The Tampa Bay Rays will promote LHP Shane McClanahan to start Thursday’s game against Oakland. If you watch spring training baseball, you might’ve glimpsed McClanahan hitting 101 on the radar gun while striking out seven batters and allowing one baserunner over three innings.
If you missed those brief Grapefruit League innings, perhaps you watch the playoffs, where you could’ve seen McClanahan hitting 100 on the radar gun in his big league debut last fall. He got knocked around a bit by the Yankees and Astros but did throw an empty frame against the Dodgers in the World Series. Wild ride for a guy who’d only pitched 18.1 innings above A ball before that postseason stress test.
The 31st overall selection from the 2018 amateur draft, McClanahan brings unicorn heat from the left side. I think it’s between him and Cleveland LHP Sam Hentges for gassiest lefty in the game. While Hentges is 6’8” and 245 lbs, McClanahan stands 6’1” and weighs 200 lbs. Today is his 24th birthday. Pretty good gift, I’d say, getting that call from the front office. He pairs that high-nineties heat with a plus curveball that tunnels well when he’s working atop the zone. We haven’t seen much of the changeup, but I’m guessing it’s gotten a little better than the grades on most public facing scouting information that grade it below average. It won’t have to be a great pitch on its own to work incredibly well in the pitch mix. As long as it accesses a third velocity band between the gas and the bender and has just a little late dip or fade, it’ll be a nice weapon against right handed batters as long as he’s commanding it.
The smart money on McClanahan likely sees him in relief long term, but these things change, and we’re always too quick to label young pitchers as two-pitch guys when they simply haven’t needed a third one yet. Necessity is the mother of invention, and young pitchers meet an awful lot of successful inventors in a major league clubhouse. That’s the workshop you want them toiling in when seeking those extra weapons on the mound. I’m simply not convinced throwing your middle school change up a million times in single A matters as much as learning and tinkering along with the best in the world at the top level.
I wouldn’t get too McClanahandsy with Shane in redraft leagues. Could be an up and down thing. Could be just an opener for a while. But on the other hand, if he’s moved to relief full time, he’ll have the best arm in that injury-riddled bullpen and could earn a high-leverage role.
Should add before moving on that Sam Hentges got some job security when the team designated LHP Oliver Perez for assignment to activate Nick Wittgren from the parental leave list. I doubt they make that move unless they’re happy enough with Hentges after two outings that they want to keep him on the staff.
The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly moving to a six-man rotation and promoting RHP Johan Oviedo to take that first extra start Wednesday. Nice to see him rewarded for 4.2 innings of shutout relief against Milwaukee on April 11. Oviedo pitched well enough his first two starts of 2020 before struggling over his final three, but I’m more likely to throw that out entirely than read much into it. Oviedo is under construction: a 6’5” 245 lb edge rusher with a plus fastball that was up 1.6 mph from 2020’s 94.8 to 96.4. His changeup is also coming in hotter (+3.4 mph), as is his slider (+1.1). I like it, and I suspect there’s another little fastball bump in there somewhere. Oviedo’s a priority add for me in deep leagues.
Guys like Nationals 1B/OF Yadiel Hernandez tend to pile up at AAA and then get labeled 4A talents, especially in NL organizations due to the number of position-player at bats that go instead to pitchers. Shouldn’t say “guys like” so casually like these MLB-ready bats are just growing on trees, but I do think the minor leagues have more players capable of sustained hot stretches than we ever really give them credit for, or at least that’s been the case for much of my life. Might be different now that so many guys come up and hit right away.
Back to Hernandez, who’s traveled an atypical path to his current opportunity. A 33-year-old rookie who signed out of Mexico at 29, Hernandez checks in at 5’9” 185 lb but gets the barrel to way more pitches than normal and pairs that plus hit tool with a discerning eye to create painful at bats for opposing pitchers. He might wind up back on the bench when Juan Soto comes off the IL, but between interleague play, Josh Bell’s ongoing struggles and Washington’s offensive deficiencies, Hernandez has several paths to sustained playing time, and I’m betting he’ll earn it.
Speaking of earned at bats, Diamondbacks 1B/OF Pavin Smith has been a longtime favorite in this space and appears to have locked up a spot in that Arizona lineup. He might even be the leadoff man, having settled in at that spot the past six games. Another fascinating development: he’s played centerfield in six of the team’s last eight games, an opportunity he earned by making play after play in right. If you circled “Pavin Smith becomes an everyday centerfielder-slash-leadoff-hitter” on your fantasy-ball bingo card for 2021, well hot damn you’re probably the only one. Wing! Go! (In a Dale Gribble voice).
Brewers OF Tyrone Taylor has had to wait his turn behind a parade of pricier options in Milwaukee, but he’s in position now to claim his place. The extent of Christian Yelich’s back injury is unknown at this point, but we know he’s not on the field, and we know Avisail Garcia has been bad as a Brewer. As has Jackie Bradley Jr. Even listing the names makes me a little less optimistic, but Avi’s a free agent in 2022 unless Milwaukee picks up his option. Lorenzo Cain could be back from the IL soon, and he’s under contract until 2023, so it’s messy, just all the way around, but if he’s their best healthy outfielder, and I think he is right now, life will find a way.
Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera has resumed throwing at the alt site. Seems unthinkable that he’d appear in the majors before Sixto Sanchez this year, but we’re headed in that direction. I dropped Cabrera down my prospect rankings because of a creaky elbow that seems destined for some kind of operation, but the Marlins have taken the rest and rehab route, so we’ll just have to monitor him. Even in shallow redraft leagues, Cabrera could be a difference maker if healthy.
Blue Jays RHP Nate Pearson should be up to five fake innings at the alt side by next week. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach to Pearson in general, but the price is probably right in a lot of mixed leagues. He’s not an RCL-level option just yet, but he’ll be streaming in shallow leagues by late May.
Astros RHP Luis Garcia figures to inherit the rotation spot vacated by Jake Odorizzi. Not great for Jake, pretty fun for us. Watch party at my house. I’ve been high on Garcia for a long time.
If not Garcia, then perhaps the first chance will go to LHP Kent Emanuel, a 28-year-old lefty who twirled 8.2 shutout innings in relief of Odorizzi. He’s a far cry from Garcia in the stuff department, but he’s earned his next outing.
The Kansas City Royals are winning, which should accelerate the timelines of SS Bobby Witt Jr., 1B Nick Pratto, and pitchers Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Jonathan Bowlan and perhaps Asa Lacy, Alec Marsh and Austin Cox. Exciting times for the young Royals.
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