Rays’ Shane McClanahan Avoids Serious Injury, Will Begin Season on IL With Nerve Irritation
Given the initial fear, the Tampa Bay Rays seem to have dodged a major bullet regarding ace left-hander Shane McClanahan’s injury diagnosis.
The 27-year-old southpaw will begin this season on the injured list with nerve irritation in his left triceps, manager Kevin Cash announced on Sunday, meaning he’ll miss his scheduled start on Opening Day versus the Colorado Rockies this Friday.
But this is still positive news for the Rays and McClanahan. After departing his final spring start due to left triceps tightness last Saturday, creating immense concern over his health status, the fact that he’s avoided a serious ailment is the best outcome the team could’ve hoped for.
“Probably the best news we could have heard,’’ Cash told reporters following Sunday’s contest against the New York Yankees, including MLB.com’s Joey Johnston. “We haven’t put a timeframe on it. I’m going to talk to Mac and see how it feels. We’ve got to just let it [triceps] calm down. Obviously, he aggravated it enough to come out and need some extra treatment. But I don’t think we have a timeframe quite yet.’’
With McClanahan headed for a season-opening IL stint, the Rays will turn to Ryan Pepiot as their Opening Day starter against the Rockies. His departure also allows Zack Littell to open this season as a starter rather than moving to the bullpen.
Two seasons ago, McClanahan made 21 starts for Tampa Bay before injuring his left elbow, opting for Tommy John surgery – the second of his career – in late August. And he hasn’t returned to the major leagues since then.
“When anybody walks off the mound, it’s very easy for our minds to wander to the worst-case scenario,’’ Cash said. “I was actually confident [Saturday], it being a tricep, where he talked about it like a strain, something you can manage and treat. I didn’t go right to surgery [mentally] for whatever reason. For the doctors to look at it and get the imaging, I mean, we’re very fortunate.’’
After missing the entire 2024 campaign, McClanahan spent all off-season preparing to hit the ground running this spring. While the Rays slowly progressed his workload, he displayed zero signs of rust over three Grapefruit League starts, tossing seven scoreless innings while striking out eight and allowing just five hits and a pair of walks.
Now that he’ll officially begin this season on the IL, the two-time All-Star was understandably frustrated over the latest setback in his road to recovery amidst what’s already been an emotionally taxing year and a half.
“He was like, ‘I feel like I’ve done everything I possibly could to get myself ready to pitch, then this happens,’” Cash said prior to Sunday’s matchup at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “I think the message from all of us is, yes, we agree with you. But we have seen that this is what takes place with some of these pitcher injuries and arm injuries. It’s not for a lack of rehab or a lack of effort. Coming back from his previous injury and being prepared to pitch, he did everything he needed to do.’’
Losing McClanahan is a significant blow for Tampa Bay. However, the club still figures to feature a strong starting rotation even without the left-hander’s services, with Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz and Littell set to follow Pepiot.
McClanahan enjoyed a career year in 2022, his most recent healthy season, excelling to a 2.54 ERA and 3.00 FIP while punching out a third of his batters faced across 28 starts. He also earned a career-high 3.6 fWAR over 166.1 innings.
That impressive showing positioned him sixth in American League Cy Young voting, finishing behind Justin Verlander, who won the award.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Toliver5568. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.