Ian Malinowski

Aug 20, 2024 | draysbay.com | Daniel Vonderwalde |Ian Malinowski

Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Rays entered the second half of the season with plenty of unanswered questions, but bullpen depth was not one of them. Tampa Bay has consistently produced quality pitchers, and this year was no exception. They had signed Uceta to a minor league contract with a plan for how he could take the next step as a pitcher. And when the Rays first called Edwin Uceta’s number on May 6th, he was ready.

Aug 6, 2024 | draysbay.com | Ian Malinowski

Joel Angel Juarez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK The first thing to understand about Brody Hopkins, who was traded to the Rays along with outfield prospect Aidan Smith and a PTBNL for star outfielder Randy Arozarena, is that he is an athlete. An outfielder and pitcher in college, he only concentrated fully on pitching in his final year at Winthrop. He is broad and long at 6’4”, and his pitching motion is explosive. His fastball can reach the upper 90s. New threads, same results.

Apr 8, 2024 | draysbay.com | Ian Malinowski

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports This early in the baseball season, it’s still foolish to find much meaning in results, be that statistics or precise pitch measurements. But generally speaking we can look at the pitch tracking data and see what’s new — what are pitchers trying to do in 2024? Last week we looked at Aaron Civale, Tyler Alexander, and Garrett Cleavinger had all added sweepers to their repertoire.

Apr 3, 2024 | draysbay.com | Ian Malinowski

Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports There aren’t many conditions one can draw this early in the season. Baseball is a noisy, random sport. But one of the data sources that we can trust is the pitch tracking. Not the precise measurements themselves — magnitude of movement can be misleading because of calibration issues in the Hawkeye equipment, and pitchers are often down a MPH or so in the early season anyway — but rather the general shape of pitches. Who's throwing what?

Sep 21, 2023 | draysbay.com | Elizabeth Strom |Ian Malinowski |Jared Ward |Daniel Russell

For many of us, the Stadium Saga has, like a baseball season, seemed to go on forever with some wonderful highs and some disappointing lows. The high points included the so-called “sail stadium,” and while we still wonder how that would have felt on an August afternoon there is no doubt the design was intriguing, and the location was breathtaking. The low point: it’s got to be the time the team tried to strong-arm us into a throuple, right?