Rays Have Familiar Relief Pitcher Reemerging in Bullpen

If you call yourself a Tampa Bay historian, you may remember Sulser from the dusty trade records of 2018. Yandy Diaz had just been acquired from Cleveland for star first base prospect Jake Bauers.

It was a monumental trade in Rays history, as they netted their now grizzled veteran and fan favorite slugger. But underneath in fine print was Sulser, who had been acquired along with Diaz like a footnote.

Sulser would throw some inconsequential innings for Tampa Bay, find a home on a rebuilding Baltimore Orioles club, and then bounce around the league as most relievers inevitably do.

In 2024, though, he ended up back with the team with which he debuted. The Rays have used him in an innings mop-up role in that time before they realized the innings he was mopping were pretty darn good.

It’s only 34.1 very good innings across two seasons, yet he’s slowly but surely carving out more of a regular role in the pen. The tools he works with are simple.

Cole Sulser finding success with one remarkable pitch

A fastball and changeup, with a weak cutter to keep hitters off balance. The adjustments he’s made with the usage of those pitches since rejoining Tampa Bay reflect the vision they have for him going forward.

Mainly, it’s been getting him to throw the changeup at as high a clip as possible. Sulser’s changeup is quietly one of the most elite pitches in the game.

The eye test backs it up as announcers are flummoxed at how “the bottom fell out of that one” when he makes hitters look silly on swings and misses. Statistically, the pitch is also quite amazing.

Even though there are only 151 changeups from last season to analyze, the quality of them merits discussion. The two most startling metrics are the 34.6% whiff rate and the .172 expected batting average against it.

To contextualize those numbers, let’s compare them to perhaps the most elite changeup artist reliever in baseball, Devin Williams. His 2025 changeup rocked a 37.3% whiff rate and a .208 expected batting average, and Sulser’s numbers are right in that neighborhood.

What Tampa Bay most likely intends for Sulser is to go the Williams route and make him a true changeup thrower. If he can throw a near-elite pitch at a high rate, Sulser has an out pitch to effectively deal with both strong righties and lefties.

Still, Sulser is not airbending with his changeup and defying the laws of gravity. Merely, here’s a pitcher that the Rays can deploy to throw a plus pitch that is strong at inducing swing and miss as well as soft contact.

While far from the strongest reliever in the Rays’ pen, Sulser has the stuff and track record to aim for 60 innings of 3.20 ERA baseball with a WAR around 1. That is a pitcher any team would love to have.

The Rays have liked what Sulser offers since they traded for him eight years ago. Now, at 36 years old, he has the chance to cement himself as a bullpen regular with a changeup that will carry him far.