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Tampa Bay Rays News: Blake Snell Officially Promoted, Souza to the DL

The Rays officially announced the promotion of Blake Snell and have placed Steven Souza Jr on the disabled list

Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The Rays finally made the move that we've known has been coming since Sunday afternoon as Blake Snell has been recalled from Triple-A Durham. Unfortunately though for the Rays, they had to place Steven Souza Jr on the disabled list with a left hip strain.

Snell has been struggling to pitch deep into games so far this year, but that's mostly attributed to his high strikeout totals. It is not clear whether or not Snell is up to stay with the team as Kevin Cash's statements regarding the future of the team's number one prospect left us with uncertainty, but I am sure glad he's up here.

Souza injured his hip on a diving catch attempt during Monday night's game. Losing his bat will be a blow to a Rays lineup that is now without three of their starting outfielders. Souza was having a streaky year for the Rays, somehow actually striking out more than he did in 2015, but also providing slightly more pop at the plate. Over the course of 232 plate appearances, Souza has hit .255/.315/.443 with 10 home runs, while also possessing a 7.3 BB% and a 35.3 K%.

Blake Snell probably would have been promoted last Friday if not for Matt Moore's performance against the Diamondbacks, in which he saved the bullpen (Matt Andriese to be exact). This is allowed the Rays to wait one more week before promoting their top prospect. So far this year in Durham, Snell is 3-5 with a 3.29 ERA and a 2.57 FIP, to go along with a 33.3% strikeout rate and a 10.4% walk rate.

IT'S SNELL DAY!