Rays pitcher diagnosed with triceps tightness after early exit

The Rays suffered a major injury scare Saturday afternoon when southpaw Shane McClanahan exited his start in the third inning due to what the Rays later announced as triceps tightness. John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times relays that the issue is not related to his recent elbow surgery and that the lefty will undergo imaging on Sunday to determine the severity of the issue.

It’s a concerning situation for any pitcher, but a serious injury would be particularly devastating for McClanahan, given that he missed the final two months of the 2023 campaign and the entirety of the 2024 season while rehabbing his aforementioned Tommy John surgery. When healthy, the soon-to-be 28-year-old hurler is on the shortlist for the best young arms in the sport, with a career 3.02 ERA (130 ERA+) and 3.36 FIP in 404 2/3 innings of work since he made his big league debut back in 2022. The southpaw’s career 28% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate further solidify him as a clear top-of-the-rotation arm, and the Rays currently have him poised to serve as the ace of a loaded rotation that also features arms like Ryan Pepiot and Drew Rasmussen.

However, those plans appear to have been scuttled, depending on what’s next for McClanahan. The severity of the issue and a potential timetable for his return won’t be completely clear until McClanahan’s tests come back. Even so, it should surprise no one if the Rays decide to proceed cautiously with their prized left-hander coming off of surgery. Even if the issue proves relatively insignificant, it would be understandable if the club decided to play it safe and place McClanahan on the injured list to open the season. They’re reasonably well equipped to do so, with Rasmussen, Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell and Shane Baz all healthy and ready to contribute to the rotation. Beyond that quintet, the club also has depth options such as Joe Boyle and Joe Rock in the fold as well as non-roster veteran Connor Seabold.

Even with that depth in place to handle an absence from McClanahan, a significant injury would be a gut punch for a Rays club that will already need to exceed expectations to compete in an AL East division that figures to be dominated by the Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox this year after big offseasons for all three clubs. Comparatively, the Rays’ offseason was somewhat modest as they added only Ha-Seong Kim and Danny Jansen to the fold while shipping out Jeffrey Springs in a deal that brought back Boyle. Strong as the club’s rotation looks on paper, the Rays figure to lean on it heavily this year after losing both Isaac Paredes and Randy Arozarena from the lineup at last year’s trade deadline, leaving extra weight on the shoulders of Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe as the only established veterans left in an otherwise young and unproven lineup.

If the injury proves severe enough that the Rays must consider adding from outside the organization to deepen their rotation mix, a handful of viable options, such as Lance Lynn and Spencer Turnbull, remain available in free agency. With that being said, any big league signings could be pushing it for the perennially low-budget Rays, and they might instead prefer to wait and see if a non-roster invitee like Chris Flexen or Ross Stripling returns to the open market after opting out of a minor league deal.