Jesse

Scholtens

Scholtens improved to 2-1 with the effort, which followed a 2 1/3 inning performance by Griffin Jax. He allowed three hits and three walks while striking out just one. His next appearance is scheduled for a home matchup against the Giants. He’s entered out of the bullpen in three of his four games so far.

There were some positives here as Scholtens finished with six strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass. He coughed up seven hits, including a gargantuan two-run homer to Sal Stewart, and didn’t get any support from Tampa Bay’s offense. The 32-year-old righty will close out a two-start week with a favorable matchup against the Twins on Sunday.

There had been some reports that the Rays would use an opener, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Scholtens threw five shutout innings in his last appearance, which was a bulk relief role. He could make a decent streamer in deeper formats.

Working in a bulk relief role following opener Cole Sulsler, Scholtens cruised against the feeble White Sox lineup. He had a very slider-heavy approach as they accounted for nearly half of his total pitches against a mostly left-handed lineup. It worked out here despite only forcing five total swings-and-misses. He lines up for a two-start (or two bulk appearance) week coming up against the Reds and Twins at home.

Scholtens will take the ball after opener Cole Sulser. The 32-year-old was called up over the weekend when starter Joe Boyle hit the injured list with elbow inflammation. He’s tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings in the big leagues this season. It’s a decent enough matchup that he might have some appeal as a streaming option in extremely deep mixed leagues.

Scholtens gets the call to replace an injured Joe Boyle (elbow) in Tampa Bay’s rotation mix. The 32-year-old righty tossed five innings in relief against the Yankees last week in his season debut. He can be safely ignored in fantasy leagues for now.

Scholtens threw nearly five innings in relief yesterday, so the Rays will pick up a fresh arm ahead of Friday’s game against the Yankees. The 32-year-old allowed four hits and struck out four while allowing no runs during the outing on Wednesday. It lowered his career MLB ERA to 5.05.

Mesa Jr. was acquired from the Marlins this offseason and went 2-for-5 in his brief spring appearances. He’s yet to show more than some modest batting average upside during his minor league career. Rock was a former top 10 prospect in the Rays’ organization, but he posted a 5.21 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, and 88/39 K/BB ratio in 96 2/3 innings at Triple-A last season, so he’ll get another shot at that level in 2026. The Rays also reassigned RHPs Andrew Wantz and Kodi Whitley to minor league camp.

Scholtens took over the Drew Rasmussen in the third and pitched all the way into the eighth in his second appearance for the Rays. The 31-year-old was claimed off waivers from the White Sox in early August after completing his Tommy John rehab and was called up by the Rays a week ago. He never fanned more than six in 11 starts for the White Sox in 2023 before striking out nine today. He got 17 whiffs on 46 swings over 92 pitches. It’s still probably a long shot that the Rays will keep him on the 40-man this winter, but he made a case today.

Scholtens provides Tampa Bay with a fresh bullpen arm for Saturday’s showdown against the Red Sox. The 31-year-old righty hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since the 2023 season when he made 26 appearances (11 starts) for the White Sox. He was claimed off waivers from Chicago back in early August. He’ll operate in middle relief for the Rays down the home stretch.