Rays to debut top prospect Shane Baz on Monday

Top Rays prospect Shane Baz will make his major-league debut on Monday against the Blue Jays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Baz was the third piece acquired along with Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow from the Pirates in the now infamous Chris Archer trade. The 22-year-old’s stock has risen since the trade, although the former first rounder has always shown tremendous promise.

In the Tampa development engine, however, he has become a refined starting prospect at the top of an impressive farm system. He was the Rays’ top prospect on Baseball America’s midseason report, and he’s the top prospect by MLB.com’s rendering as well. Baz won a silver medal alongside current Ray David Robertson while with Team USA at the Olympics in Japan.

Baz is not currently on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary, and for what it’s worth, he is not eligible for the postseason roster. In light of that, this outing is most likely just a spot start, although he could theoretically be added to the postseason roster through a petition to the commissioner’s office as an injury replacement. That process has often been exploited in the past, and the Rays have shown a willingness to throw young hurlers into the postseason fire (see McClanahan, Shane).

Besides, while the Rays own the best record in the American League, they have perhaps the most dynamic pitching staff. Practically speaking, it’s entirely unclear who might get the ball in a potential opening round playoff series, so there is at least theoretically the possibility that Baz could earn a spot. Because playoff roster changes cannot be made mid-series, the only opening he could likely snag would be as a starter. Best case, he could make maybe three starts before the year is out – if the Rays view this promotion as an actual audition for playoff baseball.

Nevertheless, Baz has dominated the upper levels of the minors this season. He made seven starts in Double-A with a 2.84 ERA, striking out 49 in 32 2/3 innings. After earning the promotion to Triple-A, Baz went back to work with a 1.76 ERA over 10 starts totaling 46 innings with a 64-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those eye-popping numbers certainly must make the Rays consider giving him an opportunity to help the parent club right now.

McClanahan is the only sure thing to be in the playoff rotation right now, and he’s currently on the injured list. Drew Rasmussen is making a strong push to be a postseason starter as well, having not allowed more than one earned run in any of his past six starts since joining the rotation. Ryan Yarbrough, Michael Wacha and Luis Patino round out the rotation for now, although the Rays are likely to use at least one rotation spot (and maybe more) for bullpen days come the postseason.