Rays’ Tyler Glasnow will try to balance disappointment of latest injury
NORTH PORT — Tyler Glasnow had no indication anything was wrong Monday before throwing the fastball that led to the left oblique strain that will sideline him for at least part of April, if not longer.
“Definitely frustrating,” Glasnow said at a media briefing on Wednesday. “I think doing all the things I do to try and stay healthy is probably the most frustrating part about it. But I think it’s one of those things, it just sort of happens.”
Glasnow, 29, was excited for the start of this season after missing much of 2021 and most of 2022 due to Tommy John’s elbow surgery. he returned at the end of September.
He said he will work to “dominate rehab” and try not to be too disappointed with his recent setback.
“It definitely kind of sucks, but at this point there’s no point in just being sad about it,” he said. “The six to eight week schedule is what it is, regardless of my mentality. So I’m not really going to mope or anything. I’m just going to use this time to get really strong.
“And hopefully I can address any kind of inefficiency and use this time to figure out certain things about my body to try and minimize the chances of that happening again.”
He acknowledged, as manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday, that one potential benefit limits the need for the Rays to manipulate his workload by limiting his post-surgery innings. Now if he gets active again, he should be unbridled. “I think that takes care of it,” he said.
Shane McClanahan allowed a hit and a two-inning walk, hit 97 mph, threw 21 of 36 pitches for strikes, looked and felt great in his spring debut.
But there was more to his day as he noted “some new things that will be fun to adapt to.”
First, McClanahan was called out for a pitch clock violation for not finishing his warm-up in time for the first batter (whom he addressed by sprinting to the mound to start warm-up for his second inning as soon as possible ).
Then, facing his fourth batter, he was summoned by home plate umpire Chris Segal for a quick pitch – delivering before the batsman was ready – and scoring a block that caught all parties trying to over it speaking seemed to cause considerable confusion.
“It’s just one of those misunderstandings,” McClanahan said. “We’re all trying to figure it out on the fly, and we’re trying to make it work.”
Luis Patino, one of the leading candidates to succeed Glasnow, completed a 1-2-3 inning on his first outing after an injury-ravaged and frustrating 2022. “We need Luis to play well but also to feel good,” said Cash. “The speed was there, he mixes his pitches well, throws punches, he’s quite confident. So a very good outing for him.” … Recent signer Ben Gamel made his Rays debut, going 0-for-2 but making several nifty plays at first base where team officials want to see if the primary outfielder is comfortable feels. … Potentially rivaling Gamel and Luke Raley, outfielder Josh Lowe had two good at-bats, a hard left line and a massive right homer and was looking good on the field. “Josh had a great day,” Cash said. … The Rays (2-2-1) held a 3-1 lead in the eighth round, but non-squad right Braden Bristo allowed the Braves to earn a tie. … Cash said it was good to see former Rays supporter Nick Anderson looking sharp as he pitched an inning for his new Braves pals: “I’m happy for Nick. He was really handsome. … Nobody wants to see this guy succeed like us I can assure you because he means so much to our club for a pretty fun run.”
Catcher Christian Bethancourt played five innings then headed out to pack and left Thursday to join his Panama teammates for the World Baseball Classic in Taiwan. Minor league release Joe LaSorsa is also on his way to join Team Italy. … The Rays play the first of 13 spring games at Tropicana Field on Thursday and host the Twins at 1:05 p.m.
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