Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan will miss his Opening Day start and begin the season on the injured list with nerve irritation in his left triceps.
Manager Kevin Cash made the announcement, which is good news considering the left-hander avoided a major injury.
“Probably the best news we could have heard,” Cash said, according to MLB.com. “We haven’t put a timeframe on it. I’m going to talk to Mac and see how it feels. We’ve got to just let [the triceps] calm down. Obviously, he aggravated it enough to come out and need some extra treatment. But I don’t think we have a timeframe quite yet.”
Ryan Pepiot will replace McClanahan as the Rays’ Opening Day starter on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.
McClanahan left his final spring training start Saturday against the Boston Red Sox after 2⅔ innings with the injury. He underwent testing, which revealed the diagnosis.
Coming off Tommy John surgery, McClanahan has not appeared in a major league game since August 2023. This spring, the Rays limited the work for McClanahan. He didn’t allow a run this spring over seven innings in three starts, allowing five hits while striking out eight batters and walking two.
After three major league seasons, McClanahan has a record of 33-16 with a 3.02 ERA in 74 games. The two-time All-Star has thrown 404⅔ innings with 456 strikeouts.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
