Rays Select Jake Woodford

The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Jake Woodford. Fellow righty Mason Englert has been optioned to Triple-A Durham as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man had a vacancy but is now full.

Woodford is still in his 20s, as he turns 30 next month, but is nonetheless a veteran journeyman at this point. Over the past few years, he has bounced from the Cardinals to the White Sox, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Cubs and now the Rays.

He doesn’t strike many guys out but he fills up the strike zone and can get some grounders, allowing him to be deployed as a serviceable swingman. The overall results aren’t great but he can chew up some innings when a club wants to spare other pitchers. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has made 64 appearances, logging 145 1/3 innings with a 6.87 earned run average, 14.7% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 43.5% ground ball rate.

For Tampa, they appear to be monitoring the workloads of their pitchers for the playoffs. Ian Seymour was scheduled to start yesterday’s game. Instead, the Rays recalled Englert to start, optioning Alex Cook as the corresponding move. Englert allowed eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, throwing 86 pitches in the process. He wasn’t going to be available for the next few days and wasn’t going to be in consideration for a postseason roster spot, so he has been sent down.

Woodford gives the Rays a fresh arm and one capable of eating multiple innings. He signed a minor league deal with Tampa in August after losing his roster spot with the Cubs. Since then, Woodford has made seven starts for Triple-A Durham with a 4.25 ERA. His last outing was a week ago when he went five innings.

The Rays have Seymour, Freddy Peralta and Griffin Jax listed as their starters for the next three games and TBD on Sunday. Since the club has already clinched the top spot in the American League and a bye through the Wild Card round, they don’t need to push their pitchers beyond whatever they think is best for preparing them for the ALDS. At some point, Woodford could be thrown in there while other guys sit down. Woodford is out of options and would need to be bumped off the 40-man if the Rays want to get another fresh arm in at some point.