The Tampa Bay Rays have a quality starting pitching rotation, but not many so-called baseball experts are talking about young righty Taj Bradley. Skipper Kevin Cash is, though.
“He did a lot of good things,” Cash said. “I know this spring he’s motivated. He worked really hard this offseason, probably more on his pitch shapes than anything. Just finding that consistency to be able to land in the zone and getting it out of the zone when he needs to.”
Bradley went 2 1/3 strong innings against the Phillies on Monday. “I was excited, man, no nerves, just excitement,” Bradley said on Fanduel Sports. “First pitch, I amped it up a little bit. Told me back it down, we’re still in February. I was excited. All the strikes that I threw in the zone.”
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Ace lefty Shane McClanahan leads the talented arms in camp. Follow that up with righty Shane Baz. But injuries have plagued both of those starters, and it appears Bradley could be the one to count on as Mr Consistent. Cash agrees, but with trepidation.
“It kind of feels that way,” Cash said. “But the second you start doing that and thinking that, it’s a big workload for anybody that’s penciled in as one of those five starters. I think early on we will be very mindful of all of their workloads trying to keep them all healthy and all of our options healthy.”
Even though Bradley is still trying to establish himself as a quality starter in the Bigs, he’s being showered with praise because of his upside. Bradley looks at it like it’s more mental than physical at this point.
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“Just keep a level head space, ” Bradley said.”You’re going to have your ups and downs, peaks and valleys, and stuff like that. Be happy going to the field the next day. What is it? Hard times don’t last long. Yeah.”
Bradley even touched 98 miles per hour against the Phillies and debuted a new pitch, a cutter/slider. Last year, Bradley started out the season with a right pec strain. Once that healed, he threw 138 innings and is feeling strong now.
Again, it’s only February, but all signs point to Bradley having a breakout season.
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