Tampa Bay Rays: Sean Gilmartin an intriguing name in the 60-man pool

The Tampa Bay Rays have announced their list of 60 players that will be available for use during the 60-game season. We take a look at one of the intriguing names buried on the list.

Tampa Bay Rays: Today, we are going to look at some of the lesser-known names on the list that could end up being surprise contributors to the big-league club.

Tampa Bay Rays – Sean Gilmartin, SP

While the Rays are packed to the gills with pitching, Sean Gilmartin is still an interesting talent to have buried on the 60-man player pool.

Keep in mind, earlier I said that these names could end up being a surprise contributor, with “surprise” being the keyword.

We don’t know what will befall players in such a wacky season. Injuries galore due to inadequate time to get ready? More small injuries due to the number of games being played in a small amount of time? God forbid, a viral outbreak?

This is more about lesser-known players like Sean Gilmartin that could do something when given an opportunity.

Gilmartin is a former first-round draft pick. He was taken with the 28th-overall pick of the 2011 draft by the Atlanta Braves. He was thrust right into Double-A in his first full professional season and showed great control, earning a promotion to AAA-Gwinnett in that same 2012at age 22.

He’s never been a strikeout artist but he has shown very good control over his eight minor-league seasons, walking just 2.6 batters per nine.

He never lived up to the hype as a first-round pick in the minors but he has put some solid major-league numbers together in parts of five seasons.

The 30-year-old has pitched in 107.2 major-league innings while allowing a respectable 4.18 ERA. Over that time he has walked 3.3 batters per nine and struck out 7.1 batters per nine.

When he debuted in 2015 with the Mets he boasted a slider that had vertical movement 2.7 inches better than average with a 14.1-inch horizontal movement which was good for an elite 8.9 inches better than average.

This past season with the Orioles, his slider registered at 14.4 inches of horizontal movement.

That was his only year in the red on Baseball Savant. After bouncing around between the Braves, Twins, Mets, Cardinals, and the Orioles, this could be Gilmartin’s last chance to make an impression at the major-league level.

He’s an interesting name to watch on the list.