Erik Neander gives an update on Brent Honeywell, Anthony Banda, and Jose De Leon

Erik Neander, the Tampa Bay Rays Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, went on WDAE this morning and spoke about several Rays topics.

Among those was the recovery of the Rays pitching prospects who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and are currently rehabbing: Brent Honeywell, Jose De Leon, and Anthony Banda.

Neander said all three are progressing as expected and haven’t suffered any setbacks.

Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon both underwent the knife around the same time and are on schedule in terms of their rehab. Both have recently begun throwing off the mound for the first time since having the surgery performed.

With a normal expected recovery time, “the average pitcher returns to game action 12-16 months following surgery but that time varies greatly by individual,” per MLB. A conservative timeline puts both players in line to return to pitching somewhere in the June-August time frame, as Honeywell had surgery at the end of February, and De Leon in mid-March.

Anthony Banda, who pitched in a couple of game for the Rays in April, had the surgery performed in May so his timeline is a bit behind the other two. If he pitches for the Rays in 2019, it may just depend on where they are in the playoff hunt as he likely won’t be ready until September.

The full interview with Neander, in which he also addresses Tommy Pham’s recent fanbase comments, can be found here.