Shane McClanahan’s Return Bolstered By Rays Teammates He Would ‘Go To War For’

“I think that’s kind of been the evolution for me as a pitcher in terms of maybe I wanted to go strike out (a lot of batters) again,” he said, following a 3-0 win against Toronto on Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field, an outing that saw him improve to 4-2 with a 2.60 ERA. His K/9 rate is 8.8. “Obviously, I still want to get as many (strikeouts) as I can. Take the ball out of play and good things happen, but there’s a lot more trust.”

Call it maturing as a pitcher or whatever you may. The “trust” is in a defense that has been very strong in recent years. After all, that is the Rays Way. Along with superb pitching, the leather has saved countless runs in helping propel the Rays into being a playoff contender for much of the past decade.

“There’s a lot more pitching in terms of just stuffing people,” said McClanahan, who sat out his freshman season of 2016 at the University of South Florida due to his first Tommy John procedure before setting himself up to be the 31st overall pick by the Rays in 2018. “Instead of striking a guy out, let’s get this guy out on the first pitch (or) let’s try to get him to swing and be aggressive and kind of tip their hand a little bit to see what they're trying to do.”

McClanhan was the beneficiary of exceptional defensive plays Wednesday by shortstop Taylor Walls, who makes the difficult look mundane, and third baseman Junior Caminero. They were the type of plays that produce fist bumps from a pitcher on the stroll back to the dugout. There were also many routine plays thanks to how McClanahan went about his work.

“It’s a little bit more intent in terms of each pitch and the desired result as opposed to just, ‘I’m going to throw this as hard as I can and let’s see if I can get a swing and miss,'” he said. “It’s me trusting everybody behind me.”

‘No egos’ in Tampa Bay Rays’ clubhouse

McClanahan spoke glowingly of the 2026 Rays, a team that took the field for their series in Boston with 12 players who were with other organizations a year ago at this point. He noted that the gameplan upon arrival in Beantown was to ditch belongings at the team hotel and head out to enjoy a simulated F1 race experience.

“It’s just a group of really good dudes,” he said. “There are no egos. There’s no selfishness. It’s just good people playing baseball hard.”

There is a camaraderie in the clubhouse that spills onto the field. As McClanahan noted, it is something that goes beyond the walls of Tropicana Field, or whatever venue the team visits.

“It’s pretty cool that these guys in here are actually like really good friends,” he said. “It’s refreshing in terms of some stuff we’ve had in the past. I can't say enough good things about the culture.”

McClanahan complimented the culture manager Kevin Cash, general manager Erik Neander and the front office have promoted.

“Allowing us to be ourselves and kind just be good people,” he said. “I think that’s what it boils down to because if you’re a good person, I think good things happen to you. There’s a lot of really good people in here that I can actually say that I would go to war for.”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com