Rays pitching staff gives reason for hope with hot start

An important reminder for any Rays fans that are freaking out and deciding to abandon all hope for the 2025 season: it's still April.

No, it's still before April 15th!

There's plenty of time left, and despite a very discouraging and frustrating sweep suffered at the hands of those pesky Texas Rangers, the Rays are only a game under .500 and have plenty of time to figure things out and come away with a solid season.

One big reason for hope in Rays world, if you want to play a bit of narrative ball with a 9-game sample size?

The pitching has been outstanding.

The Rays have the lowest wOBA in baseball allowed by their pitching staff, despite getting subpar framing results from Danny Jansen and Ben Rortvedt behind the dish, as they haven't cracked 40% in their frame rate through seven of their first nine games.

Their pitching staff also leads baseball in FIP, and is 4th in fWAR.

The majority of their value has come from their starters, as their bullpen "drops" to 6th in FIP, but the starting staff leads MLB in that category.

Both the starters and bullpen are 6th in K/9, but the 'pen leads MLB in BB/9 and the starting pitchers are 3rd in that same category.

The bullpen also has enough stuff to be among the best in baseball, with nasty pitchers like Mason Montgomery and Edwin Uceta helping contribute to the Rays' leading all relief staffs in Stuff+.

Barrel % has also been excellent for the Rays on the mound in general, as the staff as a whole ranks 8th in the lowest allowed for said metric.

Overall, the Rays are doing what they always do; limiting walks, getting strikeouts, and not allowing a whole lot of hard contact.

They also have one of the highest chase rates in baseball, putting a lot of that great stuff to good use and getting hitters to swing at a lot of pitches they shouldn't.

Their whiff rate is only 10th highest in baseball, but with their solid defense of Jonny DeLuca and Taylor Walls up the middle contributes to a lot of balls in play being converted into outs.

So while the offense continues to be a bit of a letdown compared to preseason expectations due to some hard luck, the pitching staff reminds us that the Rays have a whole lot to be excited about as 2025 continues to progress.