The best and worst pitching debuts in Tampa Bay Rays history

By Adam Sanford Sep 20, 2021, 2:37pm EDT

United States v Japan - Baseball - Olympics: Day 10

In a year that’s been filled with several highly anticipated prospects receive promotions to the big leagues, the Rays are bringing yet another one of their touted prospects to the active roster as they are calling up right-handed pitcher Shane Baz to make a start on Monday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Baz was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the deal that also brought Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows to Tampa Bay and sent Chris Archer to Pittsburgh. It took a couple of weeks to find out Baz was the third player coming to the Rays in the deal, but everyone knew the Rays would be receiving one of Pittsburgh’s top prospects as the final piece of the trade; Baz was certainly a top prospect.

Entering the 2019 season, Boz would be ranked 11th in the Rays system but his status has surged within the organization since then and he now currently the team’s number one overall prospect and among the best pitching prospects in all of baseball.

As we await his Major League debut tonight, let’s look back and remember some of the greatest and not so great pitching debuts in team history. Where possible I’ve included a video recap from Youtube.

Games were ranked by Win Probability Added. Below you’ll find the five best and three worst WPA scores in franchise history.