With Country Joe West behind the plate calling balls and strikes, and crowd noise being played over the PA system at Tropicana Field, the Tampa Bay Rays played their first full intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday. For what it’s worth, the dark blue Rays beat the light blue Rays, 4-2.
Aside from Oliver Drake, Colin Poche, and Andrew Kittredge, a pair of non-roster pitchers — John Curtiss and Ryan Thompson — continued to dazzle Rays manager Kevin Cash on Thursday.
Curtiss, who boasts an explosive fastball up in the zone, allowed an unearned run across two innings of work, striking out all six batters he faced. Meanwhile, the sidearming Thompson threw two scoreless frames, effectively keeping the ball on the ground.
Cash was impressed by the pair and said they could benefit the team out of the bullpen.
They’re fun to watch, they were very much a highlight today. Their performances back in Port Charlotte and now in the 2.0 session, they’re going to help us at some point this season for sure.
— Kevin Cash
Poche took the mound for the dark blue team on Thursday and struggled mightily with his control, walking three of six hitters, allowing a base hit to Yandy Diaz, and throwing just 13 of 28 pitches for strikes (46% strike rate).
One of the more interesting moves came toward the end of the game when the Rays skipper rolled out a defensive alignment that consisted of five infielders and just two outfielders.
Cash tried the alignment with Manuel Margot and Brian O’Grady in the outfield, and then again with Kevin Kiermaier and Hunter Renfroe, placing them in left-center and right-center gaps.
Cash said he wanted to experiment with the alignment to get players comfortable with trying it. And while he rolled it out with Drake — a fly-ball pitcher — on the mound, he said if the alternative alignment is used during the season, it will be a heavy ground ball pitcher on the hill.
We just kind of wanted to test the limits and see what it looks like. If we’re considering doing that at any point, it wouldn’t be with (fly-ball) pitchers, obviously. But it gives us a fairly good sense of how much ground we can cover on fly balls and then when we do get a heavy ground-ball pitcher with a heavy ground-ball hitter up, maybe it gives us a little more comfort for the guys that have been out there and done it once or twice.
— Kevin Cash
Mike Brosseau, who hit a loud homer off Kittredge during the game, moved in from the outfield to complete the five-man infield. The utility player said the unique alignment could come in handy during the shortened season when every game matters.
It’s just another weapon if we can utilize and put ourselves in a good situation for when we need that big-time double play.
— Mike Brosseau
Kiermaier reiterated Brosseau’s comment, saying:
They kind of told me and Hunter Renfroe to just play where you think you can give yourself the best chance. We didn’t get tested out there today, but I always say that we’re the Rays and we’re not afraid to be unorthodox and switch it up. As long as we feel we’re giving ourselves a chance to win and maximize our potential, then I’m all for whatever.
— Kevin Kiermaier
Juan Toribio (MLB.com) made a very good point, that if any team has the right players to make a two-man outfield a reality, it’s Tampa Bay.
If the Rays decide to roll out a two-man outfield, they certainly appear to have the right personnel to attempt it — especially with Kiermaier and Margot. Last season, Kiermaier finished second among outfielders in Outs Above Average while Margot finished seventh. Renfroe is also one of the better defensive outfielders, finishing tied for 20th with six Outs Above Average.
“We have the right group, as far as the outfielders, to make something like that realistic and make it an actual option that we could use during the game,” Kiermaier said. “Kevin Cash is very creative in many ways, but it’s hard to go against what him and our front office have done to this point with the opener and sometimes putting a reliever in to get that first out, put them at first base, put them back in to pitch — we’ve done that several times throughout the year.
“People call it crazy until it works, and it has many times, so I won’t be surprised if we used it at some point.”
— Juan Toribio
Meadows Placed on the Injured List
Tampa Bay still has a few players missing in action for Summer Camp: Randy Arozarena, Yonny Chirinos, and Jose Martinez have missed every day of camp, while Austin Meadows has been out since July 4, and Brendan McKay since July 8.
Unfortunately, Meadows has been placed on the injured list after testing positive for COVID-19. The Rays selected LHP Aaron Loup to take Meadows’ place on the roster.
It isn’t clear how long Meadows will be on the IL, and given the nature of the virus, there is no minimum or maximum amount of time a player needs to be on the list for COVID-19. Meadows needs to have two consecutive negative tests to return. It is conceivable that he could be activated before Opening Day.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish Austin a quick recovery.
The New What Next
The Rays will play another intrasquad scrimmage on Friday, albeit one that is shorter than the six-plus inning contest that was played on Thursday.