Ryan

Pepiot

The Rays are moving Pepiot up to Opening Day because of Shane McClanahan’s injury, hence the brief outing today. Fortunately, Rockies vs. Rays is the one opener not set for Thursday, so Pepiot will still be on four days’ rest Friday.

The Rays needed a new Opening Day starter with Shane McClanahan going down with a triceps injury. Now it’s been settled that Pepiot will start in McClanahan’s place. He’ll be followed by Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz and Zack Littell in the Tampa Bay rotation.

Pepiot struck out four and walked two. His spring ERA held steady at 4.50. The Rays have six starters for five spots right now, but Pepiot should be safe after posting a 3.60 ERA in 26 starts last season.

He allowed two hits, walked one and struck out two. Pepiot’s velocity on all of his pitches was up slightly (from 0.2 to 0.9 mph) from last year, so that’s nice to see in a spring debut. We’d like Pepiot better if the Rays were playing in the trop, especially given that he’s a flyball righty. He still figures to offer some mixed-league value while healthy, but his ERA should take a hit at Steinbrenner Field.

Pepiot threw 63 pitches in his final start, with 38 of them landing for strikes. It was a decent outing and overall a successful season for the right-hander after coming over from the Dodgers, and he finishes with a 3.63 ERA and 142/48 K/BB after walking two and striking out five vs. Boston. Pepiot should take another step forward in 2025, and deserves a roster spot on fantasy rosters in the majority of leagues.

Pepiot struck out six. He allowed just three hits, but two of those got mixed in with two walks in the two-run fifth inning. Pepiot dropped to 8-7 with a 3.64 ERA. He’s in like to start the finale against the Red Sox on Sunday, but that could change.

This start was a great reminder of how high Pepiot’s ceiling still is. Striking out 12 batters in six innings is downright disgusting. Doing it with only 76 pitches is pure madness. His fastball forced 15 swings-and-misses on its own and was visually stunning as Boston’s batters continued to miss it at the top of the zone. His lone blemish came on a Trevor Story solo home run off a fastball that caught a little too much of the heart of the plate, but all in all this was a gem to the highest degree. He’s scheduled to face the Tigers in Detroit in his next start.

There was some concern that Pepiot might have picked up an injury, but the early report is that it was just Kevin Cash’s decision to pull the 27-year-old after 38 pitches. He wasn’t particularly effective in those two innings with four hits allowed, two walks and one strikeout. Pepiot is scheduled to face the Red Sox on Wednesday, but it seems plausible he may not make that start.

Pepiot was excellent on Saturday, holding a tough Orioles lineup to just one run into the sixth inning. He had tossed five scoreless before Cedric Mullins took him deep for a solo homer. The 27-year-old right-hander will take a 3.66 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and a 118/40 K/BB ratio across 113 innings into a start against the Guardians in Cleveland on Thursday.

This was a slog for Pepiot. The Padres made him work hard in every at-bat and he was chased in the fourth inning after allowing a single, home run, another single, and a walk without retiring a batter. He didn’t force a single swing out of the zone on his changeup which forced him to rely too heavily on his fastball which the Padres hit hard. Pepiot will try to right the ship in his scheduled start against the Orioles in Baltimore.