Tampa Bay Rays: 3 players who need to step up in Jeffrey Springs' absence

Josh Fleming

Fleming is another guy who has been extremely versatile for the Rays since he broke into the league back in 2020. A left-handed pitcher, Fleming had a solid 32 inning-showing that year and had a 2.78 ERA with a 148 ERA+, emerging as a potential building block arm for the club.

Instead, he has regressed rather heavily for this team. In 2021, he had a 5.09 ERA and 4.27 FIP in 26 games, losing touch on his strikeout ability (5.6 SO/9 compared to 7.0 the year before) and allowing walks at a more frequent rate (2.7 BB/9 compared to 1.9 in 2020).

A common theme for Fleming's big league career has been him not necessarily taking full advantage of the opportunities he's given. Ever since that strong 2020 showing, he's been well below-league average and has been a shell of the pitcher he was just a few years ago.

Fleming is another guy who has filled every role the Rays have needed over the years, even if the results haven't quite been there. He's been a starter, he's been an opener, he's been a follower, he's even earned a save, you name it. However, he will need to turn things around and step up now that one of his teammates on the pitching staff has gone down.

To begin the current season, the 26-year-old has three appearances and 10.1 innings under his belt. In that time, he's allowed seven earned runs on 14 hits and walked five batters. He relies heavily on inducing groundball outs - a trait the Rays have been known to love over the years - but needs to get a handle on his control and limit baserunners at a more efficient rate if he is to stick around.

Taj Bradley

Bradley has done everything right in his efforts to grab hold of a spot in the Rays' starting rotation so far. After being recalled and making the start in Tuesday's game, he did more than enough to warrant his long-term inclusion in this starting rotation.

Entering the year as the No. 18 prospect in baseball (per MLB's pre-season rankings), Bradley has been highly impressive through two starts. In his big league debut against the Red Sox, he went five innings and struck out eight batters. On Tuesday aginst the Reds, he went 5.1 innings and struck out nine.

Ever since he found his footing on his journey to the big leagues, it's been apparent that one day Bradley would be a major weapon for this Rays team. In 2021, he made 23 appearances and had a shocking 1.83 ERA with 123 strikeouts in 103 innings. He following this up with 28 starts and a 2.57 ERA last year.

Here we are in 2023 and the 22-year-old is up in the big leagues. His promotion was more about how exceptionally he was pitching in the minors than a lack of depth elsewhere on the Rays' pitching staff. Now that he's here, expect him to be the third cog in a lethal trio alongside Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen.