The Tampa Bay Rays announced that top pitching prospect, LHP Blake Snell, will be recalled for a start on Thursday afternoon. RHP Matt Andriese will be shifted into a fireman role in the bullpen.
The #Rays will recall @snellzilla11 on Thursday to start vs. the @Mariners, corresponding move TBD. #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/2VVscgcUvd
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 12, 2016
With the #Rays set to recall LHP @snellzilla11, RHP Matt Andriese will begin pitching out of the bullpen effective Tuesday.
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 12, 2016
This is the second time Snell, 23, has been promoted, with the first coming in a spot start against the New York Yankees on April 23 — his Major League debut. The southpaw looked good in that start, holding the Yankees to just one run on two hits and a walk over five innings, collecting six strikeouts along the way. He was returned to Triple-A Durham, where he has put together an impressive season thus far, slashing, 3.29 ERA/2.58 FIP/12.9 K9/3.21 KBB over 63 innings. However, Snell has exhibited some control issues over his Minor League career — 28 walks this season, and a 4.4 BB/9 over 485 innings pitched.
Rays manager Kevin Cash would not comment on the length of Snell’s latest stint the the rotation.
We’ll get through one start and then kind of see where it goes from there, Cash said.
Yet as Roger Mooney (Tampa Bay Times) noted, Snell won’t amass enough service time to attain Super Two status, should he remain on the Rays’ active roster for the remainder of the season. That said, if he pitches well there shouldn’t be any reason that Tampa Bay wouldn’t keep him in the big leagues.
The Rays entered the season expecting to be led by a dominant rotation, though only right-handed pitchers Jake Odorizzi and Andriese have performed consistently well. Even so, Snell will be added to the rotation since Andriese is headed to the bullpen, where he will assume the role Erasmo Ramirez played earlier this season — a pitcher who can get outs and get a lot of them.
We think that’s going to help us win ball games, Cash said. Matt’s very capable of providing a huge boost in the bullpen. (We) fully understand what he’s done as a starter has been tremendous, but we got to think about what we’re doing to win ball games. That was our thought process.
Andriese, who is 5-0 with a 2.82 ERA and holds the lone complete game-shutout on the staff, has acknowledged that he has mixed feelings about the move,
I have some mixed feelings, obviously, but I think overall for the team it’s going to be good. I still see myself as a starting pitcher, but in the meantime I’m going to go down to the bullpen and give them some extra length.
Mark Polishuk (MLB Trade Rumors) wrote about things, saying,
Andriese’s 2.82 ERA, by contrast, has perhaps a bit fortunate, as ERA predictors (3.22 FIP, 4.25 xFIP, 4.42 SIERA) paint a less flattering view of his performance. Andriese doesn’t miss many bats (6.04 K/9) and relies on grounders and soft contract to rack up outs. It’s not a dissimilar arsenal to that of Erasmo Ramirez, who has also pitched quite well for Tampa in a fireman role this season. Having a pair of versatile, multi-inning relievers could provide a boost to a Rays bullpen that has been plagued with injuries, most notably closer Brad Boxberger spending almost the entire season on the DL.
A corresponding move is to be determined, and we’ll post that information once it is released.