Tampa Bay Rays promote Blake Snell and Adam Kolarek, option Jose Alvarado and Austin Pruitt

Following last night’s victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Rays announced a small flurry of roster moves.

The one we knew was coming was the promotion of Blake Snell, whom the team announced would be starting tonight’s game on Sunday. But the team also selected the contract of left-handed reliever, Adam Kolarek from Triple-A Durham and they have optioned Austin Pruitt and Jose Alvarado to the minors. To make a spot on the 40-man roster, the Rays transferred Kevin Kiermaier to the 60-day DL.

Blake Snell is on his way back after an early season demotion to Durham. During his brief stint in the majors up to that point, Snell showed he could be effective at times, but would lose command and struggled to pitch deeply into games. Since his demotion however, he has been fantastic, warranting his promotion back to the majors.

Adam Kolarek was originally an 11th round pick by the New York Mets in the 2010 draft, he spent six years in that organization before parting ways and eventually joining the Rays last season. For the Rays, he has split time between the Montgomery Biscuits and Durham Bulls, showing an ability induce a significant number of groundballs. This is his first major league call-up.

Jose Alvarado received a surprising promotion straight from Montgomery back in early May, and during his first few outings, he became one of the best arms the Rays had in the bullpen. However, he has struggled as of late, so the team is sending down to Durham to hopefully iron some issues out.