Shane McClanahan

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.