Rays ace will miss entire 2024 season after Tommy John Surgery

The 2023 Major League Baseball season is not even finished yet and the Tampa Bay Rays already got some brutal news for the 2024 season.

Manager Kevin Cash told reporters on Tuesday that ace starting pitcher Shane McClanahan will be undergoing Tommy John Surgery on Monday and is likely to miss the entire 2024 season. 

McClanahan last pitched in a game for the Rays on Aug. 2 but left the game due to forearm tightness. He had struggled in his last four starts but has been one of the league's best pitchers over the past three seasons. 

The Rays' starting rotation has dealt with some significant injuries over the past year and has never really had its top-five starters all available at the same time.

Tyler Glasnow missed the first two months of the 2023 season, while Jeffrey Springs has been sidelined by a Tommy John procedure of his own. Drew Rasmussen is also going to miss time well into the 2024 season due to a hybrid internal brace procedure.

In 74 career starts, McClanahan has a 3.02 ERA and has averaged more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. 

It is a testament to how strong the Rays' organization has been that they could lose so many pitchers this season and still be a top team in the American League, but they have significantly cooled off after an incredible start as the injuries have finally started to take a toll.

The Rays are just 21-27 since the middle of June and only 15-20 since the start of July. They looked like they were going to cruise to an American League East title through the first two months of the season but now find themselves a few games behind the Baltimore Orioles and trending in the wrong direction as the playoffs get closer. 

Without McClanahan, and most of their rotation, it is hard to imagine them making a serious run in the playoffs.