Why Shane McClanahan won’t be on Rays’ opening day roster

PORT CHARLOTTE — Spring sample sizes aside, you could make a strong case that the most impressive pitcher in Rays camp has been Shane McClanahan, who was pumping an easy 100 mph and snapping off breaking balls.

There’s a pretty rock-solid argument that he was among their 13 or 14 best, certainly worthy of a spot on the opening day roster, at least in the bullpen.

But McClanahan, 23, had pretty much no chance.

The Rays are committed to the big picture and the potential for a big payoff. That means continuing to develop McClanahan as a starter, as they have since drafting him out of USF in 2018 and moving him through three levels in 2019, topping out at Double-A. “He’s got a chance to be really special,” manager Kevin Cash said.

As a result, they are being really cautious at the start of this season. Especially after the odd workload of 2020, where McClanahan (who had Tommy John surgery in college) navigated the spring shutdown and restart, spent the abbreviated season at the alternate training site, missed two weeks in September with a minor knee injury, then made his major-league debut in the playoffs, the first pitcher in history to do so, and as a reliever.

But, but, but …

After seeing how much better McClanahan got after extensive winter work, especially on his slider, and how bad he has made some quality major-league hitters look in his three one-inning outings, isn’t there some thought to use him now, even as a bullpen weapon?

“There’s always temptation,” Cash said. “But I also think that’s where you’ve got to really trust the guys that are making the decisions. In fairness to Mac, we think we’ve kind of put him through quite a bit with bringing him on to the postseason roster. I’m very confident we feel really good about building him up and let him go on that path (as a starter).”

The Rays are doing the same slow play with Luis Patino, the hard thrower acquired from San Diego who also jumped to the majors last season, and others. (Josh Fleming, who spent much of 2020 in the majors, is being considered for a multi-inning relief role, but could end up back at the alt site.)

Why? The Rays are concerned about the volume and intensity of the workload jump given the lack of actual game innings in 2020. They are a little gun shy after all the pitcher injuries they had last year. They feel the veterans can cover innings at the start of the season, and want to build the young arms up slowly given the potential they’ll spend another month in spring-like workouts until the minor-league season starts. They ultimately want to maximize their upside as top starters.

“We recognize just how talented they are,” Cash said. “Just because you’re not needed opening day doesn’t mean that you’re not going to play huge roles throughout the course of the season.”

McClanahan very much wants to be in the majors and wasn’t happy, Cash said, with the decision to be sent down. But speaking a few days earlier, he said his bosses have made it “very clear” that he is considered a starter: “Just going to trust them and they’re going to do what’s right for me, whether that’s taking it slow or whatever, I’ve got to do what they tell me to do. So, you know, I’m a starter.”

For now, anyway.

Rays rumblings

Pre-sales for the Rays’ new season members (and previous season-ticket holders) start Monday. It will be interesting to see what tickets are left from the limited inventory for the 15 games, about 9,000 fans per, when public sales start Friday. … Asked about Fernando Tatis Jr.’s recent 14 year, $340 million contract as a target, consensus top prospect Wander Franco said: “The decision on something like that is in God’s hands. He’s the type of player that absolutely deserves it, and probably deserves more.” … Franco, by the way, is said to now be driving a 2020 Rolls Royce Cullinan SUV, which start at around $330,000. … Health and safety improvements at the Trop, per a team news release, include installation of improved air filters, UV lights and “specially-designed electronic devices inside air conditioning units that break down a wide variety of harmful contaminants, including coronavirus.” ... Rich Hill met Tom Brady once in passing at the Oosterbaan Field House when they overlapped at the University of Michigan, and, growing up and living in the Boston area, has been a big fan. Now that they’re both playing for Tampa Bay teams, Hill would love to meet up, either at a Rays game or a Bucs practice, and talk “about how he’s able to maintain his health” and other things. … There’s many reasons why the Rays are trying a drive-through fan fest-style event next Saturday, but it seems like there should be a way to safely incorporate current, former or future players into the program. ... Congrats to Jays manager Charlie Montoyo, the long-time Rays coach, for getting his 2022 fouth-year option picked up. ... With wife Marisa set to deliver their second son this week, Kevin Kiermaier said they are “excited, nervous, scared” about expanding the family but got good advice from teammate Mike Zunino: “You and Marisa were playing a zone on (first son) Karter, now it’s man to man.” … Reliever Andrew Kittredge, who has looked good in camp (stats aside), took the March 15 out clause in his minor-league deal, then re-signed on new terms. He has another out at the end of camp if not on the big-league roster.