Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Luis and Louis make impressive debuts in Rays loss

Rays News

Can I be honest? I have lost track of which pitchers have been called up from the alternate site as other pitchers have gone on the IL. And by the way I did some quick math — Rays lead the league with 14 pitchers on the IL; Houston and Toronto are not far behind, but most teams have just 4-7 injured pitchers right now.

But I do know that Brent Honeywell was sent down after Saturday’s game, and Louis Head and Luis Patiño both joined the major league club for the weekend (and beyond?) Both have good stories.

Head got his first major league call-up — on his 31st birthday. We can never have too many “player endures many frustrating years in the minors, considers giving up on baseball dream, gets unexpected call up to the majors” stories. ($)

And in “just happy to be here” moments, here are Head and his wife snapping a photo on the field after Saturday’s game:

Head got into the game on Sunday, pitching a clean inning.

Luis Patiño had made his MLB debut with San Diego last year, but the 21 year old had never pitched in front of his parents (who were able to make the trip from Colombia). He pitched 2.2 “electric” innings:

Here’s some analysis of his arsenal and changes he may have made since joining the Rays:

And here’s a fun fact likely to make some of us feel old:

Those crazy catwalks! How can you not love the Trop — with some good Brian Anderson insights ($).

I did not realize that Friday was proclaimed an official regional “Champions Day”:

Stadium updates: It’s not even clear whether the Rays will stay in St. Pete, but already there are worries about whether a new stadium will have....sufficient parking! Stadiums as little islands surrounded by a sea of asphalt has thankfully gone out of favor. As my fellow anti-parking urbanist Allen Iverson so eloquently put it:

Around the League

Kim Ng’s hiring represents a new level of success for women in the MLB, but barriers remain.

A couple of useful explainers. First, unhappy with the change of All Star Game venue some members of Congress have threatened to remove baseball’s partial exemption to anti-trust regulations. What does that mean exactly? Even Deilich explains why the implications would be greatest for minor league teams and players ($)

Next, Andrea Arcadipane‘s video explains something I never quite understood: minor league options.

Nice catch!

I would not have assumed that Trevor Bauer would be on team “let the kids play” but apparently he thinks celebrations are just fine.

Small sample sizes of course, but 538 doesn’t find that players who opted out in 2020 are struggling thus far in 2021.

Also small sample size, but here’s a look at bullpen usage (and how rule changes might impact bullpen usage).

Here’s a good overview of the Rays next opponents, the Oakland Athletics ($).

And we’ll close with the very talented Tricia Whitaker: