After four surgeries and 3-1/2 years, Brent Honeywell Jr. made his triumphant return to the mound on Monday. Meanwhile, Dietrich Enns was impressive in his three innings of work, as the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Red Sox, 10-4.
Honeywell threw 10 of 15 pitches for strikes (66% strike rate) in his inning of work; his fastball velocity sat between 93-95 mph. His slider also was effective while his 93-95 mph screwball (seen above) had that Bugs Bunny look about it in that it had batters, like Christian Vasquez, baffled. And while he didn’t throw 1-2-3 inning or a scoreless frame, the right-hander said the way he pitched was encouraging.
I knew, even from the first day I went down, I was going to get here one way or the other. I’m still going to do what I got to do to be the best I can be and try to be the best pitcher in the game here soon. That’s just who I am, and that’s what I want to do.
— Brent Honeywell
While Honeywell was already optioned to Minor League camp, if Monday’s outing speaks to anything, it’s that he could pitch for Tampa Bay at some point this season. …with a little fine-tuning, of course.
It’s a big deal. And he looked fine. It’s tough to make an argument that with that type of stuff that, the more fine-tuning and the more he can get built up and stretched out, it’s easy to envision scenarios where he is a part of our mix, in the not so distant future. … With that type of stuff, the more fine-tuning and the more he can get built up and stretched out, it’s easy to envision scenarios where he is a part of our mix in the not-so-distant future. He doesn’t look like a rehab pitcher. He’s a healthy pitcher, and that’s got to be awesome for Brent.
— Kevin Cash
Honeywell’s teammates were also excited for him, including Chris Archer.
There’s no way he could have done it without the mentality that he has. One of the surgeries, you can remain confident. Two, most people start to waver. And anything more than that, a lot of people would have just given up. But Brent Honeywell, his heart is a baseball. That’s all he wants to do with his life. So there was no way he was going to give up. He was going to go down swinging, and I’m glad he’s fought so hard to get where he’s at.
— Chris Archer
While he was excited to watch Honeywell pitch on Monday, right-hander Tyler Glasnow upped his pitch count to 85 and six innings in an intrasquad game on the backfields. Glasnow tweaked his slider grip over the past few days, which altered the shape of the pitch. Rather than clocking in between 85-89 mph and resembling his curveball, the cut-slider clocked in between 88-92 mph with more horizontal movement.
Today was by far the best day my slider’s been — like, by a million. So I’m super comfortable with it. It was like 88 to 92 (miles per hour) today, so it’s like perfect. And it was just easier to throw for strikes, too. Just like a little shift, pretty easy, so I’m encouraged by it.
— Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow is scheduled to make one last tuneup before Opening Day.
Cash was pleased by what he saw out of Glasnow.
He was outstanding. Had a very, very good outing. Kyle was very pleased with the fastball, the slider, and the changeup. The curveball was fine, but he mixed in all of them. The velo on the slider seemed to separate a little bit from the curveball, which was very good. I think he got his slider in that low-90 (mph) territory, which, even saying that it just shows the type of stuff that he is equipped with.
— Kevin Cash
Honeywell aside, Dietrich Enns was another bright spot for Tampa Bay. The left-hander allowed just a solo homer across three frames, striking out four, while his fastball velocity sat between 92-96 mph.
It’s easy to like him when you’ve seen the velo spike like we’ve seen from the time we brought him in last year at the ATS to now. But he’s also added some strike-throwing ability, able to mix his pitches, he threw really, really good.
— Kevin Cash
The New What Next
The Rays will head north to Sarasota on Tuesday to face the Orioles. Right-hander Collin McHugh is slated to pitch behind fellow righty Trevor Richards, who is scheduled to start. Southpaw Jeffrey Springs and Andrew Kittredge are also expected to take the mound.
Rays 3/23/21 Starting Lineup
- Mejia C
- Tsutsugo 1B
- Brosseau 3B
- Wendle SS
- Boldt DH
- Gray RF
- Gomez CF
- Sullivan LF
- Quiroz 2B
- Richards RHP
Noteworthiness
— The Rays reassigned seven players to Minor League camp on Monday: catcher Chris Betts, infielder Esteban Quiroz, outfielder Nathan Lukes, left-hander Brian Moran, and right-handers Yacksel Rios, Hunter Strickland, and Louis Head.
There now are 46 active players on the Spring Training roster, although those players could continue to appear in Grapefruit League games.
Of that group, Strickland, Moran, Rios are the most experienced arms. The conversations with them were more specialized.
I think it’s pretty cool that the stance that the organization takes year in and year out, is there’s really just not a ton of weight put on spring training results.. It’s more what can we do to help you better? Are you comprehending, understanding the messages?
I think it’s pretty cool that the stance that the organization takes, year in and year out, is that there’s really just not a ton of weight put on Spring Training results. It’s more, ‘What can we do to help you better? Are you comprehending, understanding the messages, whether it’s offensively or on the pitching side from Kyle and (bullpen coach) Stan (Boroski)?’ And Hunter did that.
— Kevin Cash
Cash told Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) the message with Strickland is to get his slider in the zone more consistently, and they will continue working with him on that.