Tampa Bay Rays Name Workload Expectations For Shane McClanahan as He Returns From Injury

Coming back from Tommy John surgery, the team expects McClanahan to throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 innings this season.
Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan (18) throws a pitch  against the Texas Rangers in the second inning at Tropicana Field in 2023.
Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan (18) throws a pitch against the Texas Rangers in the second inning at Tropicana Field in 2023. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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According to Tampa Bay Rays President of Baseball Operations Erik Neander, the team expects ace lefty Shane McClanahan to throw somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 innings this season as he returns from Tommy John surgery.

He made the comments last week at the winter meetings in Dallas.

When healthy, the 27-year-old is one of the best pitchers in the sport and his return should do wonders for the Rays, who finished fourth in the American League East this past season.

A three-year veteran, McClanahan is already a two-time All-Star. Despite getting injured at the end of 2023, he still finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting. Lifetime, McClanahan is 33-16 with a 3.02 ERA. He strikes out more than 10 batters (10.1) per nine innings for his career.

The Rays are one of the best teams in the league at developing pitching, so it's safe to say that they don't need to push McClanahan in his return. They also have Taj Bradley, Zack Littell, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz and Joe Boyle as candidates to start games next season, so they can certainly afford to bring McClanahan along slowly if they need to.

When McClanahan returns to the rotation, he'll be returning to a roster that looks different than the one he last pitched in front. Randy Arozarena was traded last year to the Seattle Mariners while Isaac Paredes was dealt to the Chicago Cubs. Wander Franco is no longer on the 40-man roster because of legal problems and Tyler Glasnow was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.