TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays started off the season 13-0, and a big reason for that hot start was their starting pitching—a combination of Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Zack Eflin, and Jeffrey Springs helped the Rays tie an MLB record.
And after a weekend in Toronto in which they finally lost a game and a series for the first time, the Rays rebounded to win two of three in Cincinnati against the Reds.
But there was bad news in the midst of the Rays’ series win. Lefthander Springs will be undergoing Tommy John surgery and will be out for the rest of 2023 and likely out for the start of 2024.
On the Wednesday morning edition of the Locked On Rays podcast, cohosts Ulises Sambrano and Kevin Weiss discussed the mixed bag of news for the Rays this week.
At the time of their episode, the series' third game hadn’t been played, but the Rays cruised to a 10-0 victory on Tuesday night behind a strong five and one-third innings by Taj Bradley, who made his second start of the season and won his second decision.
The Rays were already dealing with the loss of Tyler Glasnow for the first month of the season with an oblique injury, but now Springs is gone after putting up incredible numbers to start 2023. He was 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in 16 innings with 24 strikeouts. He was removed from his third start on April 13 against Boston when he threw a pitch and was visibly injured.
Springs started his career with the Texas Rangers, pitching for them in 2018 and 2019 but compiling a 4.90 ERA in 64 ⅓ innings.
He was traded to the Red Sox, where he pitched during the 2020 COVID season, and his ERA was a bloated 7.08.
Springs’ career seemed to turn around after he joined the Rays, and Sambrano said on the show, “He (Springs) was actually garnering a really good reputation outside of the Tampa Bay region. People were starting to name him as that next underrated pitcher that you didn’t know about, but you should know about.”
Sambrano asked Weiss, “How worried does the Jeffrey Springs Tommy John hit you, 1-10? 10 being ‘Oh my goodness, season over!’ and 1 is ‘Who is Jeffrey Springs?’”
Weiss started off by saying he feels bad for Springs, and he talked about how he warned people that Springs being asked to pitch that many innings after primarily coming out of the bullpen was a considerable risk.
He added that there’s also risk involved with Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan, who are also being asked to pitch more than they have previously. Weiss said his concern about the loss of Springs is about a 6.
Both hosts still think the Rays, even with the loss of Springs, will be contenders and will be in the race for the American League East division.
Springs being out for the season means Taj Bradley can stick around in the rotation and try and compete for a spot. Zack Eflin is on the injured list but should return for the Rays’ series against the Chicago White Sox this weekend.
So a is not lost for the Rays, and there’s plenty of time for other players to step up and make comebacks, but losing Jeffrey Springs for the season and some of 2024 is a big blow.
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