The Rays led baseball in bullpen xFIP final season (3.75), and naturally the fielding unbiased stats are typically extra predictive than ERA, a stat during which Rays relievers had been extra center of the pack (3.81) whereas they performed in an odd hitting setting.
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Edwin Uceta is presently on his means again from a shoulder damage and hasn’t thrown in a spring coaching sport as of this writing, however he’s an instance of the Rays’ participant identification and improvement bonafides, as he went from an early-career journeyman who was on 4 massive league rosters in his first 4 seasons to a top-flight low-slot reliever. Uceta ties hitters in knots working up together with his fastball after which down together with his glorious changeup, and ranks eleventh in Okay/9 since 2024.
Griffin Jax, acquired ultimately yr’s commerce deadline, is as sturdy and dependable as nearly any reliever in baseball. He ranks third amongst relievers in WAR the final two seasons mixed and is third in reduction innings pitched since 2022. His arsenal is deep sufficient that, once they acquired him, I believed Tampa Bay would possibly contemplate stretching him out as a starter, however he’s labored solely as a reliever for the Rays and Crew USA this spring.
Many different items of this reduction corps had been acquired by way of commerce pretty not too long ago. Former Rangers prospect and Tigers Rule 5 draftee Mason Englert has had a velo spike since becoming a member of Tampa Bay, and his different pitches have thrived since he shelved his slider. Hunter Bigge, who studied physics at Harvard, had a velo spike beneath the Cubs’ tutelage, then got here to the Rays as a part of the Isaac Paredes deal. Forward of final yr’s draft, Bryan Baker (most likely the third banana on this bullpen) was acquired in change for the thirty seventh general decide that the Orioles then used on prep outfielder Slater de Brun, who they then traded to the Rays as a part of the Shane Baz deal. Cole Sulser had his greatest strike-throwing season within the bigs final yr as a 35-year-old; the Rays acquired him from the Mets in 2024.
The long-time stalwart right here is lefty Garrett Cleavinger, who has been a Ray since mid-2022. He and funky lefty Ian Seymour, who had success as a minor league starter however moved to the bullpen final yr, will probably be a formidable southpaw tandem. Cleavinger depends on a fairly conventional fastball-slider combine, whereas Seymour has a deep repertoire headlined by a screwball-style changeup.
