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For the past two nights the Rays have shut down the Yankees from the second inning onward, en route to victories. Tonight they'll send embattled pitcher, Erasmo Ramirez to the mound to face off against Chase Whitley. After having a couple of disastrous outings to begin his tenure with the Rays, Ramirez has settled down in relief and has only allowed three runs in 16 innings since then.
Ramirez has yet to go more than four innings this year, so expect Andrew Bellatti and/or Matt Andriese to make appearances in this game.
After being drafted in 2010, Whitley made his major league debut last May with New York. He made 12 starts, but struggled to be consistent and was eventually moved to the bullpen. This year, with injuries hampering the Yankees rotation, he has again been moved to a starting role.
Whitley made his season debut against the Rays back on April 28th and he picked up the victory by throwing five innings of one run ball. His followup start was just as good as threw seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays. But, this past start he struggled as he allowed five runs in a little over five innings pitched.
Lineups:
Yankees:
Yankees lineup at Rays: Ellsbury cf Gardner lf Rodriguez dh Teixeira 1b McCann c Young rf Headley 3b Gregorius ss Pirela 2b Whitley p
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) May 14, 2015
Rays:
#Rays lineup in series finale: Kiermaier CF, Souza Jr. RF, Longoria 3B, Loney 1B, Forsythe 2B, DeJesus LF, Cabrera SS, Butler DH, Rivera C
— Matt Stein (@MattSteinSTF) May 14, 2015
Kevin Kiermaier is in center and leading off, while the rest of the order is the same as usual, but with THE Joey Butler getting another start as the DH.
Chase Whitley Scouting Report:
Whitley can throw five pitches: a fastball (20%) and sinker (23%) in the low 90's, a slider (25%) and change (23%) in the low 80's, and a curve (10%) in the high 70's. So far this year, Whitley has done a very good job of equally mixing his arsenal.
Whitley uses his fastball and sinker sporadically around the zone, no matter what side of the plate the batter is on. He uses his slider and curve either to backdoor lefties or to sweep along the bottom of the zone, while to righties he isn't afraid to throw anywhere. With his change he throws it strictly down in the zone to lefties and he comes inside to righties. There's some trends, but nothing explicit.
So far this year, Whitley has a 21.1 K% and 4.0 BB%, while he's been generally a groundball pitcher, having produced one 53% of the time. Not bad. Line drives are at 11% and flyballs 36%.
Other Rays News:
- Alex Cobb underwent his Tommy John surgery today. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery
#Rays Alex Cobb underwent successful Tommy John surgery in Pensacola, Florida today by Dr. James Andrews.
— Matt Stein (@MattSteinSTF) May 14, 2015
Best wishes to @Acobb53 who is undergoing Tommy John surgery today. We love you and can't wait to have you back.
— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher42) May 14, 2015
- Matt Moore is getting closer to returning
#Rays LHP Matt Moore is scheduled to throw a simulated game in Port Charlotte on Monday. Could progress to rehab assignment soon after.
— Josh Vitale (@JoshVitale) May 14, 2015
- May 14 in Rays history
- 2005, Rob Bell is placed on the disabled list due to severe anxiety attacks