Rasmussen's seamless transition to rotation 'speaks for itself'

PHOENIX -- It isn’t this easy. Drew Rasmussen is just making it look that way.

Nearly 15 months passed between his last Major League start on May 11, 2023, and his return to the Rays as a reliever on Aug. 7, 2024. He spent that time recovering from his third major elbow surgery, a trio that not many pitchers come back from.

Nearly two years passed between his last start at Yankee Stadium and his first outing back in Tampa Bay’s rotation at George M. Steinbrenner Field on March 31. This past winter, the 29-year-old right-hander decided his best path forward was in Tampa Bay’s rotation, so he prepared his body for another season as a starter.

Life in the rotation clearly suits the thoughtful, hard-working Rasmussen.

“So much nicer. What those guys do in the 'pen, it’s incredible. It is stressful,” he said, smiling. “Instead of just doing everything you can just to have your body prepared, you actually get the opportunity to prepare in different ways [as a starter] and in ways that I think are more suitable to my personality.”

The early returns couldn’t be much better. In 20 2/3 innings over his first four starts, Rasmussen has allowed only two runs on 12 hits (all singles) and five walks while striking out 22. That’s good for a 0.87 ERA, fourth-best in the Majors among pitchers who have worked at least 20 innings.

“We were confident that that was going to be the transition -- not [that it would be] seamless, but it felt like he was very motivated and driven to be a starter,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We certainly supported that. The build-up has been very, very consistent.”

So have Rasmussen’s stuff and command.

The average velocity readings on all his pitches are almost perfectly in line with where they stood when he started for the Rays from 2022-23, with all five offerings -- four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter, sweeper, curveball -- clocking in above 81 mph. And he combines that power with a relentless commitment to the strike zone that leaves him frustrated by each of his rare walks.

“You do not find that combination of precision, and throwing the ball where it belongs almost uncannily, then also being able to out-power and out-stuff hitters,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said.

The Rays have been mindful of Rasmussen’s workload in the early going, limiting him to five innings in each of his first three outings with respect to his injury history and prior innings totals. He was so efficient and effective against the Yankees on Friday that, with an extra day of rest on either side of the start, they let him pitch into the sixth for the first time since his final outing of 2023.

And Rasmussen has learned the difference between working harder and working smarter.

He’s always been lauded for his work ethic, with fellow starter Shane Baz calling him “a good example for younger guys” and someone who “just does everything the right way.” But this time around, he’s keeping himself in check between outings, picking and choosing when he can give his body days off.

He used to throw more often -- “just to appease my mind more than anything,” he noted -- but now he’s implemented more drills to work through the same routines without the physical stress of having a ball in his hand.

“I used to do more for the sake of doing more,” Rasmussen said. “In all honesty, it was probably good for me to go back into the bullpen [late last season] and just understand, 'Hey, what exactly do I need today to be ready to throw today or tomorrow?' and just taste that again and have an understanding that doing more for the sake of doing more is not always a good thing.”

Beyond that, Rasmussen is still ideally suited to the schedule of a starting pitcher.

Last Saturday, he was getting ready to reevaluate his most recent outing -- what went well, what went wrong, what he can work on in his between-starts bullpen session. On Sunday, he was already starting to formulate a game plan for Thursday’s start against the D-backs.

“Just the preparedness -- he's hard-working and smart about a lot of the things that he does between outings,” Snyder said. “His 'I'm gonna put my head down and I'm gonna be the best post starting pitcher I can be,' it's been on display. He manages himself well.

“What he's done speaks for itself.”