Tampa Bay Rays Sign Contract with Under-the-Radar Japanese Pitcher

The Tampa Bay Rays, desperate for some starting pitching help, have signed Japanese right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa to a minor league deal.

The following update comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:

Uwasawa signed a minor-league deal with the Rays on Thursday, which includes an invitation to spring training.

ANALYSIS
Uwasawa pitched for the Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2023, and he maintained an impressive 2.96 ERA across 170 innings. However, his ceiling is questionable, as he also managed only 124 strikeouts in that same span. His landing spot is intriguing as the Rays have regularly found ways to unlock the most from pitchers on their roster, so his progress during spring training will be worth monitoring.

Now, there's no guarantee as to what his role will be moving forward, but there's certainly opportunity available. The Rays will miss Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen for all or part of the 2024 season because of injury, and recently traded away Tyler Glasnow.

As of now, the team has Zack Eflin, Taj Bradley, Aaron Civale, Shane Baz, Zack Littell and Ryan Pepiot as rotation options, but Uwasawa certainly can potentially win a spot there.

The Rays won 99 games last season and finished second in the American League East. They were eliminated in the playoffs by the Texas Rangers in the wild card round as the Rangers went onto win the World Series.

With the pitching questions, and the questions surrounding the future availability of star Wander Franco, the Rays look like a team primed for regression next year.

Spring training begins in just over one month.