Somehow, the Tampa Bay Rays at all times appear to discover a means.
Projected to complete third within the AL East as a roughly 88-win workforce, Tampa Bay has gotten off to a flying begin and entered the weekend as MLB’s final unbeaten workforce at 7-0. The Rays opened the season with sweeps of the Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals, and getting into Saturday they led MLB by an enormous margin for many runs scored per sport (7.57) whereas permitting the third fewest (2.57).
Their offense has been loud too, cranking 18 residence runs over the primary seven video games whereas the pitching employees had solely allowed 17 earned runs complete.
That’s what the Red Sox are going to should take care of after they play the Rays 4 instances in St. Petersburg over the subsequent few days.
Boston was at all times going to have its palms full competing in a loaded AL East this season, however the truth that Tampa Bay seems to have rediscovered its mojo after a so-so 2022 is unhealthy information. Even with fewer video games in opposition to division rivals and a 3rd Wild Card spot up for grabs, the Red Sox will likely be hard-pressed to make the playoffs if they will’t at the very least end third within the AL East.
Beating out the New York Yankees or Toronto Blue Jays at all times appeared like an extended shot, however candidly, the Rays appeared ripe for the choosing.
The incontrovertible fact that Tampa Bay’s pitching has been elite isn’t a shock. They at all times appear to hit all the appropriate buttons on the subject of assembling a pitching employees and this yr’s group isn’t any exception. The bother, or so it appeared, was the offense. Last yr’s lineup was solidly under league common in runs per sport (4.11, twenty first in MLB), residence runs (139, twenty fifth), OPS (.686, twenty fifth) and in most different main classes. The Rays didn’t make any main offseason additions on that aspect of the ball both, so it was truthful to query whether or not they may rating sufficient runs to really contend.
Well, it’s nonetheless early, however to date their offense appears greater than succesful, and the largest distinction has been a wholesome Wander Franco.
Coming off an injury-plagued 2022, the 22-year-old wunderkind has gotten off to a unbelievable begin and appears primed for a attainable All-Star marketing campaign. Entering Saturday Franco was batting .379 with a 1.231 OPS, together with three residence runs, three doubles, eight RBI and two stolen bases.
He’s not the one one both. Eight Rays batters to date have OPS figures above .800 (in layman’s phrases, actually good) and 6 have gone deep at the very least twice by means of seven video games. Luke Raley (3 HR, 1.375 OPS) and Randy Arozarena (.360, 1.084 OPS) particularly have been terrific.
If there’s one gap in Tampa Bay’s resume, it’s that they actually haven’t performed anybody but. Detroit, Washington and Oakland are all anticipated to complete close to the underside of their respective divisions, so you would argue they’ve simply been feasting on empty energy over the primary week.
But you’ll be able to solely play the groups in your schedule, and to date Tampa Bay has completed precisely what you’d anticipate to see a superb workforce do to unhealthy groups, which is beat the heck out of them. With that in thoughts, this week’s four-game set between the Red Sox and Rays ought to inform us so much about each groups.
If the Red Sox are the workforce their largest defenders consider they are often, or if the Rays are literally a paper tiger, then Boston ought to be capable to go into Tropicana Field, come out with some massive wins and head into Marathon Weekend with some actual momentum.
But if the membership’s detractors are proper, or if the Rays actually are pretty much as good as they’ve seemed, then the Red Sox may search for on Friday and discover themselves in final place and going through some severe questions simply two weeks into the season.
Whitlock to debut on Tuesday
The excellent news for the Red Sox is that they’ll be getting reinforcements simply in time for the large Tampa Bay collection, as Garrett Whitlock has re-joined the workforce and informed reporters Saturday he expects to start out on Tuesday.
Coming off final fall’s hip surgical procedure Whitlock has been introduced alongside slowly to start out the spring, however whereas he opened the season on the 15-day injured record he has not skilled any setbacks and has seemed glorious in each of his rehab begins.
Whitlock allowed one run over 4 innings with six hits, one stroll and 6 strikeouts his first outing with the Worcester Red Sox, and this previous Thursday he tossed a gem for the Portland Sea Dogs, permitting one run over six innings with one hit, one stroll and eight strikeouts.
He won’t be the one beginning pitcher returning to Boston within the close to future. James Paxton (proper hamstring pressure) will pitch 4 innings for Worcester throughout his subsequent rehab begin at the moment in Buffalo, and Brayan Bello (proper elbow irritation) is scheduled to throw six innings in Worcester on Tuesday. If Bello’s outing goes effectively it’s attainable he may very well be activated quickly afterwards.
Five Sox on Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects record
Baseball America lately launched its season-opening Top 100 prospects record and 5 Red Sox gamers have been amongst those that made the lower.
Top prospect Marcelo Mayer led the way in which at No. 9 total, adopted by Triston Casas (No. 26), Masataka Yoshida (No. 55), Ceddanne Rafaela (No. 69) and Miguel Bleis (No. 84).
Casas and Yoshida probably gained’t stay on the record for for much longer, as each are actually on a regular basis gamers with the large league membership and can quickly graduate from prospect standing very like Brayan Bello did in direction of the tip of final season. Mayer, who began the season at High-A Greenville, is probably going at the very least a yr and a half away from the majors and will proceed to climb the ranks as these in entrance of him make their MLB debuts.
Rafaela, the quickest riser within the group final yr, opened the season again at Double-A Portland to proceed engaged on his offensive method. The outfielder will probably earn a promotion to Triple-A quickly if he continues displaying progress and will have a shot at a late-season MLB call-up given his presence on the 40-man roster.
As for Bleis, he was assigned to the Low-A Salem Red Sox in Virginia and is enjoying his first season of affiliated professional ball after dominating the Florida Complex League final summer season. The outfielder is taken into account a possible five-tool expertise within the mould of Ronald Acuña Jr. and will likely be one whose growth followers ought to monitor carefully.
Farm Report: Frelick leads robust native contingent
Coming off a standout efficiency within the World Baseball Classic for Team Italy, Lexington’s Sal Frelick (No. 31, Baseball America) has gotten off to a robust begin with the Nashville Sounds (MIL Triple-A). Entering Saturday he led the reigning International League runner-ups with seven hits and had already recorded three stolen bases. Fellow native Cam Devanney, a former Central Catholic star, can also be on the Nashville roster.
Methuen’s Jacob Wallace, who spent final season with the Portland Sea Dogs earlier than being traded to Kansas City as a part of the Wyatt Mills deal, threw a scoreless inning of aid in his debut with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC Double-A) on Friday. Fellow Methuen native Dom Keegan, who starred at Central Catholic, made his affiliated professional debut Thursday with the Charleston RiverDogs (TB Low-A), going 2 for 3 with two runs, a stroll and an RBI in his membership’s 6-2 win.
North Andover’s Steve Hajjar, Keegan’s highschool teammate at Central Catholic who was lately traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Cleveland Guardians, has been assigned to Cleveland’s High-A affiliate, the Lake County Captains. Ex-St. John’s Prep nice Max Burt, additionally of North Andover, hit his first residence run of the season on Friday for the Somerset Patriots (NYY Double-A).
Norwood’s Sean Mellen will likely be pitching domestically to start out the season after being assigned to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (TOR Double-A). There’s an opportunity he would possibly in some unspecified time in the future face off in opposition to Wellesley’s Mike Vasil, a former BC High star who was lately promoted by the Mets to Double-A and assigned to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, a division rival of each New Hampshire and Portland.
Source: www.bostonherald.com