The one-inning pitchers on the Tampa Bay Rays staff got most of their work done outdoors on Wednesday, ahead of their first formal game of Summer Camp tomorrow. Meanwhile, several pitchers were brought in from Port Charlotte to face hitters indoors at the Trop.
Rays manager Kevin Cash attended the off-site workout and watched Chaz Roe, Diego Castillo, Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks, and José Alvarado all pitch an inning outside, in the heat, in order to get them acclimated to the weather outside of the Trop.
All told, Cash felt the group, as a whole, was impressive.
A lot of heat coming out between Chaz, Diego, Fairbanks, Alvarado and Nick Anderson. It makes you dream about what if we get them all together at one time. If we’re able to keep them all healthy, it’s a pretty special and talented group.
— Kevin Cash
As Juan Toribio (MLB.com) noted, Anderson and Castillo are the likely candidates to close out games in 2020.
Of the ground, Anderson and Castillo are the likely options to get the opportunities in the ninth inning. If Alvarado proves that he can consistently throw strikes, the Rays would certainly be open to giving him more opportunities in the ninth. Roe is more of a middle reliever, while Fairbanks has the potential to work his way into the late innings — largely in part to a fastball that ranked in the 97th percentile last season and a slider that held opponents to a .196 average.
Throw Colin Poche and Oliver Drake into the mix, and it’s easy to see why the Rays expect the pitching staff to be a major strength heading into 2020.
— Juan Toribio
Indoors at the Trop, Mike Zunino had himself a day, hitting home runs off Sean Gilmartin and Shane McClanahan, and a ground-rule double off Gilmartin.
After a disappointing 2019 campaign in which he slashed a career-low .165 BA/.232 OBP/.312 SLG/.544 OPS/.235 wOBA/45 wRC+ lines, Zunino altered his stance and believes he’s making some good strides.
Toribio elaborated on Zunino’s down season, and what he is doing to fix things:
Zunino’s barrel percentage (11.6), average exit velocity (88.6 mph) and expected batting average (.194) were the lowest since his rookie season. His Sweet Spot percentage (26.8) was the lowest of his career. Zunino worked with hitting coach Chad Mottola and assistant hitting coach Ozzie Timmons to reconfigure his swing. The biggest adjustment for Zunino was his body positioning and fixing his base.
— Juan Toribio
Ultimately, the changes are designed to allow Zunino to stay more balanced in the batter’s box.
I’ve been working a lot with (Mottola) just trying to get everything we were able to sort of get going during spring. The biggest thing has been timing, but just trying to get caught up in this abbreviated Spring Training to hit the ground running for the season.
— Mike Zunino
In his first at-bat against Gilmartin, Zunino hit a long, loud blast on a breaking pitch. Then, after working a long at-bat against McClanahan, Zunino went yard on a full-count fastball.
The home run off McClanahan gave Zunino, who attended UF, some bragging rights over the left-hander, who attended USF.
I may or may not have whispered something to him when I ran behind the mound. It was great facing him. It’s one of those things where you’re not going to face a better lefty throughout the year in terms of his stuff.
— Mike Zunino
Considering the sheer number of players on the roster that are capable of going deep at any moment, the return of a productive Zunino helps create a murderers row of sorts for the good guys.
That’s a great sign. He can be as dangerous as anybody in our lineup. He has unbelievable strength and bat speed that can flip balls out. We have a lot of guys that are trending in the right direction and at the right time.
— Kevin Cash
Only southpaws threw at Tropicana Field on Wednesday. Gilmartin went two innings and threw 18 of 31 pitches for strikes (58% strike rate). Josh Fleming, who gave up a homer to fellow left-hander Nate Lowe, went three innings and threw 29 of 53 pitches for strikes (55% strike rate). Finally, McClanahan went 1-2/3 innings and threw 19 of 28 pitches for strikes (68% strike rate).
Pump Up the Volume
According to Toribio, the Rays plan to add in crowd noise, which is provided by Major League Baseball.
While the game on the field will certainly be different to the players, one of the biggest differences will be that the club will be trying out added crowd noise, which is provided by Major League Baseball. The Rays have been working out with barely any sound during Summer Camp, but Cash said he’s not sure what the plan is for regular-season games.
“We haven’t spent a ton of time talking about the option if the players want it or not,” Cash said. “I don’t know how that’s going to be determined, whether that comes from the individual club or if that comes from MLB, I don’t know what they’re going to do. I really don’t care, one way or another, it’s not that big of a deal.”
— Juan Toribio
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Three players still have yet to appear at Summer Camp: Randy Arozarena, Yonny Chirinos, and José Martínez. Additionally, Austin Meadows has been out since appearing on the field on the first day, with Brendan McKay has been out since the sixth.
The team has not commented on why players were absent, or even if they were working out of sight. Teams have been told not to comment on COVID-19 related issues due to HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) concerns unless a player gives explicit permission.
The New What Next
The Rays will play five or six innings on Thursday with position players at all spots. The aforementioned crowd noise will be used during the game. Later workouts are also expected Monday through Wednesday of next week — either late afternoon or early evening — with additional innings and closer to game-like situations for those three days.