When the Rays call and ask you to pitch for them, the first thing you do is say yes. The second thing is to clear off your mantel to make room for all the awards you’re about to win.
Reliever Ryan Thompson, who joined the Diamondbacks in August after Tampa Bay released him, sums up the feeling thusly: “I want to sign with the Rays, just to see what they can tell me,” he says. “Maybe they tell me to throw a certain pitch more or tweak something and all of a sudden, you’re a superstar.”
“Superstar” might be unfair, given that the most famous of these guys is best known for looking like Cillian Murphy, but a year in Tampa can certainly change the course of a pitcher’s career—and pitchers know it.
