My Two Cents: Being on Center Stage Fits Shane McClanahan Just Fine
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Shane McClanahan is an engaging mix of boyish charm and wily veteran, and as each day passes in his young major-league career, he's been filing away notes day after day. He's learned a heck of a lot about himself in his two-plus years on a big stage.
The 25-year-old left-hander will pitch Game 1 of Tampa Bay's wild-card series with the Cleveland Guardians on Friday, another highlight moment on what's been a great 2022 for him. He started Opening Day for the Rays, was the AL's starter in the All-Star Game in Los Angeles and he was in the Cy Young conversation for four months.
And now comes Friday. And even though he's had some struggles in August and September, Rays manager Kevin Cash had no doubt who should be his Game 1 starter. That's McClanahan, and he's honored to get that call.
"I feel like I've had a lot of big spots so far in my short career,'' McClanahan said Thursday in Cleveland. "It's really cool to me. The 6-7-year-old me would be ecstatic to see where I am today.''
As a kid who's lived the baseball dream from a young age, I couldn't help but ask him what the 17-18-year-old Shane McClanahan would think, too.
"That 18-year-old me had Tommy John (surgery on his elbow while at the University of South Florida), and I really took school seriously that year,'' he said with a laugh. "It's really cool to see where I've come from there.''
His meteoric rise to the big leagues started near the end of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when he was called up in the postseason for his first major-league experience. He pitched in four games during the Rays' run to the World Series, where they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He started every game a year ago, and was great in Game 1 of the postseason, pitching five scoreless innings at home against Boston. But the Rays lost the next two games and in Game 4, with their season on the line, Rays manager Kevin Cash called on McClanahan out of the bullpen in the third inning. On short rest and in an unfamiliar role, it was a disaster. He gave up five runs and only got two outs. The Rays rallied, but still lost 6-5 and their season was over.
Fuel to the fire.
“It really motivated me,” he said Thursday. “It fueled me during the offseason to keep working hard and try and develop more as a pitcher, as a player and as person. I think I’ve made those adjustments.”
Cash takes responsibility for McClanahan's Game 4 struggles.
"It was a big order to ask him to change his routine,'' Cash said. “I think that Shane, the way he handles it and the way he cares so much, that he spent a lot of time probably analyzing and processing from that Game 4. I actually think that all that stuff made him a better pitcher going into this year.”
He might have been the best pitcher in baseball early in the season, and he cherished the role as the Rays' ace. He went 10-3 with a 1.71 ERA and 147 strikeouts in 110 2/3 innings prior to the All-Star break.
The second half, though, has been a bit of a head scratcher. He's only 2-5 since then, with a 4.20 ERA and just 47 strikeouts in 55 2/3 innings in 10 starts. He missed two weeks with a left shoulder impingement and left another game early with a neck spasm. He just hasn't been quite right, at least based on results. He keeps saying over and over that he feels great, but others aren't so sure.
Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez, an analyst now on TBS baseball broadcasts, isn't sure he's healthy.
"I really love this kid,” Martinez said, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “I just hope he’s healthy. … There was a bit of a red flag. After watching him in the first half and watching him in the second, if I was the Rays, I would be really careful how I approach McClanahan. I’m a little scared of how he feels, because the last two or three rounds I’ve seen when he had to get out of the game weren’t very good indicators.”
Rays radio announcer Neil Solondz, who's been filling on the game broadcasts with Dave Wills out, said McClanahan was tipping his pitches during the broadcast on Sept. 20 when the lefty got knocked around the the Houston Astros, giving up five runs in four innings.
Solondz, when asked about the comment, said he had no proof that was happening, and said ''it was just a gut instinct'' when he said it on air.
Since the All-Star break, he's had four games where he's given up four runs or more, twice allowing four runs, and twice allowing five. He pitched last Saturday, allowing just two runs in five innings at Houston, and he said Monday that he feels great and expects to do well in the postseason.
His teammates agree.
“He definitely has a lot of talent, and he’s got a great mentality,” Rays shortstop Wander Franco said through team interpreter Manny Navarro. “I think he’s going to come out here and really control the game, and I think he’s going to do a really good job of helping us. We have a lot of confidence in his ability to work out there.”
The process all matters to McClanahan, too. There have been a few games where he's been hit hard, but he's also had some bad luck too, getting beat by a few bloop hits.
“That's baseball. I I learned a lot about myself this season,” he said. “I’ve learned what it takes to have success. And I learned what failure feels like, too.
“Obviously, I wanted to have many more successes than I do failures. But it’s inevitable, it’s going to happen. I think it’s all about how you respond. I had a couple of strings of bad luck, but I kept working and bounced back pretty good, I thought. I think it just taught me to just be consistent, be the same guy day in and day out and keep it simple.”
His loss to Cleveland back on July 31 in St. Petersburg is a good example of that. He allowed five runs in just 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and three walks. But in that game, all seven of the Guardians' hits were hoppers the through infield or bloop hits, with nothing his harder than 89 miles per hour.
“You just have to understand that those balls are going to fall sometimes, and sometimes they’re not,” McClanahan said that night. “Ultimately, [I’ve] got to make better pitches and keep making adjustments.”
The Guardians will do that to people. They are a high-contact team, and they make it tough on pitchers. McClanahan's line was horrible that night, but how they got the hits had to be a factor, too.
In other words, he wasn't as bad as many people made it out to be.
"They're a good team, obviously, and there's a reason why they are in this position (in the playoffs,'' he said. "They're a contact team, so you just throw a lot of strikes against the them and trust your defense. I know I do.''
His teammates trust him, too. When he's on his game, he's practically unhittable. He needs a day like that on Friday. Tyler Glasnow, who's starting Game 2, fully expects to see McClanahan at his best in the postseason.
"I'm really excited because it's always great watching him pitch,'' Glasnow said of McClanahan. "Just being such a young dude with so much confidence and his ability to execute pitches, all that's been pretty unbelievable.
I think like when I was that age, it was not easy. So it's like watching him, like with the confidence he has and he can repeat things better than most people I've seen. He's got like a four-pitch mix that he basically throws like 25 percent each pitch. It's insane to me.''
Center stage, even on a Friday afternoon, is right where he wants to be.
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