How Rays’ Jeffrey Springs evolved into a $31 million man

ST. PETERSBURG — The primary explanation for Jeffrey Springs’ evolution from a fringe reliever dumped off big-league rosters three times and traded twice into a key part of a standout Rays rotation with a new four-year, $31 million contract is his fervent drive and determination to succeed.

That’s much the way he got to the major leagues after being passed over by major colleges following a stellar career at South Point (North Carolina) High. He wound up at Appalachian State, was drafted in the 30th round by Texas in 2015 and signed for a $1,000 bonus. He then bounced from the Rangers to the Red Sox to the Rays in 13 months without much success — and a 5.42 ERA to show for it.

“He’s brought a considerable amount of persistence to his career,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said.

When the Rays found themselves short on quality starters a month into last season, they started to discuss transitioning Springs from the bullpen, where his swing-and-miss stuff — including a top-tier changeup — made him an effective weapon.

The left-hander, who had a breakthrough performance in 2021 until being sidelined July 31 with a right knee injury that required surgery, had shown in the spring and early April that he had overcome his latest challenge, rehabilitating and returning to top form.

Snyder and manager Kevin Cash first talked in mid-April about giving Springs a chance to return to starting, which he had done in high school and college but as a pro only at the Class A level in 2016-17. The conversations expanded to include baseball operations president Erik Neander and general manager Peter Bendix, with input from the pitching development and medical staffs.

“I was like, ‘Look, I think this could be a good runway here,’ " Snyder said. “(Springs is) back healthy. We all recognize this was maybe a little bit cavalier, considering that he won’t be a full year removed from ACL surgery until August.

“But I trust Jeffrey, too. All the stuff that we had beneath him at that point on our motion capture (equipment), his delivery was working. He was working back into it in terms of getting the most output out of his delivery. We had a lot of really good foundation there to say, ‘Hey, listen, I think we can put some load on him at this point.’ "

The Rays were cautious, knowing workload was the biggest potential concern. They stretched out Springs’ next three outings to 2, 2⅔ and 3⅓ innings before moving him into the rotation for a May 9 game at the Angels.

Springs, who grew up with “the ultimate dream” of being a big-league starter, was eager to make the switch and confident he would do well.

“I kind of found my footing in the bullpen in 2021 to have that confidence that, ‘Hey, I belong here, I can pitch, I can get guys out,’ " Spring, 30, said. “Then when they just told me, ‘Hey, you’re going into the starting role,’ all I viewed it as was I get do it more times in one outing.

“It wasn’t anything different. No mentality changed. It was the same approach. I go out there until they take the ball from me.”

Springs did have to learn more about what to do on the four days between starts in terms of workload, conditioning and other elements, and spent lots of time talking with Snyder, other staffers and teammates, especially veteran starter Corey Kluber.

Plus, Springs continued to make some of his pitches better, using the time between starts to work on refinements.

Altering the grip of his changeup from four seams to two gained him an additional 3 inches of drop and further separation from his fastball. Throwing his slider 2-3 mph harder made it more effective and caused it sometimes to present more like a cut fastball to right-handers, keeping them from being too ready for the changeup. More changes may be coming. Springs is working on a sweeping slider to lefties and a sinking fastball to complement his 92 mph four-seamer that is usually up in the zone.

Springs made it all work and worked around other issues, making only one start between June 24 and July 24 primarily due to two things: his infant son being hospitalized with a spinal fluid infection that was treated, and his own calf tightness.

“Never a doubt that I could have success,” Springs said. “It was just a matter of getting out there and actually doing it.”

Over 24 starts starting May 9, he was 8-5 with a 2.65 ERA that among pitchers with at least 120 innings ranked eighth best in the American League. The seven ahead of him all got Cy Young Award votes. Springs also ranked in the top 10 with 9.56 strikeouts per nine innings, 1.10 walks and hits per inning pitched and a 4.64 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He was 11th with a .228 opponents batting average and .637 OPS.

Snyder said the initial plan in making Springs a starter was to assess every two weeks how he was doing. That turned out to be easy.

“He just dominated,” Snyder said.“The success just continued to kind of snowball, and his confidence and everything else just came with it. It was a lot of fun to watch.”

Though the sample size was relatively small, Rays management was impressed enough to reach out to Springs in November to initiate discussions about a long-term deal, which Springs was open to doing. The deadline of a looming arbitration hearing led to an agreement both sides felt balanced risk with reward.

The Rays now have him signed him through his first two free-agent years with an option for a third, and Springs can max out the deal at $65.75 million through the 2027 option, with incentives and escalator clauses for good work, including winning four Cy Young Awards.

“He’s a super guy, a great family man,” Snyder said. “I couldn’t be happier for a guy that just reached financial independence, especially given all that he’s gone through. But I think a lot of what he’s gone through is a reason why he’s achieved what he has. And he’s going to be successful going forward.”

Contact Marc Topkin at mtopkin@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Rays.

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