Rays to reinstate LHP Shane McClanahan Thursday

The Rays are going to reinstate left-hander Shane McClanahan from the injured listing to start out tomorrow’s recreation towards the Blue Jays, in keeping with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan, 25, had his Cy Younger-caliber season interrupted a few weeks in the past. He was set to start out towards the Marlins on August 30 however felt one thing throughout his pre-game warmup and by no means truly made it into the sport. He was positioned on the 15-day injured listing the subsequent day along with his damage listed as a shoulder impingement. At the moment, supervisor Kevin Cash expressed confidence that an prolonged absence wouldn’t be needed, with that evaluation proving to be true as McClanahan is returning after a minimal stint.

McClanahan debuted final 12 months with a superb 3.43 ERA over 123 1/3 innings, although took his recreation to a different stage right here in 2022, previous to the damage. He’s at the moment sporting an ERA of two.20 by 147 1/3 innings this 12 months, together with unimaginable strikeout, stroll and groundball charges of 32.5%, 5.4% and 52.3%, respectively. He and Verlander appeared to be the frontrunners within the AL Cy Younger race, although each of them went on the IL across the identical time. Verlander appears poised to return this week as nicely, permitting that competitors to proceed, although the accidents have allowed others to achieve floor.

If McClanahan is ready to keep away from any lingering results of the damage and choose up the place he left off, will probably be an enormous increase for the Rays. They face lengthy odds of repeating as AL East champions since they’re at the moment 6.5 video games behind the Yankees with simply three weeks left on the schedule. Nonetheless, they’re within the midst of a three-team melee for the Wild Card, with the Jays at the moment on prime however solely half a recreation forward of the Rays and Mariners. The closest non-playoff workforce, the Orioles, are 5 video games again, making it probably that the three groups at the moment in playoff place will maintain on. Nonetheless, the ultimate positioning can even matter, because the prime seed can have residence discipline benefit for all three video games (if needed) within the first spherical of the playoffs.

McClanahan will leap into the rotation subsequent to Corey Kluber, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs, with Ryan Yarbrough probably additionally selecting up some bulk work behind an opener. McClanahan would probably be the membership’s most well-liked option to take the ball in recreation one in every of a postseason collection, although they are going to first have to fret about clinching a spot.

Elsewhere on the roster, the information on Ryan Thompson isn’t nearly as good. Topkin relays that the right-hander is completed for the season after being identified with a stress response in his proper elbow. Thompson has already been on the 15-day IL since late August however will probably be transferred to the 60-day IL as soon as the membership must open a roster spot. He finishes the 12 months with a 3.80 ERA over 42 2/3 innings, together with a 21.5% strikeout fee, 6.1% stroll fee and 51.2% floor ball fee.