Remarkable Consistency Underscored Shane McClanahan’s Dominant First Half For Rays

Shane McClanahan’s season has been such that the statistical comparisons have been piling up like his strikeouts.

Among others revealed in the postgame notes package following the Rays’ 4-1 win over the visiting Red Sox on Wednesday night, McClanahan’s 10th victory of the season, is an active string of seven consecutive outings of six-plus innings, six-plus strikeouts and no more than one earned run. That equals Minnesota’s Johan Santana in 2004 for the longest such streak in American League history. One pitcher in MLB history has a longer such streak: Sandy Koufax with eight in 1962.

No wonder Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash cannot say enough good things about the 25-year-old lefthander, who is in his first full season in the majors and is headed to Los Angeles for next week’s all-star game, which he might start for the American League.

“I can’t envision anybody pitching better than him, the way he has,” he said prior to McClanahan’s outing. “The first half run has been pretty special. Whether you are a hitter or a pitcher, all the great ones, they find ways to be consistent and that’s what Shane has found.”

Following the win over the Red Sox in which McClanahan worked 6 1/3 innings, allowed one run, did not walk a batter and fanned six, Cash added: “I think it is the best first half of a starting pitcher’s performance I have witnessed.”

How good? Well, McClanahan came out of his final start prior to the all-star break 10-3 with an MLB-best 1.71 ERA that is the lowest heading into the break among American League starting pitchers with enough innings to qualify since Boston’s Clay Buchholz (also 1.71) in 2013.

In addition to pacing the majors in ERA, McClanahan is atop the leaderboard (thru July 14) in strikeouts (147), WHIP (0.80) and is second in batting average against (.176) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.74). His 1.55 bases on ball per nine innings is good for third.

That last stat, derived from only 19 free passes in 110 2/3 innings, is down from last season’s 2.70, which itself was a solid mark.

Alas, walks are something McClanahan despises. He cited his work over the past couple of years with pitching coach Kyle Snyder for the decreasing number of freebies.

“I was really tired of walking people and, ultimately, I got with Kyle Snyder and we worked to consistently flood the zone and attack batters,” he said, following a late-June win over the visiting Pirates in which he did not walk a batter while fanning 10 in seven innings.

Indeed, McClanahan has not issued a walk in seven of the 14 starts he has worked at least six innings. Such performances have contributed mightily to how dominating he has been.

“It’s a testament to the hard work and the consistency and the day-to-day things I try to do,” said McClanahan, who starred at the University of South Florida, across the bay in Tampa and about 35 miles from Tropicana Field, before being a first-round selection (31st overall) of the Rays in 2018. “My ultimate goal is to help this team win a lot of ballgames and help this team stay in the fight. I think that is what I am most proud of, the consistency of trying to do that for this team.”

That consistency has yielded a more mature pitcher who is comfortable with all four of his pitches, including an upper-90s four-seam fastball and a changeup that has sent many opposing batters back to the dugout muttering to themselves.

McClanahan, who made his MLB debut during the 2020 postseason, provided more than a glimpse last season of what was to come this time around. After being summoned from Triple-A Durham in late April, he went 10-6 with a 3.43 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 25 starts. He was 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA after the all-star break and finished seventh in American League Rookie of the Year balloting, third among pitchers.

“I think he has just built off of the momentum from last year,” said Cash, whose team rebounded from a three-game sweep at the hands of Cincinnati by sweeping a four-game series from Boston. “What has allowed him to do it, is that he is a four-pitch complete pitcher that commands the ball really well and has as good a stuff as anybody, if not better than anybody, in baseball.”

There is one streak McClanahan had snapped in Wednesday evening’s win over Boston. He exited having thrown 85 pitches after 11 straight starts of between 90 and 100 pitches.

McClanahan, who entered this season having pitched 251 innings in his professional career, logged a season-high 100 pitches in Anaheim against the Angels on May 11. His career-high for pitches is 101 at Minnesota last August.

“We are at the point with his workload where we might need to find some spots to manage it a little bit,” said Cash.

While it remains to be seen how that plays out, McClanahan is grateful for the opportunity to participate in next week’s all-star activities whether he takes the mound as his league’s starting pitcher or not.

“It’s an honor to be included in that conversation,” he said. “So, whether I get the ball or not, I feel really lucky to be there. This is what you dream about as a kid growing up.”