Rays break-dancing: The good, bad and other

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays need the All-Star break.

The first 14-plus weeks of the season have been eventful, confusing, painful, challenging, at times weird and, most importantly, relatively successful, as the Rays head into play leading the American League wild-card race.

Given all that has gone on — for example, 30 injured list assignments and 140 roster moves in the first 99 days of the season, including 46 this month — the four-day break should be welcomed by players, coaches, athletic trainers, executives, support staff, PR folks and all others.

Here is a review of some of the good, bad and other to this point (stats through Friday):

Most Valuable Ray

There’s a reason Shane McClanahan is the one Ray who will be working during the break.

He not only has had an All-Star-worthy season, but arguably the best of any starting pitcher anywhere, leading the majors with a 1.71 ERA, 147 strikeouts and 0.795 walks and hits per inning, ranking second with 10 wins and third with a 3.8 baseball-reference.com WAR in 18 starts.

With as much as things have been changing with the team throughout the season, he has been the one constant, and clearly the Rays’ most valuable player to this point.

That the Rays are only 12-6 in his starts is hardly his fault; he has allowed two or fewer earned runs 16 times (including 13 straight, with an 8-1, 1.15 mark) and three the other times. More impressive, he has allowed one or none in 11 of his last 12, and seven straight.

Runner-up: Yandy Diaz stepped up in the injury-depleted lineup, having reached base in 18 consecutive starts; since July 1 he is hitting .415 with a .492 on-base percentage. Plus he is one of 10 players with 200-plus plate appearances to have more walks (49) than strikeouts (35), and has played strong defense at third. Also considered: Jason Adam, Ji-Man Choi

Biggest disappointment (non-injury division)

The Rays felt good enough about Josh Lowe at the start of the season that they traded Austin Meadows to make room in the outfield for him and bad enough after one month to send him back to Triple-A. Lowe has looked and done better at the plate since returning in late June, but still has yet to crack .200.

Runner-up: Randy Arozarena has a team-high 32 extra-base hits and is on track for a second straight 20-20 season, has not gotten on any kind of sustained hot streak, nor had many big hits. Plus he leads the team with 93 strikeouts, the majors with seven caught steals (plus eight other outs on the bases), and is hitting just .212 with runners in scoring position. Also considered: Vidal Brujan, Brett Phillips, Ryan Yarbrough

Biggest disappointment (injury division)

Catcher Mike Zunino’s strong 2021 season — making the All-Star team, doing good work behind the plate, hitting a career-high 33 homers — got the usually cost-conscious Rays to say it was an easy call to pick up his $7 million option. But he didn’t have much of an encore, hitting .148 with a .499 OPS, striking out a ton and smacking just five homers in 36 games, then getting shut down in early June, and potentially the full season, with thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms that may require surgery.

Runner-up: Wander Franco played okay when he was healthy, but between the time he was limited by leg issues and two extended injury list stints, he hasn’t done much (yet anyway) to match the hype of his 2021 debut and record-setting contract. Also considered: Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Lowe, Luis Patino

Most pleasant surprise

Given the narrative of all that has gone wrong, there actually are several good choices. Jason Adam didn’t have much of a track record of success, was coming off an injury-marred 2021 season and signed during spring training for a relatively low salary. Naturally, after JP Feyereisen and Andrew Kittredge were injured, Adam became the Rays’ top high-leverage reliever, with 27 of his first 40 appearances hitless and 34 scoreless.

Runners-up: Harold Ramirez looked to be a second-tier option after some bigger names went elsewhere and a bit of a role player when acquired in March from the Cubs. But he has turned out to be one of the Rays’ best offensive weapons, hitting .329 overall, and even better against lefties (.371) and as a pinch-hitter (8-for-16 with 7 RBIs). Similarly, Isaac Paredes seemed to be a future piece and the lesser part of the trade of Meadows to Detroit, as the Rays opened a spot for Josh Lowe and got the No. 71 pick in the draft. But Paredes burst onto the scene, hitting eight homers in a 10-game late-June/early-July stretch, including three in one game and four in four straight at-bats; he has a team-leading 13. Also considered: Corey Kluber, Jeffrey Springs

Rays rumblings

With Shane Baz out for several months or more, and workload concerns likely limiting Drew Rasmussen and Springs (and, to a lesser degree, Kluber and McClanahan), the Rays seem likely to add a starter by the Aug. 2 trade deadline; Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo and Oakland’s Frankie Montas appear to be the top options on the market. ... There is growing chatter about Shohei Ohtani starting Tuesday’s All-Star Game ahead of McClanahan. ... Karen Eaton, wife of Rays team orthopedic physician Koco Eaton, did an incredibly kind and selfless thing, donating a kidney to the husband of a cousin on Koco’s side, Keith Henry, 54. He is the father of Clemson football player K.J. Henry. ... Saying “simple yellow cake” and vanilla icing are his favorites were the most fitting answers ever for Kluber, the affable but somewhat, well, vanilla talker who got cake last week for reaching the 10-year service milestone. ... ESPN passed on the Aug. 28 game at Boston for national Sunday night airing, so first pitch will be 1:35 p.m. ... Expect bench coach Matt Quatraro to be a candidate for the Blue Jays manager’s job if they make an outside hire for 2023. ... The always creative folks at 1771Designs.com have a new team T-shirt: Tampa Bay INJURAYS. ... Baz, Curtis Mead, Taj Bradley, Josh Lowe and 2021 first-round pick Carson Williams are the top prospects in Baseball America’s updated Rays rankings. ... That really was ESPN SportsCenter anchor Zubin Mehenti saying l ate Monday: “It’s rare to have a Red Sox-Rays game at any point in the season and it just doesn’t really mean much; it’s been a tough season for the Rays.” After the win, the Rays were 46-40; the Sox 47-40. ... Doesn’t seem former Rays manager Joe Maddon was the problem in Anaheim: The Angels were 27-29 under him, 12-23 since he got fired. ... The Jays didn’t look good firing Charlie Montoyo, the longtime former Rays coach and minor-league manager, less than two weeks after the tragic death of first-base coach Mark Budzinski’s daughter, but there’s some talk they were going to do it sooner and waited.

• • •

Sign up for the Rays Report weekly newsletter to get fresh perspectives on the Tampa Bay Rays and the rest of the majors from sports columnist John Romano.

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.