These pitches are the envy of Rays' arms

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ST. PETERSBURG -- The question was simple. Coming up with an answer was not.

If you could steal one pitch from any of your teammates and add it to your arsenal, what would it be?

“Only one?” starter Zach Eflin responded immediately.

“One pitch?” echoed reliever Jason Adam. “There’s a lot to pick from!”

That’s what made this such an interesting exercise. Seemingly, everyone on the undefeated Rays staff does something special, but they go about it in different ways -- unique arm angles, pitch movement and so on.

That amount of contrast is part of what has made their pitching so special in recent years -- and it made for a fun survey.

So, over two days in the visitors’ clubhouse at Nationals Park, we asked each of the Rays’ 13 active pitchers the same question.

The pitchers’ respect for each other came through in their answers, as did their thoughtfulness.

Not everyone immediately jumped on 100 mph heaters or the nastiest breaking balls. Garrett Cleavinger, Ryan Thompson, Drew Rasmussen and Calvin Faucherpicked changeups (three different ones, at that) to complement their fastballs and breaking balls. Conversely, Jalen Beeks picked a slider to round out his fastball-changeup mix.

Naturally, a few pitchers couldn’t be limited by the confines of the question and picked more than one.

Eflin built something of a super pitcher out of his fellow starters: Shane McClanahan's fastball, Jeffrey Springs' changeup, Tyler Glasnow's curveball and Rasmussen’s cutter/slider.

McClanahan did the same with *Pete Fairbanks’ *fastball, Glasnow’s curve, Adam’s slider and Springs’ changeup.

Ditto for Springs: Fairbanks’ fastball, McClanahan’s slider, Adam’s changeup and, for good measure, all those pitches coming with Glasnow’s elite extension.

In the end, we wound up with 23 selections. Here are the results.

No. 1: Springs’ changeup, 5 votes

“That thing,” McClanahan said, “is nasty.”

Look no further than Springs’ season debut for proof.

The lefty threw his primary offspeed pitch 28 times, and the Tigers whiffed on nine of their 17 swings against it. No surprise, considering his changeup generated a 38.1 percent whiff rate last season and a 48.2 percent whiff rate in 2021.

Even when opponents know it’s coming, it’s hard to hit because of its movement, how well Springs reads swings and how precisely he locates everything.

“We saw it the other day,” Cleavinger said. “It was unbelievable, and it’s been a really elite pitch for him.”

No. 2: Fairbanks’ fastball, 4 votes

Turns out, a lot of pitchers would also like to be able to throw a cutting, carrying fastball that averaged 99 mph last season.

Hitters certainly want nothing to do with it. Opponents batted just .118 and slugged .196 against the high-leverage righty’s fastball last year.

“I like my fastball,” reliever *Colin Poche *said, “but I would also like to throw it 100, like Pete.”

“I wouldn’t hate having the Pete Fairbanks heater,” said Adam, who topped out at 97.8 mph last season, but typically sits more in the 94-95 range. “I’ve never been able to throw that hard. Not even close.”

No. 3: McClanahan’s fastball and Adam’s changeup, 3 votes each

Fairbanks’ fastball is special, but he’s not the only one with triple-digit heat. McClanahan reached back for 100.6 and 100.3 mph fastballs Wednesday, and he sat at 96.7 mph during his All-Star season.

“I wouldn’t mind having one of those a game,” starter Josh Fleming said. “It’d be cool, just pick and choose whenever I got to use it.”

Rule 5 reliever Kevin Kelly provided perhaps the most entertaining answer in picking McClanahan’s fastball, noting that he would like to add that left-handed heat to his arsenal while otherwise remaining a side-arming right-hander. “If I could do both,” Kelly said, “that would be awesome.”

Adam’s changeup yielded a .148 average and 34.4 percent whiff rate last year, and it wasn’t even his best pitch, statistically. Opponents batted just .096 with a 46.1 percent whiff rate against his slider.

No. 4: Glasnow’s curveball, 2 votes

Safe to assume Glasnow’s stuff would have received more votes if he was active. Especially this knee-buckling pitch, which produced a measly .085 opponents’ average and a mind-boggling 56.1 percent whiff rate in 2021.

Also receiving votes: McClanahan’s changeup, McClanahan’s slider, Adam’s slider, Rasmussen’s cutter/slider, Cleavinger’s slider, Faucher’s slider.

Pretty silly that McClanahan has three different pitches represented here … and that Adam has two, neither of which is his fastball … and that five different wipeout sliders got votes.

No wonder the question seemed so difficult.

“I could literally go down the list,” Springs said, “and take one from everybody.”