He’s not perfect, but Rasmussen has some big days for the Rays
Rasmussen is 8-4 with a 2.82 ERA in his first season as a full-time starter with Tampa Bay
Updated 8/25/2022 9:50 PM, 8/26/2022 6:00 PM
Countless major league pitchers over the last half-century have undergone Tommy John elbow surgery and resumed their career to success.
Not many, however, have had a pair of Tommy Johns and gone on to great things.
So when it’s all said and done, Drew Rasmussen could be a member of an exclusive club.
The 6-1, 210-pound right-hander from Oregon State is making his presence felt in the rotation of the Tampa Bay Rays. This season, Rasmussen is 8-4 with a 2.82 ERA and a big reason why the Rays are in position to claim a wild-card berth in the American League playoffs. Tampa had won nine of 11 entering Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.
“We’re playing really well,” Rasmussen says in a phone conversation from his home in Tampa. “We had some hiccups in the middle of the year. But we’re getting healthy at the right time and starting to click. It’s an exciting time of the year, and we may be peaking at the right time.”
So is Rasmussen, who owns a 1.57 ERA through 23 innings in his four August starts. On Aug. 7, the Spokane native threw only three innings and 33 pitches in the Rays’ 7-0 win over Detroit. That was by design.
“I was starting to get a little fatigued,” says Rasmussen, 27. “The organization expected this as I started to throw more innings. The three-inning start was a chance for me to catch my breath. Since then, I’ve thrown the ball really well.”
Indeed. In his next outing on August 14, Rasmussen threw eight innings of perfect ball in a 4-1 win over Baltimore. His bid for the first perfecto since Felix Rodriguez threw one in Seattle in 2012 — and the 24th in major league history — was erased when Jorge Mateo hit Rasmussen’s first pitch of the ninth inning for a double.
His final stat line: 8 1/3 innings, one hit, no walks, seven strikeouts. He threw only 87 pitches.
“Drew put together a special outing,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash told the media afterward. “I am really pleased with how efficient he was. He made it easy for us to let him go a little farther (into the game) than usual. He had probably the best breaking ball I’ve seen this year. (The Orioles) had to respect that. When they saw the cutter and the fastball, they had to jump on it.”
I asked Drew if he had lingering disappointment over coming so closer to perfection.
“Nah,” he says. “A lot of that stuff comes down to luck at the end of a game. You need balls to find fielders and that kind of stuff. It would have been really cool to finish it, but not finishing it doesn’t bum me out at all.”
Did Rasmussen hear from any of his Oregon State teammates after his gem?
“Oh, everyone,” he says. “It’s great to get so much support, the well-wishes and the love they were showing. I’ve been keeping up with all the guys in the bigs — Adley (Rutschman) and Nick (Madrigal) and Trevor (Larnach), and Kwannie (Steven Kwan) was in here a few weeks ago. Being able to keep up with the entire group, especially with Adley being in the same division — it’s been awesome.”
Rasmussen’s outing against Baltimore reminded OSU fans of the performance he gave as a freshman at Goss Stadium in 2015, when he threw the only perfect game in program history in beating Washington State 3-0.
Drew Rasmussen was 14-5 through his Oregon State career and threw a perfect game as a freshman (courtesy OSU sports communications)
How did that one compare to his near-perfecto against the Orioles?
“They were both really good outings,” Rasmussen says, “but of course, finishing the thing (against WSU) was pretty special. I look back at the game against Baltimore — I didn’t go a complete game. Gave up a run. It turns into just a really good outing at the end of the day. Not quite on the same level as the perfect game at Oregon State.”
What does he recall about that historic day at Goss?
“I remember a couple of defensive plays that were pretty special,” he says. “Trever Morrison on a ball hit up the middle … KJ Harrison on a pick at first … but mostly, I remember being able to celebrate with the guys after the game was over. So much fun.”
Rasmussen has gone through many hardships since then to get to his current measure of success. He first underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2016, causing him to miss most of two seasons for the Beavers. Then, after he returned successfully late in the 2017 season — going 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA in eight appearances as a starter and reliever — and Tampa Bay chose him with the 31st pick in the 2017 draft, it appeared he was on his way.
But Rasmussen failed the physical. His elbow was not right. In August 2017, he had Tommy John for the second time.
“At 21, you think you’re going to get your professional career underway,” Rasmussen says. “You’re excited to sign your first contract. Unfortunately, God had different plans. But in many ways, it worked out really well. It’s hard to look back on it now and be too sour.”
Rasmussen returned to Oregon State but did a year of rehab and didn’t play on the team that won its third national championship. When I ask him if he was disappointed not to play on that team, he had a quick response.
“I would argue that our 2017 team was better than 2018,” he says. “There were a lot of the same characters. We had a better record.”
Rasmussen’s case is strong. Oregon State’s lineup in those two seasons was almost identical, with first baseman KJ Harrison playing only in 2017. That OSU team was ranked No. 1 much of the season, finishing with a school-record mark of 56-6, including a remarkable 27-3 in Pac-12 play. At season’s end, the Beavers won 23 in a row, including a 13-1 rout of Louisiana State in the second game of the College World Series. LSU eliminated the Beavers by beating them 3-1 and 6-1 in the final two games of the season.
Rasmussen trained and rehabbed through the 2018 season but didn’t play a game. He didn’t go to Omaha with the Beavers because he had already signed a contract with Milwaukee after being taken in the sixth round of the draft.
“A lot of my best friends came from those two teams,” Rasmussen says. “It was awesome to watch them finish the deal when we couldn’t do it in 2017.”
Rasmussen might have entered his first pro season with a lot of doubt had it not been for the surgeon who performed his second Tommy John, Keith Meister of Arlington, Texas.
“Dr. Meister is really good,” Rasmussen says. “There is more risk to getting the second than the first, but he liked my odds. With hard work, he believed I had a pretty good chance to get back to where I was — a high-level big league-caliber talent.
“And no one rushed me. Oregon State gave me extra time. Milwaukee gave me extra time. I didn’t play for 19 months. I didn’t pitch a game again until March 2019. It was a slow process but I felt pretty good going through it. Now looking back on it, I’d have preferred not to be hurt, but it’s been OK in the long run.”
Rasmussen moved up the ladder and played for three teams in 2019, starting in A ball and advancing to Double-A. The next season, he made the jump to the major leagues.
“It was a little overwhelming,” Rasmussen says. “You’re getting guys out in Double-A, but then it’s straight the big leagues. Can I get guys out there? But I was throwing the ball really well in a limited number of innings and built a lot of confidence.”
Rasmussen pitched 12 games in relief for the Brewers as a rookie in 2020 and finished with a 1-0 record and a 5.87 ERA. It was his first significant action out of the bullpen.
“It was a completely new skill set I had to learn,” he says. “It was a good challenge for me. It taught me how to go into a game and fill it up quickly. It takes a little different mentality. You can’t ease into a game. You have to be sharp from pitch one.”
Midway through the 2021 season, he was traded to Tampa Bay.
“I love Milwaukee,” Rasmussen says. “I have nothing bad to say about them. But that was really a shock. You look over their history, they don’t trade home-grown pitching talent. To go to Tampa, which had drafted me and I’d failed a physical with three years prior, that was also a shock. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. This organization has been a blessing for me.”
From the time he arrived in Tampa until the middle of August last season, Rasmussen was throwing out of the bullpen. Then the Rays were looking for a fifth starting arm.
“I was already stretched out a bit, and they asked me what I thought about starting,” he says. “I said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ It naturally fits me and my personality.”
This season, Rasmussen is a full-time starter. He leaned heavily on his mid-90s fastball, upper-80s cutter and mid-80s slider against Baltimore. His control was superb, as it has been most of the season. In 105 1/3 innings, he has yielded 85 hits with 26 walks and 90 Ks. In 23 innings in August, he has walked three with 20 strikeouts.
“That’s something we preach here as an organization,” he says. “If you limit walks, you can limit the damage. You can afford to give up solo homers now and then. Control is one of my big focuses.”
Rasmussen says he doesn’t worry about his throwing elbow while pitching.
“You get out on the mound, it’s about getting people out,” he says. “But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any concern. There are days when it doesn’t feel great. It’s a little sore, a little achy. But that usually comes and goes within 24 hours.”
Rasmussen and his wife Stevie — she is a Gresham native whom Drew met at Oregon State — love living in Tampa, though they make their offseason home in Phoenix. Drew likes the organization that has him under contract for the next four years. Tampa Bay has reached the postseason the past three years and won 90 games in 2018, the last time they didn’t make it to October.
“We’re a good team,” he says. “The only goal is to make it to the postseason, and then to perform well once we get there.”
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