Who’s Going To Round Out This Rays Rotation?

The top of this Tampa Bay Rays rotation is relatively set.

Drew Rasmussen, coming off an elite 2025 season, is their Opening Day starter.

Ryan Pepiot is a solidified number two.

If healthy, Shane McClanahan could be a very good third member of this staff.

But the bottom two spots are very much up for grabs.

Especially if McClanahan is unable to accumulate as many innings coming off a lot of major injuries, these pitchers will be imperative to the Rays’ success in 2026.

Who are these pitchers that could fill out the Rays’ rotation?

What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Here are a few of the possible answers, starting with the two free agent acquisitions in the offseason.

Nick Martinez

The biggest thing that stands out when looking at Nick Martinez and his arsenal is just how many pitches he throws.

He’s got six of them, with all being used in the double-digits in terms of usage rates.

The Rays could approach this as a problem or a good thing.

If he’s used more as a starter/bulk guy like he was last year, when he racked up over 160 innings, those pitches could come in handy.

If he’s utilized more in short bursts, the Rays may want to consolidate a few of those offerings.

Then they can make those pitches even better using their usual sorcery.

Three of the offerings he used the most often were his cutter, 4-seam, and changeup.

The changeup graded out the best on Stuff+ with a 112 mark.

As an overall pitcher, he’s very on-brand for the Rays.

He fills up the zone with an excellent 6.1% walk rate.

His ability to avoid solid contact was among the best in the game, with a 90th percentile hard-hit rate.

The struggles were mostly with the righty hurler’s ability to get whiffs and chases, neither of which was his strong suit in 2025.

But his 58-degree arm angle is an interesting change of pace, especially compared to this next guy.

Steven Matz

Both Steven Matz and the previously mentioned Martinez could easily serve as relievers at some point during this season.

With Matz being a lefty and having a 34-degree arm angle, he could be a fascinating change-of-pace arm when paired with Martinez.

Matz also has a very different arsenal, with a sinker-curve combination that makes up 80% of his pitches thrown.

He served mostly as a reliever last year, appearing in 53 games but only starting a couple.

2023 was the last time the veteran lefty cracked triple-digit innings, and at age 34, those days might be behind him.

But Matz can still hold quite a bit of value with his sinker, as he posted a +8 run value with the pitch in 2025.

He, like Martinez, also managed to limit the walks at an incredible rate (3.6% to be exact) and induce plenty of grounders with that sinker.

His ground ball rate was at the 76th percentile for the majors in 2025.

Matz could easily be a very good bulk man.

His ability to get outs in a different way than many of the other arms on this staff makes for an interesting chess piece for Kevin Cash.

Joe Boyle

Joe Boyle possesses the highest ceiling of anyone on this list.

While he’s already 26 and going to turn 27 in August, his upside is massive.

He has a height at 6’8″.

He comes at hitters with a 98+ MPH fastball and a breaking pitch that grades out at a 128 on Stuff+.

But he can be snake-bitten by the walk, as he struggled both in AAA and during his brief time with the big club last year.

That was to be expected, as he’s been a noted wild pitcher from his time with the Athletics.

But the whiff rates and quality of contact allowed in AAA were still mind-boggling.

He generated misses on 40.5% of his pitches and had a .258 xwOBA for the season with the Durham Bulls.

If Boyle can figure out how to remain in the strike zone, he could be not only great in 2026 but a mainstay for the Rays for years to come.

Ian Seymour

Everything about Joe Boyle, Ian Seymour is sort of the opposite.

Playing into more of the narrative that the Rays love to throw a bunch of different arms at teams, Seymour is more of a soft-tossing lefty.

Seymour didn’t generate quite the whiffs that Boyle did last season.

But, even so, it was still quite good, as it was in the 80th percentile in AAA last year.

The difference is that he did so while posting a 5.6% walk rate.

He did so with twice as many pitches as Boyle (six compared to Boyle’s three).

The main offering of Seymour was his changeup.

That pitch lived in the lower part of the zone, with a 23.7% putaway rate.

Both his changeup and fastball were very good at limiting base hits, with neither allowing a batting average of over .230.

Seymour also threw over 130 innings across both AAA and the majors in 2025.

He’s going to be the most reliable option out of this group despite his relative inexperience.

His ability to live in the zone and post up will be invaluable, especially with McClanahan’s status up in the air.

Who’s Likely To Start the Season in the Rotation?

Along with the two (or three) mainstays, the most likely option is Martinez as a traditional starter and Matz as more of a bulk guy coming in behind an opener.

There’s a very real world where Seymour is on the roster all year to help manage McClanahan’s load.

Boyle is still a bit of a work in progress, but his talent is undeniable, and the Rays could decide to give him some runway.

As with most staffs, the Rays’ rotation will be fluid, especially as injuries inevitably pile up.