How Rays' waiver claim reached rotation

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG -- A little less than four months ago, Zack Littell was evaluating his options. The 27-year-old right-hander was traded from Texas to Boston on May 5 and called up to the Majors a day later. But he knew his stay with the Red Sox would be short, and it was.

Four days and two relief appearances later, Littell hit the waiver wire when the Red Sox designated him for assignment. He went home to North Carolina, just outside Durham, and waited for word from his agent regarding his uncertain future. When he didn’t hear anything for a few days, he figured nothing came together and started scanning organizational rosters to find a potential fit.

Then came the call: The Rays, the best team in baseball at that time, claimed him on waivers.

“Pretty shocked by it, obviously,” Littell recalled last week. “The whole year has kind of played out just better than I could have ever imagined. Obviously very happy to be here.”

Consider: 28 other teams had to pass on Littell for him to reach the Rays on waivers. Now here he is, pitching crucial innings as a starter for a Tampa Bay club that’s all but certainly bound for the postseason.

He’s not just a good story, though. He’s been a valuable contributor. In 10 outings since officially joining the rotation, Littell has posted a 3.63 ERA, and he’s worked at least five innings in seven of his last eight starts.

“There's a lot of really important people here. You can probably put him at the top of the list for the innings that he's provided, the way that he has just continued to make progress,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He's kind of been like a book of consistency with the five, six innings of work, pretty efficient, limits runs, gives our offense a chance to win games.”

Nobody could have predicted that Littell would play such a pivotal role for the Rays, much less that he would pitch as brilliantly as he did in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Mariners at Tropicana Field. His path to this point is remarkably rare.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a pitcher was claimed off waivers during a season then made at least 10 regular-season starts for the team that claimed him and that team made the postseason: 2017, when the Red Sox landed Doug Fister on waivers from the Angels in June and he made 15 starts the rest of the way.

The only other times that has happened since at least 2010? Travis Blackley with the 2012 A’s (15 starts after being acquired from the Giants that May) and Littell, who has started 11 games for the Rays. It’s one thing for a reliever to slip through the cracks and revitalize his career; this just doesn’t happen often with starting pitchers, much less on contending teams.

“I joke about that a lot with people: If you'd have told me this in the offseason -- 'Hey, you're gonna be a starter for a contender in September' -- I'd be like, 'All right. I'm gonna retire first,’” Littell said. “It's been pretty fun. I just can't think of a better situation to come and do it in, either, with the resources that Tampa [Bay] has and pitch development and then even the staff around me, just learning from those guys.”

The Rays, who guided Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs from the bullpen to the rotation in previous years, have helped Littell make a few adjustments as he's become a starter. They recommended shifting to the first-base side of the rubber and expanded his arsenal by developing a new sweeper and sinker to complement his fastball, slider, splitter and overall strike-throwing.

But they have mostly marveled at how seamlessly and successfully he has handled this transition.

“He's been an amazing starter,” catcher Christian Bethancourt said. “He was kind of filling in spots and throwing whenever we needed [him] to, and now he's one of our main guys.”

Feels like it’s all happened in a hurry, right?

“Obviously super happy,” Littell said, pausing and grinning. “If I didn’t say that already.”