Shane McClanahan

Shane McClanahan

27-Year-Old PitcherSP
Tampa Bay Rays
Out
Injury Elbow
Est. Return 2/1/2025
2025 Fantasy Outlook
McClanahan never did pitch in 2024 as he continued his recovery from Tommy John surgery on Aug. 21, 2023. The only realistic chance McClanahan had of pitching in 2024 would have been similar to Tyler Glasnow's role in 2022, but the team was never in serious postseason contention as the summer wore on. McClanahan should be all systems go for the 2025 season but it is very likely the club will be conservative with his workload as he returns from his second career TJS. McClanahan's own pitching habits will likely do that anyhow, as pitch efficiency was not exactly a strength of his even before the long layoff. Every pitcher who comes back from a second Tommy John surgery has a different path, and few are as young as McClanahan (27) or as dominant prior to their second procedure. Jameson Taillon has had a good second act of his career, although he was never as good as McClanahan, while Walker Buehler showcased the potential downside in investing in such a pitcher this past season. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
From Preseason
$Signed a two-year, $7.2 million contract with the Rays in January of 2024. Contract includes $120,000 salary escalator for every start made in 2024.
Expected to throw '150-ish' innings
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
December 16, 2024
Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said on Dec. 10 in an interview on MLB Network that he expects McClanahan (elbow) to throw "150-ish" innings in 2025.
ANALYSIS
McClanahan missed the 2024 season following August 2023 Tommy John surgery but has been able to go through a normal throwing program this offseason. The left-hander threw 115 innings in 2023 and had a career-high 173.1 frames in 2022 between the regular season and playoffs. This is McClanahan's second Tommy John surgery, however, and Walker Buehler's 2024 (Buehler was coming back from his second TJS) is an example of the downside involved with McClanahan in 2025. It's not yet clear how the Rays plan to manage McClanahan's workload, but it could involve some early removal from starts and/or extra rest in between outings.
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Pitching Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2022
 
 
-14%
BAA vs RHP
2024
No Stats
2023
 
 
-20%
BAA vs RHP
2022
 
 
-6%
BAA vs RHP
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2022vs Left .233 188 43 14 40 6 0 3
Since 2022vs Right .200 921 272 65 171 30 3 31
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023vs Left .266 87 17 8 21 3 0 0
2023vs Right .212 381 104 33 74 17 3 15
2022vs Left .204 101 26 6 19 3 0 3
2022vs Right .192 540 168 32 97 13 0 16
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Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2022
 
 
-8%
ERA at Home
2024
No Stats
2023
 
 
-32%
ERA at Home
2022
 
 
-26%
ERA on Road
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2022Home 2.75 1.02 157.1 14 5 0 10.8 2.4 0.9
Since 2022Away 2.98 1.05 124.0 9 5 0 9.2 2.7 1.3
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2023Home 2.61 1.01 51.2 5 0 0 10.6 2.6 0.7
2023Away 3.84 1.33 63.1 6 2 0 8.5 3.7 1.6
2022Home 2.81 1.02 105.2 9 5 0 10.8 2.3 1.0
2022Away 2.08 0.76 60.2 3 3 0 9.9 1.6 1.0
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Prospect Rankings History
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
You should proceed with the expectation that McClanahan is unlikely to pitch in 2024. He had his second career TJ surgery on August 21st which ended a season that had him in considering for the Cy Young at the break. We do not even have to look too hard for a potential timeline to back up our original statement because this is nearly the same situation Tyler Glasnow went through two years ago. He had TJ surgery on 8/4/21 and returned to throw all of six innings in September of 2022. McClanahan had his surgery more than two weeks later than Glasnow's August date, so the best case scenario is the Rays make it back to the postseason and McClanahan can contribute there in some capacity. The most realistic outcome is he does not throw a pitch in the regular season, so keeper league managers can look to purchase him in the end game at a discount and wait until 2025 for the return on investment.
McClanahan had one of those Jeckyll and Hyde type seasons which felt like a tribute to the 1990 season of Jack Armstrong. Like Armstrong, McClanahan had an amazing first half of the season with a 1.71 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP, and held opposing hitters to a .176 average with 9 wins before the break. He then had a small IL stint, came back with a promising outing, but then struggled in other outings around a second IL stint and won just 4 more games with a 4.20 second half ERA after the break. All in all, he eclipsed projected workload totals and the entire body of work was still very impressive even if it was frontloaded. The evolution of his change was the differentiator for him as it went from a show-me offering to righties to his second most utilized offering with an elite whiff rate giving him two pitches - one for each side of the plate - with elite whiff rates. Durability is the only remaining question mark here for Sugar Shane who looked like he was following the path 2018 Blake Snell blazed for him on the way to the Cy Young that season. That path is still well lit for the lefty.
The original plan for McClanahan was a familiar one for young Tampa Bay hurlers: get sent down late to work on something and show up once service time had been sufficiently manipulated. The young lefty pitched too well for the team to stick with the plan and some other injuries forced the matter, so McClanahan pitched at the big-league level all season under a watchful eye, only exceeding 90 pitches in four of his 25 outings. He won 10 of his 25 outings with a strong 20.1 K-BB% pitching around some traffic on the bases and a league average home run rate. He ran into some issues with his velocity as the season wore on, losing two mph off his fastball from June into August before gaining some of that back in September. His postseason work looked like a young pitcher who was working on fumes, and that will be a fresh memory for 2022 drafting season. Do not expect more than 150 innings from him in 2022.
McClanahan got knocked around in his first taste of Double-A during the 2019 season, posting an 8.35 ERA and 1.96 WHIP with a 21:6 K:BB over 18.1 frames, but he impressed at the alternate training site this past summer. The electric southpaw made his MLB debut in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. In his lone big-league appearance, he surrendered a hit and a walk before retiring the final batter in the ninth inning. McClanahan figures to begin 2021 at Triple-A, where he will work on honing his command and improving his fourth-pitch changeup. On the strength of his upper-90s fastball and two plus breaking balls, McClanahan will provide MLB value in some multi-inning role sooner than later. However, Tampa Bay could end up using him as a primary pitcher or multi-inning reliever rather than as a traditional starter.
The 31st overall pick in 2018, McClanahan climbed three levels of the minors in his first full season. In his final 20 outings across stops at Low-A, High-A and Double-A, he logged a 3.16 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 126:31 K:BB in 102.2 IP, and that includes two blowup outings at Double-A over the final month of the minor-league season. A 6-foot-1 southpaw who had Tommy John surgery as an amateur, McClanahan has always had electric stuff, but he took a big step forward with his command/control last year. His fastball can touch triple digits and he throws three offspeed pitches, the best being a plus curveball. He has frontline upside if his command gains hold and his slider or changeup improves. However, in a free-thinking organization where Brendan McKay isn't even a lock to be used as a traditional starting pitcher, McClanahan's risk of being relegated to a multi-inning relief role is extreme.
More Fantasy News
Touches 94-95 mph in live BP
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
September 25, 2024
Rays manager Kevin Cash said that McClanahan (elbow) touched 94-to-95 mph in a 16-pitch live batting practice session Wednesday at Tropicana Field, Tricia Whitaker of Bally Sports Sun reports.
ANALYSIS
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Facing hitters next week
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
September 20, 2024
McClanahan (elbow) is scheduled to throw live batting practice next Thursday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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Throws off mound
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
August 4, 2024
McClanahan (elbow) threw from a mound Tuesday, MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Ups flat-ground throwing distance
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
June 25, 2024
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Monday that McClanahan (elbow) has increased his throwing distance to 135 feet, MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Throwing from 90 feet
PTampa Bay Rays
Elbow
May 8, 2024
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Friday that McClanahan (elbow) is "progressing well" and has ramped up his throwing off flat ground to 90 feet, MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Monitoring workload?
PTampa Bay Rays
August 11, 2022
McClanahan is nearing his career high in innings pitched and the Rays may monitor his workload down the stretch.
ANALYSIS
McClanahan has tossed 128.1 innings this season, two outs shy of his combined workload between the regular season and the postseason a year ago. It will be interesting to see if Tampa Bay adjusts its ace's workload as the team pushes for a postseason run, knowing that it likely needs as many innings as it can get from the lefty to even make the postseason. After not giving up more than three earned runs in any of his first 19 starts, the 25-year-old has allowed at least four earned runs in each of his last two outings, including four runs to the Tigers, arguably the worst offense in baseball.
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