The Rays are anticipated to designated right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for task, per a report from Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Instances final evening. Ramirez’s departure is about to be the corresponding transfer for the return of righty Ryan Pepiot from the 15-day injured record forward of his scheduled begin in opposition to the Crimson Sox tonight.
Ramirez, 32, is a veteran of 13 MLB seasons who first made his large league debut again in 2012 as a member of the Mariners. From 2012-18 Ramirez cut up his time between the beginning rotation and the bullpen in each Seattle and Tampa, pitching to a barely beneath common 4.36 ERA with a 4.54 FIP throughout 192 appearances in that seven 12 months stretch, 92 of which had been begins. Ramirez posted a 6.7% stroll charge throughout that point whereas producing grounders at a strong 44.4% clip, however he struck out simply 18.5% of batters confronted whereas permitting a hefty 13.8% of his fly balls to depart the yard for dwelling runs. Ramirez’s closing season with the Mariners in 2018 was a very tough one, as he was torched to the tune of a 6.50 ERA in ten begins with the membership.
These difficulties led Ramirez to bounce across the league, making temporary appearances in Boston, Queens, and Detroit over the subsequent three seasons earlier than lastly returning to a daily position with the Nationals in 2022. Ramirez took to the nation’s capital fairly properly as he posted a robust 2.92 ERA in 86 2/3 innings of labor that got here nearly solely out of the bullpen. Whereas the righty’s strikeout charge of 17.6% remained beneath common, he allowed free passes to only 4% of batters that season whereas seeing his groundball charge tick as much as 45.2%. The exhibiting was sufficient for the Nationals to signal him to a one-year large league deal price $1MM for the 2023 marketing campaign, assuring him of a spot within the membership’s bullpen getting into Spring Coaching.
Sadly, the choice to retain Ramirez didn’t work out, as his peripherals regressed barely in all areas in the course of the 2023 marketing campaign. These dips in underlying efficiency mixed with an unusually low 62.2% strand charge left Ramirez’s outcomes on the sphere to swing from properly above common to properly beneath as he allowed a 6.41 ERA with a 5.05 FIP in 60 1/3 innings of labor cut up between the Nationals and the Rays, the latter of whom signed the righty to a minor league deal midseason after he was launched by Washington.
Ramirez continued his second stint in Tampa by re-signing with the membership on a minor league deal this previous offseason and was chosen to the roster in mid-April, however the 34-year-old has seemed unimpressive in ten appearances. He’s allowed a 4.20 ERA with a whopping 6.08 in 15 innings of labor whereas hanging out simply 13.6% of batters confronted, strolling an elevated 9.1%, and producing groundballs simply 38.1% of the time. As soon as Ramirez is formally DFA’d, the Rays may have one week to both commerce Ramirez or try and go him by waivers, though the righty has greater than sufficient service time to reject outright waivers and take a look at free company ought to he go unclaimed.
