Patiño aims to harness 'electric stuff' in 2nd season with Rays

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- The way Luis Patiño put it, this might have been the hardest he’s worked in the offseason. He changed his routine to involve more weightlifting, focusing on building muscle in his core and especially in his lower body. He came into Rays camp stronger and more mobile on the mound than he was last season.

After an up-and-down first season with the Rays, Patiño sees the opportunity in front of him.

“Definitely, I think this is going to be a big year for me. That’s why I worked so hard this offseason,” Patiño said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “I knew this would be a good year with the experience that I have and everything that I’ve learned. I think it’s just going to lead into a good year, and as long as I keep on working hard, I think it’s going to turn out well.”

The Rays are equally excited about the potential they see in the 22-year-old right-hander. This time a year ago, Patiño was in his first Spring Training with Tampa Bay as the intriguing but mostly unproven headliner of the Rays’ return after they traded 2018 American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to the Padres on Dec. 29, 2020. Now, they’re counting on Patiño to unleash his potential as part of their rotation.

“There's a lot of excitement. I personally am excited to see where he can take off,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It was easy to forget how young he was and the special things that he did for us. … There's so much to like with him. It's electric stuff, and now it's just a matter of him harnessing it and knowing how to use it.”

Patiño didn’t have a set role much of last season. He debuted as a multi-inning opener for Tampa Bay on April 25, pitched a couple of bulk-inning outings out of the bullpen, started a few games, went down to Triple-A Durham, returned for one start, went back down, finally got an extended look from late July to mid-September, then shuffled out to the bullpen to prepare for a postseason relief role.

Despite all the bouncing around he’s done, there’s no doubt the Rays view him as a starter moving forward -- and someone who could take a huge step forward in his second year with the organization.

“He's self-proclaimed electric. He's got as much talent as any 22-year-old arm in the game,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “It's going to be interesting to see kind of how things unfold a little bit, but the stuff out of his first side [session] was really good.”

There were times last season when Patiño looked unhittable, like his scoreless six-inning, eight-strikeout start against the Yankees on July 29. He was lights-out down the stretch, too. But there were a few outings when he ran up high pitch counts and couldn’t get beyond the third inning, and he finished the year with a 4.31 ERA in 77 1/3 innings over 19 appearances (15 starts).

Some of that was to be expected. As Cash noted, Patiño was only 21 years old last season. Wanting to prove his talent, he put some unnecessary pressure on himself. And he had to deal with a constantly shifting environment, shuttling from Triple-A to the Majors a lot early in the year and not getting a consistent opportunity to start until late July.

“I know last year was definitely an experience for me, the year of going up and down a little bit,” Patiño said. “I think with that experience, I have a little bit less pressure going into it than I did last year.”

So Patiño put in the work, and it’s been apparent already. Snyder said the hard-throwing righty picked up “more or less right where he left off” in a “sharp” first bullpen session at Charlotte Sports Park. After being out of contact with the Rays’ staff during the lockout, he’ll work to refine his entire arsenal the rest of the spring.

Patiño spent the early part of his offseason with family in his native Colombia before traveling in January to Miami, where he did most of his training. He said he’s worked to refine his changeup, a pitch he’ll likely need after lefties slashed .274/.378/.452 against him last season, as well as his curveball and slider.

Patiño’s fastball, which averaged 95.7 mph last season, can indeed be electric -- and might only improve as a result of the physical changes he made over the winter. He tinkered with two sliders in 2021: a tighter breaking ball he picked up last year, which he can throw for strikes and to generate soft contact, and a sweeping slider that should be a legitimate swing-and-miss offering.

“Just getting confident in his approach and understanding how his stuff's best put to work,” Snyder said. “He has the potential of having obviously one of the better fastballs in the game for a starter with good carry, good cut … [and] the potential of having two of the better breaking balls, too.”

Patiño has the talent and the stuff. He has the opportunity and the Rays’ trust. Could this be the year he puts it all together?

“There's a lot still there that's moldable as he continues to just mature,” Snyder said. “Beyond that, just the person, he's as exciting as anybody.”