Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training Half-Time Report Card

Tyler Glasnow

We all know Tyler Glasnow had a breakthrough, breakout, achy-breaky heart-type season in 2019. In his 12 starts of 2019, he slapped down a 1.78 ERA while striking out 76 batters in 60.2 innings. He was elite. One breakthrough he had last season was taking significant strikes in his command. Prior to 2019, he commanded his electric stuff like Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back.

Remember? There’s no doubt Luke was powerful. I mean the Force was always with him, that’s how he was able to destroy the Death Star without a targeting computer. And you know the rebellion had some awesome catering…Google “Jek Tono.”

That high-quality and unlimited catering didn’t bother Luke…Where was I? Oh, Luke had serious power with the force and self-control. You could say he had naturally electric stuff, but not great command. He struggled to hold little pebbles in the air in Empire Strikes Back while Yoda was lifting an X-Wing like Braun Strowman.

Like Luke, Glasnow gained control of his power last season. In 2016 he walked five batters per nine. In 2017, he walked 6.4 per nine. In 2018 he walked 4.3 batters per nine. Last season, that number plummeted to 2.1 free passes per nine innings.

This spring he has pitched in 2.2 innings and walked only one batter while striking out five. His curveball is disgusting and his fastball is almost invisible. In his two starts, he has been credited with two wins this spring.

While last season gave us reason to believe Glasnow could be the next Rays pitcher to find himself in the midst of a Cy Young race, it was a small sample size. His spring performance is building the hype train for 2020. All aboard for Tyler Glasnow in 2020.