Tampa Bay Rays Pitcher Ryan Pepiot Critical, Yet Comfortable, in Spring Training Debut

BRADENTON, Fla. — Ryan Pepiot was his own harshest critic following his first appearance of spring training.

When asked about the lone curveball he threw Friday afternoon, the Tampa Bay Rays righty didn't pull any punches.

"It wasn't good," Pepiot said. "But that's OK."

Pepiot gave up two hits – both doubles – and one earned run across 2.0 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The miscue Pepiot was most upset about, however, was the leadoff walk he issued to Tommy Pham in the first, even though he escaped the frame unscathed.

"You never want to start with that, leadoff walks are no fun," Pepiot said. "I think there's a stat where like 70% of leadoff walks score, so you never want to put yourself in a hole like that anyways, especially when I was up, first pitch strike."

In spite of the blunt self-evaluation, Pepiot said he feels comfortable with his outing overall, as well as where he is physically. He also stayed calm, cool and collected out on the mound, rather than unleashing his emotions in the form of colorful language.

"My mom's been talking to me, my wife's been talking to me, got grandpa watching games," Pepiot said. "So trying to keep it – if I say it, maybe keep my glove in front of my face. I'm working, I'm working on it. I'm trying to be a better person here."

Pepiot, who made an effort to differentiate his cutter and slider this offseason, enters 2025 as one of Tampa Bay's top starters. That's quite a departure from where Pepiot was this time last year, when he was still viewed as somewhat of a wild card with veterans like Zach Eflin and Aaron Civale slotted in above him.

Cash has said multiple times that Pepiot outperformed expectations in 2024, taking on a role that would typically be filled by a more experienced arm.

"I'm not saying that to slight him, it's just a big ask for a guy that didn't have a ton of innings – and the injuries and all that stuff – it was amazing," Cash said pregame.

Pepiot had just 78.1 MLB innings under his belt prior to last season, coming over from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the blockbuster Tyler Glasnow trade. He proceeded to go 8-8 with a 3.60 ERA, 1.154 WHIP, 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.1 WAR in 2024.

Whether it's Pepiot, Shane Baz or Taj Bradley, the Rays will start to be lean on their established pitchers far more often as the Grapefruit League progresses. The regular season is only a month out, after all, meaning it won't be long before the games count and the mistakes matter.

"Seen a bunch of guys maybe we weren't that familiar with in the first six games," Cash said. "Now, we're gonna starting seeing a little bit more frequency with guys that we are familiar with."

The Rays will return to action Saturday against the New York Mets.