Rays' transformed bullpen thriving in second half

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHILADELPHIA -- Last year, the Rays essentially remade their relief corps with three key midseason additions: Robert Stephenson, Jake Diekman and the return of Shawn Armstrong.

The changes have been more gradual and extensive this season, due to trades and unexpected injuries, but the Rays have once again transformed their bullpen into one of the best groups in the Majors.

How good have they been? Since the All-Star break, the Rays own the Majors’ lowest bullpen ERA, at 2.56. Their relievers also rank among the league’s best in the second half in terms of strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.51, fourth), opponents’ average (.200, third), WHIP (1.03, second) and strand rate (82.2%, tied for first with Houston).

“It’s a testament to our organization to be able to identify talent, things that we might be able to rework here to figure out ways to optimize these guys as pitchers,” Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “[Bullpen coach] Jorge Moncada does a fantastic job down there getting those guys ready to come in and perform as well as they have the past few months.”

And Moncada’s crew has almost completely turned over since Opening Day. First, consider the pitchers who were in Tampa Bay’s Opening Day bullpen: Pete Fairbanks, Jason Adam, Colin Poche, Phil Maton, Garrett Cleavinger, Armstrong, Chris Devenski and Jacob Waguespack.

Fairbanks (right lat strain), Poche (left shoulder inflammation) and Waguespack (right rotator cuff inflammation) are on the injured list, with Fairbanks and Poche having gone down in August. Devenski was released in June. Adam (Padres), Maton (Mets) and Armstrong (Cardinals) were traded in July.

So this was the group that headed out to the bullpen at Citizens Bank Park on Monday night, including opener Cole Sulser but not bulk-innings lefty Tyler Alexander: Manuel Rodríguez, Edwin Uceta, Drew Rasmussen, Kevin Kelly, Richard Lovelady, Hunter Bigge, Mason Montgomery, Sulser and the lone holdover, Cleavinger.

It’s a less experienced group. There are fewer proven arms. But they’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of velocity and a lot of nasty stuff, leading to a lot of zeros on the scoreboard.

“Credit to the guys down there. Credit to all the people behind the scenes in the front office that help find some of these guys, because I don’t think our bullpen has taken a hit even though maybe we’ve lost some key pieces,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We want to get them back, whether it’s Pete or Colin, but the way that this group has continued to build off each other and not be consistent with the personnel is really impressive.”

The turnover has led to some fascinating stories, from the rise of Rodríguez -- who was acquired from the Cubs in a relatively minor move before the 2023 Trade Deadline -- to the emergence of Uceta as their most dominant arm.

Rasmussen has looked electric in his return from Tommy John surgery. A Rule 5 Draft rookie last year, Kelly has been remarkably steady, with an active 17 1/3-inning scoreless streak to back it up. Lovelady, who was acquired from the Cubs on May 18, has a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 innings over 13 appearances since he returned from the 15-day injured list on Aug. 8.

“We’ve done a really good job acquiring good pitchers, then those guys take what our plan is, take it to heart and see the results right away,” Kelly said. “It’s not unexpected, but it’s great.”

Within the past two weeks, the Rays have called up two young, controllable relievers with power stuff seemingly tailor-made for late-inning work: Bigge and Montgomery. They landed the right-handed Bigge in a trade with the Cubs on July 28 as part of their return for Isaac Paredes, while Montgomery is a former starting pitching prospect whose stuff ticked up dramatically when he moved to the bullpen for Triple-A Durham.

“It’s tremendous. All the young guys, anyone that comes up, they’re doing a great job,” Uceta said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “They’re attacking the zone early, and we’re getting the results.”

There is understandable excitement about the Rays’ potential rotation next season, when ace Shane McClanahan (recovering from Tommy John surgery) should return to join a group that could also include some combination of Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Ryan Pepiot, Jeffrey Springs, Zack Littell and Rasmussen, among others.

But if the past few weeks have been any indication, the group coming into games behind them could be just as impressive.

“Knowing the caliber of stuff they have down there, whenever we get ourselves into a situation and get taken out of the game, we know that they’re going to have our backs and put up zeros for us,” Pepiot said.

“For them to kind of even it out and have that turnover and just continue to throw … I mean, truly, it feels like we could put anybody out there at any time now,” added Littell. “They’ve done a really nice job keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win games late.”