The Tampa Bay Rays announced Tuesday that right-hander Zach Eflin has been placed on the 15-day Injured List due to back tightness backdated to April 8. Right-handed pitching prospect Taj Bradley has been recalled to take his place on the roster and will make his big league debut tomorrow.
Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) relayed that both manager Kevin Cash and Eflin expect the latter to have a minimum stay on the IL, which would mean he’d only miss two starts. If those expectations hold true, and Eflin returns on April 23, then it’s likely that Bradley would be optioned back to Triple-A Durham. Thus far, Eflin has posted a 3.27 ERA and a 2.67 FIP across 11.0 innings (two starts), with a 12.00 K/BB and a 1.18 WHIP.
Bradley, 22, was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. Since that time, he has moved up the minor league ladder and prospect lists and is currently considered the No. 42 prospect in baseball by Baseball America, No. 18 by MLB Pipeline, No. 60 by ESPN, No. 52 by Keith Law of The Athletic, and No. 37 by FanGraphs. Last season, the right-hander went through Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 133.1 innings with a 2.57 ERA, while posting 4.27 K/BB. The strike thrower hasn’t averaged more than 2.7 BB/9 in any of his full-season stops.
Bradley boasts a 95 mph heater that touches 98, and spots it well around the zone. His best secondary pitch is a mid-80s cutter that has slider movement. It breaks late and plays well off the fastball. We’ll call it a slutter sweeper. His 90 mph split-finger changeup doesn’t offer a ton of velocity separation although it gives Bradley another suitable fading option against southpaws. He is still developing his mid-70s curveball which is currently more of a show pitch early in the count.
If Bradley sticks around in St. Petersburg for the rest of the season, he will be able to earn a full year of service time…although just barely. A major league season is 187 days long and a player needs only to spend 172 of those days in the big leagues (or on the injured list) in order to earn a full “year” of service time. Given that Bradley has missed 12 days of the season, he would accrue just enough time to creep over the one-year line. Getting optioned at any point in the season will impact that trajectory.
A full year of service time would find Bradley eligible for the prospect promotion incentive (PPI). As Darragh McDonald (MLB Trade Rumors) notes, “As part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement, if a player has less than 60 days of service time and is on two out of the three top 100 prospects lists from Baseball America, ESPN, and MLB Pipeline then earns a full year of service as a rookie, they become PPI eligible. If they then win Rookie of the Year or finish in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting before reaching their arbitration years, they can net their club an extra draft pick. This already happened once when Julio Rodríguez won American League Rookie of the Year last year, getting the Mariners an extra draft pick after the first round. Bradley is on all three of those prospect lists and is therefore in the mix for earning PPI eligibility this year.”
Noteworthiness
— Tyler Glasnow (grade two oblique strain) threw a 15-pitch bullpen session on Tuesday. It was the first time Glasnow has thrown off a mound since he suffered his injury back in late February. The right-hander is seemingly doing well though, and at this point needs to rebuild his stamina and pitch count.