The Tampa Bay Rays have been the best team in baseball for the first month and change of the MLB season, but they have had to endure a flurry of injuries to their starting rotation. Right-hander Drew Rasmussen became the latest domino to fall for the Rays after the team announced Friday that he will be placed on the 60-day IL with an elbow injury. The latest Drew Rasmussen injury update has major betting fallout, especially for rookie Taj Bradley.
Drew Rasmussen Injury Update: Betting Community Turns Attention to Taj Bradley
The Rays still have not made an announcement on who will take Rasmussen’s spot in the rotation but even if Bradley is not called up from triple-A right away, it is pretty clear that the Rays are going to need his services in order to withstand the injuries to their staff.
Taj Bradley’s rookie of the year odds (+3000 on DraftKings Sportsbook) indicate he will be a member of the Rays rotation in the near future. Those odds put Bradley behind Masataka Yoshida (+120), Josh Jung (+500), Anthony Volpe (+800), Hunter Brown (+1000), Gunnar Henderson (+1800), Yennier Cano (+1900), Bryce Miller (+2000) and Tanner Bibee (+2500). New users at DraftKings can also benefit from $150 in bet credits with any $5 wager!
It has been a very strange year for Bradley. The 22-year-old prospect impressed in a brief stint in the MLB, going 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA in over 15 innings pitched. But it has been a completely different story for Bradley at the minor league level. He has been torched over 16.0 innings at Triple-A Durham, going 1-3 with an 11.25 ERA.
Bradley is likely closer to the pitcher we have seen during his MLB time than at the Triple-A level. He had an impressive 2.57 ERA when splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A last season, and is believed to be working on his pitches and getting comfortable with a five-day rest schedule instead of six days.
Still, it’s pretty hard to fathom Bradley’s current struggles considering how much success he has had in the Rays organization over the past couple of years. There is uncertainty about what the Rays would have to see in order for Bradley to rejoin the big league staff. But while the Drew Rasmussen injury update certainly won’t come as a welcome sight for the fan base, it opens a door for Bradley somewhere down the line.
The Taj Bradley Rookie of the Year betting odds show he should become the main candidate to replace Rasmussen in the rotation, and he’ll have a real shot to come away with some hardware if he can replicate the success he had at the MLB level earlier in the season.
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