Putting a slight damper on the club's 10-0 start to the season, the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday placed right-hander Zach Eflin on the 10-day injured list with tightness in his lower back. To take Eflin's spot on the active roster and in the rotation, the Rays have called up right-hander Taj Bradley.
Eflin, 29, ended the 2022 season as a high-leverage reliever in the Phillies' bullpen and played a critical role in their surprise run to the pennant. This past offseason, Eflin inked a three-year, $40 million pact with the Rays and returned to a starting role. This season through two starts, Eflin has a 3.27 ERA and 12 strikeouts against only one walk in 11 innings. Underpinning that very early success is increased use of the cutter he introduced into his repertoire last season. For his career, he owns an ERA+ of 95 across parts of eight major-league seasons.
As for the 22-year-old Bradley, our R.J. Anderson ranked him as the Rays' No. 2 prospect coming into this season. Here's his write-up of Bradley:
"Bradley, a fifth-round pick in 2018, hails from the same Georgia high school (Redan) as former big-league hitters Brandon Phillips and Domonic Brown. He has a chance to become the school's most accomplished pitcher thanks to above-average control of two good pitches. Bradley's fastball can touch into the upper-90s and he complements it with a cutter. He'll need to continue to work on developing a third pitch, but the ever-changing demands of the position make that less pivotal than it would've been a decade or two ago. Bradley is likely to debut sometime in 2023 with a future as a mid-rotation starter within reach."
Indeed that major-league debut will come in 2023, as Bradley will make his first start in place of Eflin on Wednesday at home against the Red Sox. Prior to that promotion, Bradley had mixed results in a pair of starts for Triple-A Durham this season.
