Rays Colored Glasses
Fansided

Former Rays left-handed starter signs minor league deal with Mariners

Josh Fleming was never the hard-throwing lefty that the Rays have been known for over the past 15 years (David Price, Blake Snell, Shane McClanahan), but he had his own specialties.

ByCarter Brantley|
Mar 11, 2023; Jupiter, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Josh Fleming (19) and catcher Rene Pinto (50) talk before the game against he Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Mar 11, 2023; Jupiter, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Josh Fleming (19) and catcher Rene Pinto (50) talk before the game against he Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

Josh Fleming; there's a blast from the past.

He's been around for a few years now, first arriving in the majors with the Rays in 2020, and then making his MLB debut during the shortened season.

He hung around for three more years in the Rays organization, bouncing from Triple-A to the majors, and unfortunately ending up on the 60-day IL in 2023, then being sent outright to Durham after a brief return stint to the big leagues.

The soft-tossing lefty was then claimed by the Phillies, but wasn't tendered a contract and signed with the Pirates instead for the 2024 season.

Now, after going back and forth from Triple-A and Pittsburgh in 2024 and being designated for assignment in late July, he's signed a minor-league deal with the Mariners.

Fleming has an interesting repertoire of pitches, leaning mostly on a sinker, changeup, and cutter with an occasional curveball he threw only 6% of the time with the Pirates.

Fleming's calling card has never been missing bats, as he mostly gets outs by getting chases that lead to weak contact or pounding the strike zone to put his defense to work.

His peak so far was arguably his 2021 performance, as he posted a 0.6 fWAR and managed to have a solid FIP of 4.36 over 26 games and 11 starts.

His current stuff is based mostly around his sinker and changeup, a departure from his dependence on his cutter over the first few years of his career.

It'll be interesting to see if the Mariners help Fleming return to that form by reinforcing the use of that cutter, as the pitch was far better than his sinker and changeup according to the Stuff+ metric.

With Seattle's starting rotation mostly intact barring any offseason trades, Fleming's potential path to the majors would likely include some sort of long-relief role in the bullpen. Although with their elite ability to develop pitching, they could have something completely unforeseen in store for the former Ray,

Unfortunately with his lack of velocity, a role as a short-inning high-leverage arm wouldn't appear to be in his future, but crazier things have happened, as perhaps his change-of-pace style would work well with the other filthier arms the Mariners have in the pen.

Either way, Fleming is a name to watch for Rays fans interested in where former players end up in their baseball careers, for better or for worse.

Home/Rays News

Schedule