Rays place pitchers Baz, Bradley on IL to open regular season
Published
The Tampa Bay Rays have placed pitchers Shane Baz and Taj Bradley on the 15-day Injured List, the team announced on Tuesday.
The Rays are slated to kick off their season on Thursday, when they host the Toronto Blue Jays.
Baz, 24, is dealing with an oblique strain as well as a right elbow injury, per Ryan Bass of Bally Sports Sun. The youngster was not slated to open the season on the active roster, as he is still working back from Tommy John surgery in September of 2022.
Once ranked as high as eighth on the MLB Pipeline top prospects list ahead of the 2022 season, Baz has pitched in nine major league games with an earned runs average of 4.02.
Bradley, 23, has a pectoral injury he suffered during Spring Training. The team announced he would be shut down from throwing for two weeks on March 13, so the trip to the IL was expected.
Bradley made his MLB debut last year for the Rays, pitching to a 5.59 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 104.2 innings.
Zach Eflin is scheduled to get the start for their season opener against Toronto, with Aaron Civale and Zack Littell scheduled to follow. The team has not named a starter for their fourth game against Toronto.