch again this year, but he isn’t giving up on his season, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports. Glasnow, out since May 10 with forearm troubles, has been throwing from 90 feet of late and is set for a bullpen session Monday. The soon-to-be 26-year-old told Toribio he feels “really good.”

The Rays’ expectation was that Glasnow would only sit out four to six weeks when he incurred his injury in a start against the Yankees, but he has suffered multiple setbacks during his recovery process. Those issues have helped derail what looked like a brilliant campaign in the making for Glasnow, a 2018 trade deadline acquisition from the Pirates who dominated out of the gates this season. The towering Glasnow posted 48 1/3 innings and eight starts of 1.86 ERA/2.31 FIP ball with 10.24 K/9, 1.68 BB/9 and a 51.7 percent groundball rate prior to hitting the IL.

Glasnow’s ongoing absence is far from the only adversity the Rays’ rotation has faced this season. Reigning AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell went to the shelf three weeks ago on account of arthroscopic left elbow surgery, while the team sent Yonny Chirinos to the IL on Aug. 5 with a finger injury. On paper, a healthy Glasnow, Snell and Chirinos would aid in giving the Rays one of the sport’s top rotation. As things stand, though, they’re lacking traditional starters. Charlie Morton has been superb this year, however, while Ryan Yarbrough has been eminently effective as a starter and a reliever. Their efforts have helped keep injury-laden Tampa Bay in contention, as the club’s 71-52 and a game up on the American League’s second wild-card spot.

The Rays are also missing a few banged up position players, including infielders Brandon Lowe and Joey Wendle and outfielder Avisail Garcia. There’s encouraging news on all three, though, as Toribio relays.

While Lowe still doesn’t have a timetable for a return, he is progressing in his rehab assignment. The 24-year-old second baseman has been out since July 4 with a right shin contusion, which has deprived the Rays of one of baseball’s premier rookies. As with Lowe, it’s not clear when Wendle will be ready to come back, but he also seems to be trending in the right direction as he works back from the wrist injury he suffered in late July. Likewise, things are looking up for Garcia. The Rays placed Garcia on the IL on Wednesday with the dreaded oblique strain, though an MRI on Friday revealed it isn’t especially serious. The club’s hopeful Garcia won’t miss more than the minimum of 10 days, according to manager Kevin Cash.

Latest On Tyler Glasnow

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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.

Tyler Glasnow Expects To Return In 2019

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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.

Tyler Glasnow Suffers Setback; Daniel Robertson Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow has suffered a setback in his recovery from a forearm injury, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report (Twitter links here). Meanwhile, infielder Daniel Robertson has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery to remove a loose body. Glasnow’s dealing with flexor inflammation, which will lead to a three-week shutdown, and Robertson will miss four to six weeks in the wake of his procedure.

The Rays have already been without Glasnow since May 11, at which point he was only expected to miss four to six weeks. The club then moved Glasnow to the 60-day injured list May 26, though the goal was he’d return sometime in July. That hope’s now out the window for Tampa Bay, and that’s highly unfortunate news for the AL playoff contender.

The Rays are 45-33 and 2 1/2 games up on the AL’s top wild-card spot thanks in part to Glasnow, a 2018 trade acquisition from the Pirates who was amid a breakout year before his IL stint. The towering 25-year-old has posted a stellar 1.86 ERA/2.27 FIP with 10.24 K/9, 1.68 BB/9 and a 51.8 percent groundball rate in 48 1/3 innings in 2019.

If the Rays make the playoffs this season, a healthy Glasnow team could team with Blake Snell and Charlie Morton to lead a devastating rotation. However, it’s now unclear whether Glasnow will even return in the next couple months. His status could affect the Rays’ plans leading up to the July 31 trade deadline, as the team is currently devoid of traditional starters after Snell, Morton and Yonny Chirinos – the latter of whom has stepped up to effectively eat innings of late.

The surgery for Robertson continues a disappointing season for the 25-year-old. Robertson was somewhat quietly one of the Rays’ most productive players in 2018, when he slashed .262/.382/.415 (127 wRC+) with nine home runs and 2.4 fWAR in 340 plate appearances. But Robertson has followed those numbers up this year with a meager line of .202/.311/.281 (69 wRC+), two HRs and minus-0.3 fWAR in 206 PA. Luckily for the Rays, they’ve seen second baseman Brandon Lowe, shortstop Willy Adames and third baseman Yandy Diaz pick up the slack as Robertson has slumped.

Along with the news on Glasnow and Robertson, Topkin tweets the Rays will go without reliever Diego Castillo for approximately two weeks. Castillo went to the IL on Sunday with a shoulder impingement.

Rays Notes: Faria, Robertson, Glasnow

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The Rays have recalled right-hander Jake Faria from Triple-A Durham while demoting infielder Daniel Robertson, the team announced. 

Faria makes his second appearance with the club this season, the first resulting in a scoreless two-inning outing against the Red Sox on April 20th. He has otherwise notched better-than-usual strikeout rates in Triple-A this season (11.6 K/9) along with a 4-1 record and 5.41 ERA across 15 games (6 starts).

Faria gave the Rays 86 2/3 strong innings of 3.43 ERA baseball across 14 starts in 2017, but an abdominal strain cost him some time and limited him to just three appearances apiece in August and September. He started ten games with a less rousing 5.48 ERA to start 2018, but a left oblique strain landed him on the 60-day injured list. He has since fallen down the pecking order amidst a loaded Rays pitching contingent, but he’ll have an opportunity here to serve as one of manager Kevin Cash’s many long men out of the pen.

For Robertson, the demotion is a disappointing turn for the one-time Oakland farmhand. After accruing 2.4 fWAR and a well-above-average 127 wRC+ in 2018, Robertson slumped in 2019 while concentrating more of his defensive time at third base. Robertson’s .205/.310/.284 is a far cry from his 2018 output. His approach has remained relatively stable (10.8 BB%, 24.6 K%), but his power has all but evaporated (.080 ISO). While power hardly figures to be a prominent part of his game, a sub-.300 slugging percentage makes him borderline unplayable for the Rays in a tightly-contested AL East.

In recovery news, Tyler Glasnow’s comeback trail kicks off today as the Rays plan to have him throwing off a mound to a catcher closer than the traditional 60 feet 6 inches, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio. Glasnow could throw a bullpen session as early as Wednesday, but nothing has changed as of yet regarding his recovery timetable. Given his placement on the 60-day injured list, Glasnow’s earliest date of reinstatement is July 12th.

Rays Select Oliver Drake, Transfer Tyler Glasnow To 60-Day IL

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10:10am: The Rays have transferred righty Tyler Glasnow from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL to make room for Drake, per Topkin. Glasnow has not suffered a setback to his injured forearm, manager Kevin Cash announced. However, the burgeoning ace, 25, now won’t return until sometime in July (the 12th at the earliest). When Glasnow went to the IL on May 11, he was only supposed to sit out four to six weeks, making Sunday’s news an unfortunate blow for a Tampa Bay club that is firmly in the AL playoff hunt.

8:51am: The Rays have selected right-hander Oliver Drake’s contract from Triple-A Durham, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In a corresponding 25-man move, the team optioned righty Casey Sadler. Drake’s not on the Rays’ 40-man roster, which is full, so they’ll need to create a spot for him.

Drake’s in his first year with the Rays, who acquired him from the Blue Jays in January. Tampa Bay designated Drake for assignment two weeks later to make room for the signing of outfielder Avisail Garcia, but the hurler remained in the organization. Since then, the 32-year-old has only managed a 4.94 ERA in 23 2/3 Triple-A innings, though he has paired eye-opening strikeout and walk rates (15.21 K/9, 2.66 BB/9) with a 50 percent groundball mark.

For the most part, Drake has toyed with his competition at the minors’ highest level, where he owns a 2.36 ERA with 13.1 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 133 2/3 innings. Drake’s success at Triple-A has led a slew of organizations to take chances on him, including five last year alone. However, Drake wasn’t able to hold down a major league spot with any of the Angels, Indians, Brewers, Twins or Blue Jays in 2018, nor could he distinguish himself with the Orioles or Brew Crew from 2015-17. In his MLB stints with those franchises, Drake pitched to a 4.59 ERA in 137 1/3 innings, but he did post a 3.48 FIP with 9.9 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a 47.3 percent grounder rate.

Latest On Rays’ Pitching Staff

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Traditionalists may never fully embrace the approach, but it’s hard to argue with the results: through a quarter of the season, the Rays’ pitching staff has been lights out. By design, it’s a fluid and ever-evolving mix of hurlers. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times provides an update on some particularly important arms for the AL East-leading team.

Most notably, prospect Brent Honeywell has encountered another hurdle in his effort to return from Tommy John surgery. He’s only slated for a week-long shutdown for nerve irritation in his right elbow, but this isn’t the first setback. The fact that Honeywell’s road back hasn’t been perfectly smooth doesn’t mean he won’t make it, but it does add to the uncertainty and bump back his timeline.

In Topkin’s assessment, the Tampa Bay front office won’t be able to consider Honeywell as a MLB option until July or August. He’s obviously going to be handled with plenty of caution given his high-ceiling billing and hiccups to this point. Honeywell is going to need a full arm build-up and even then will need to show he’s fully ready for the majors, having never yet pitched in the bigs. No doubt the Rays will keep a close eye on his workload even when he is ready for game action. Honeywell hasn’t yet topped 140 innings in a professional season and already missed all of 2018.

Clearly, then, Honeywell won’t be stepping into the opening in the rotation created when Tyler Glasnow hit the injured list recently. Nobody will, in fact. Skipper Kevin Cash tells Topkin that the club won’t tap a third starter, even on an interim basis. Rather, the club will continue to piece things together on a day-to-day basis behind rotation pieces Blake Snell and Charlie Morton.

Topkin warns not to expect any major acquisitions to plug the openings. Fortunately, Glasnow is said to be looking at an absence of only four to six weeks. That’s about as good an outlook as might have been hoped for when he left with forearm tightness. The injury might knock the 25-year-old out of surprise Cy Young contention, but hopefully won’t spoil his breakout season.

Plus, there are some other hurlers working back. Reliever Hunter Wood is close to being an option again for the MLB roster after hitting the IL with a shoulder issue, though he may take at least one more rehab outing. Wood showed an intriguing 18.0% swinging-strike rate in 6 1/3 innings to open the year. Former top prospect Jose De Leon is ready to move his rehab work to the highest level of the minors after a pair of High-A outings. Given his long and arduous rehab process, the odds are he’ll be given some time to work at Triple-A even when his assignment is up (which must occur on or before June 2nd). There’s no word yet on when Anthony Banda will be ready to begin his own rehab assignment after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June, but he was reportedly throwing from a mound late last month.

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