Rays have signed right-handed Kodi Whitley As noted in the transaction tracker on Whitley’s MLB.com profile page, a minor league deal was reached.
Whitley celebrated his 30th birthday on Friday, the 2017 Cardinals’ 27th round draft pick, who made his debut in St. Louis in a shortened game in 2020 . Despite limited time at the major league level, his first two seasons in the Grand Slams went well as he reached 2.40 ERA in 30 innings. He walked 11% and he beat 27.1% of his opponents, resulting in 3.21 FIP, although more advanced metrics such as XFIP (4.13) and Siera (3.88) made him portray him as an alliance average arm.
Unfortunately for Whitley, things were a little bad for him during the 2022 campaign. That year, he recorded only 12 2/3 of the innings at the major league level in St. Louis, and there were still many shortcomings. Whitley surrendered to 5.68 ERA and his strikeout rate dropped to 20.3%. What’s even more worrying is his walking rate, which has improved even if the right-handed succeeds, but in 2022 it’s at a speed of 15.3%. Whitley’s Triple-A Memphis released a nice 3.86 ERA that year, but his 21.8% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate still bring his past performance in the pros relatively Something needed.
Given Whitley’s struggles, it’s not shocking when the club knocked him out of the 40-man squad after the 2022 season. He insisted on the Cardinal on Triple-A, kicking off the 2023 campaign, but achieved a dull result even in the 32-time appearances of the 5.19 ERA minor league. This led to St. Louis’ release of Whitley throughout the mid-season, and despite being taken over by the Braves in July, his situation in Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwennett was worse as he was with the club Surrendered 6.43 ERA in 14 frames.
Whitley’s recent career experience is brave and tough work. He stuck with the Brave throughout the 2023-24 offseason, but was released last March and has not signed with the organization since. However, now that has changed, he will hope to get his career back on track with one of the most important pitching development organizations in baseball this year. The rays are known to be almost constantly stirring through the bullpen arms, so if Whitley manages to regain his early career success, there is no doubt that Tampa will be in them sometime this year. Find his place in the Big League bullpen. However, considering Whitley’s obvious year-long layoff in the game action, it may take time.
