4:53pm: Rasmussen will be shut down from throwing entirely for two months, Topkin reports (on Twitter). If all goes as planned, he could restart a throwing program in the middle of July. That’d be a multi-week process involving bullpen sessions, batting practice and likely multiple minor league rehab starts. It’d be a surprise if he’s back on an MLB mound before August, but it at least appears the club is hopeful he’ll be able to return for the stretch run.
3:04 pm: The Rays have been dealt another huge blow to their rotation. As first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay placed starter Drew Rasmussen on the 60-day injured list after the righty was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his forearm. He’ll be out until at least the All-Star Break.
It’s an out-of-the-blue development. Rasmussen pitched just yesterday and didn’t show any signs of being hampered. He twirled seven shutout innings in a win over the Yankees, striking out seven while allowing just two baserunners. The velocity on each of his fastball, slider and curveball was right in line with his previous work this season.
Surprising as it is, Rasmussen apparently came down with a severe forearm issue from that appearance. Topkin tweets that he’s hopeful of avoiding surgery but he’s obviously in line for a notable absence in any event. The Rays wasted no time in putting him on the 60-day IL, indicating they didn’t feel there was any chance of him being back on an MLB mound before July.
It’s horrible news for the 27-year-old hurler. Rasmussen has a checkered injury history. He underwent Tommy John surgery midway through his sophomore year at Oregon State in 2016. The Rays drafted him in the first round the following year, but issues with his post-draft physical led the team to decline to sign him. Rasmussen subsequently underwent a second Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch as a senior, causing him to fall to the sixth round of the 2018 draft.
Selected by Milwaukee, Rasmussen debuted in the majors as a reliever with the Brew Crew in 2020. The Rays acquired him alongside J.P. Feyereisen for Willy Adames and Trevor Richards in May 2021. Tampa Bay began to stretch him back out to starting at the end of that season and has seen him blossom into an excellent starting pitcher over the past couple years.
Rasmussen started 28 games and tallied 146 innings last season. He worked to a 2.84 ERA with a decent 21.4% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk percentage. He’d been off to an even better start this year. Last night’s performance brought him to 44 2/3 frames of 2.62 ERA ball over eight outings. He punched out 26.6% of batters faced and upped his ground-ball rate to a strong 52.6% clip.
His stellar early-season work was among the reasons the Rays have sprinted to a 30-9 start. They’re remarkably five games up in a division in which every team is at least three games above .500. It has been an incredible first few weeks for Tampa Bay, but they’re navigating a mounting number of rotation injuries. They were always going to be without Shane Baz for the bulk of the season after last year’s Tommy John procedure. Tyler Glasnow has been out all year after a Spring Training oblique strain. He’s on a minor league rehab assignment and should be back within the next couple weeks, but left-hander Jeffrey Springs is out for the season after undergoing a Tommy John procedure of his own.
Rasmussen’s injury leaves Shane McClanahan as the last starter who has been a constant all year. Offseason signee Zach Eflin missed some time with low back tightness but returned a couple weeks ago. He’s been excellent through six starts. Tampa Bay has gotten their first look at top pitching prospect Taj Bradley, who seems likely to return from Triple-A Durham to eventually take Rasmussen’s rotation spot. Josh Fleming and Calvin Faucher have worked in a swing capacity and could take some starts, as could one-time starter Yonny Chirinos. Cooper Criswell and Luis Patiño are on the 40-man roster and working out of the rotation in Durham.
Depending on Rasmussen’s long-term prognosis, it’s possible the Rays eventually look outside the organization for rotation depth. They’re going to be left to rely mostly on internal options until the trade deadline draws nearer, though.
Rasmussen will be paid around the MLB minimum rate and collect big league service while on the injured list. He’s slated to be eligible for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season and is controllable through 2026. He and the organization will obviously hope he’ll be able to avoid another serious arm procedure and return to the mound without too extended of an absence.
Uff da.
This is heavenly retribution for the apparent cheating that taking place on TB.
How the heck do josh Lowe, Christian bethencourt, yandy diaz, Taylor walls, Harold Ramirez among others who for all their careers have been zeros and this year are all-pro players………
Think about it without automatically telling me I’m a troll.
You’re a troll. Nothing more. You should be embarrassed with this nonsense.
Okay Evan Roberts calm yourself down we aren’t even into June yet. Let’s see where their offensive numbers are come September and if they’re still “all-pros” by then.
I actually heard this theory postulated on the Al and jerry show…. Just saying.
Perhaps stop listening to Al and Jerry (whomever they are) and stop regurgitating their vitriol bc it’s not making you sound sharp.
They have faced some bad teams, and bad starting pitching. I’ll bet they simmer down over time
Literally everyone will play the same schedule. And guess what? You still have to win them. But it’s okay, refrain from giving TB credit, we’ll see you in October…if your team is good enough.
It typically says a lot about someones personality when they auto assume someone is cheating when they succeed.
I thought about it first, as you asked. Yep, you are trolling. Can’t you just give accolades to a team that puts players in a position of strength?
Cheating how?
I’m willing to hear you out, but I’d need something more than “they have a bunch of guys hitting well”
“This is heavenly retribution for the apparent cheating that taking place on TB.”
Since you don’t have a shred of evidence that there’s any cheating going on, yes – that automatically makes you a troll.
Baseless accusations. To call you troll would be to give you too much credit.
Lying conspiracy theorist would be accurate or as they call themselves ‘provocateurs’.
To make the game fair, all teams should have their coaching and player development staffs replaced with equally mediocre sets appointed by MLB. After all, the fans aren’t paying to watch coaches coach! /s
Boycott the pitching clock
Comment clock violation!
Strike ONE!
Horrible news he was electric last night. Tonkin seems to break all Rays news.
Oh no, this is not good. Bradley please come up and keep doing what your doing
Bradley did not fare well yesterday.
Bradley did not have a good outing yesterday.
Ruh-roh.
That’s what he gets for pitching the Yankees to shame.
60 day placement the day after a start is ALWAYS ominous.
Couldn’t have done this before pitching last night 🙂 #frustratedYankeefan
Whoa!!
Maybe it’s time to talk about these injuries in correlation to the pitch clock! Pitchers throwing near max effort with shorter time between pitches.
Sounds like it’s time to learn how to pace yourself.
Last year 51% of pitchers went on the IL. The clock has nothing to do with it.
Velocity doesn’t mean anything that’s a stupid attempt to measure injury or not
Who said anything about velo? Imagine doing any upper body lift and having to do it on shorter rest. Would that not risk injury?
I think the pitch clock has exposed just how poor most pitcher’s mechanics are. Speeding up the deliveries of guys who only know how to throw seems to have lead to a lot of early, serious injuries
Are pitcher injuries actually statistically up this year league-wide? As a Blue Jays fan, we’ve lost… uh, Adam Cimber and Mitch White since the beginning of spring camp, neither serious. Nobody else I can think of.
Everyone’s always talking about the arms they develop and how they keep doing it. At some point we have to look at the arms they destroy as well. Look at the list, it’s long.
Flexor tendon injuries are almost always an issue of overuse.
@ TexasLeaguer so which one is it being rushed or overused? You are contradicting yourself here.
Rasmussen did double his previous professional baseball career high in innings last season… with 146. With what his body got used to, practically any use was going to be overuse.
While Rasmussen’s case involved some previous injuries and he may just have a glass body, it still illustrates a reason I think the way teams baby pitchers is self-defeating. Once you normalize starters throwing a hundred innings a year and 4 inning games with openers, using them normally becomes dangerous overuse. Perhaps if they babied arms less at a young age — when their bodies are actually best equipped to deal with physical stress — then they’d be prepared to take on workloads when they’re older without getting hurt as much.
The guy had multiple TJS in college. He’s not the picture of arm health to begin with.
We all talk about the arms the “develop”. I think we should also look at the arms they run through as well. The list of blown arms is staggering for the Rays. Overwhelming more than any other club
Every arm has wear and tear that teams constantly monitor. They sell at the right time, can’t really blame them, but you’re definitely not wrong.
Such as…? You know how many other teams have a staggering amount? It’s almost a requirement to pitch for the Mets.
@ReyRey what also needs to b considered is a teams risk tolerance. Many teams are gonna avoid relying on an arm with 2 TJS as a starter. Tampa Bay however has to try and hit on these type of deals to b competitive with their payroll.
I say have every single pitcher, majors and minors, get Tommy John Surgery and just get this garbage over with. Have all batters hit off a tee. These forearm injuries. Never ending. Maybe if they learned how to pitch instead of throwing 99 mph with every single pitch. That could help. The low pitch limits and 4 innings and done for the night sure isn’t working. Hopefully this guy doesn’t need surgery but come the f on. Something has to change. I better throw in a know the article didn’t specify he needs surgery and he’s already had the surgery twice. Might need it again. Feel bad for him hope it works out for him.
Until they institute an speed limit on pitchers deliveries( over 94 on radar, it’s a ball) you’re looking at the norm.
Not to worry. Rays still have Glasnow and Taj waiting in the wings. Plethora of pitching.
Glasnow is made of glass, and Bradley hasn’t proven anything yet. Their depth is dwindling rapidly.
So he’s made of glass now?
Recent history indicates this will be the latest IL to be followed up with news of TJS.
And the Rays will just keep on rolling. I don’t think it’s possible for them to run out of pitchers.
Regarding the wear and tear on pitchers’ arms: Most of these arms got ruined when these pitchers were teenagers by travel ball and high school coaches.
In all fairness, the Rays seem tp largely go after intriguing pitchers with serious injury issues, so it’s not too unusual. Springs and Rasmussen have been fantastic but both also have not much of a history of starting, so the extra work probably puts more wear and tear on them. And guys like Baz and Glasnow are always injured, McLanahan, Snell, and David Price had healthy runs there because they were brought up as highly touted workhorse guys. Not so much Snell but he avoided major absences.
Those injured guys are trade acquisitions. Maybe they think they have a value gaining idea with trading for them.
McLanahan, Snell, and David Price are all draft picks.
You’re talking Yankees, not the Rays when you’re thinking of acquiring oft injured players.
Wow maybe I was right in that previous post about the Rays rotation? Everyone thought I was trolling. It takes a big man to admit when they’re wrong. Not many of those on this site
So you’re on this site looking for big men. Got it.
Bet they wish they hadn’t callously dumped Anderson a couple days ago. Expect they’ll acquire Montgomery in July, but until then it’ll be openers & Taj Bradley (who has sucked since his demotion). Chris Archer anyone?
What is this business with starting a sentence like “surprising as it is?” That’s not proper English. You have to start it with “as.”
This is disgusting. This is why the Rays will never win a World Series. They are cursed and the big money and big market bullies like the Dodgers will always have all the luck and the breaks and when they have an injury they can just buy someone to fill the space. I guarantee that the Rays won’t win the World Series because the baseball gods seem to hate these little engine that could teams. The Royals lucked into one in 2015 when some of the big dogs were in a bit of a transition phase but this Tampa magic can’t possibly sustain in October (never has never will) and it makes me sad because it’s just going to be Dodgers vs either Houston or the Yankees probably in the AL. It’s now just a matter of what star will get hurt next for Tampa.
Also that’s one more break for the Dodgers as they would’ve had to face Rasmussen in Tampa on Memorial Day weekend and now they won’t. Just hand them the rings and put Tampa out of its misery now.