The Tampa Bay Rays have taken a novel approach to starting pitching this season, essentially giving one turn in the rotation to an intentional "bullpen day" filled with several pitchers in short stints.
The Rays have experienced relative success doing it and are expected to do it against the Twins on Sunday at Target Field, so the question is this: Should this be a model other teams adopt?
First take: Michael Rand
Personally, I love the concept. The Rays did it for multiple reasons, but the two biggest ones I've seen cited were an abundance of pitching depth and the desire to keep pitchers from having to face batters a second time through the order.
Both their starters and bullpen have ERAs in MLB's top 10. Ryne Stanek, their most common de facto "starter" during bullpen day, has excelled in the role. In 11 starts (totaling just 16⅔ innings), he's allowed only two runs.
It really only works with the right set of pitchers, but it has merit. Consider the Twins, who use a conventional five-man rotation. Their starters have allowed a .682 OPS to batters the first time they face them in a game this year, but that jumps to .741 the second time and to .828 the third time.
Seems smart to avoid that if you can, doesn't it?
Chris Hine: It is, and by now everybody in baseball is aware of the dreaded "third time through the order" statistics. I love that the Rays are doing this and taking a radical look at something baseball took for granted for a long time — how to deploy pitchers. Teams look for any edge they can and they'll also copy anything that works. Given Tampa's success, I bet other teams will try to adopt this in future years.
