Tampa Bay Rays get potential gem in Corey Kluber if he can stay healthy
By Kevin Henry
The Tampa Bay Rays added starting pitcher Corey Kluber on a one-year deal on Sunday morning, hoping that the 35-year-old right-hander can stay healthy and regain his All-Star form.
If Corey Kluber can bounce back from injuries, he can potentially make an impact for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2022
Kluber has made just 24 starts over the last three seasons because of injuries. That includes 16 last season for the New York Yankees, where he posted a 3.83 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and struck out 82 in 80 innings. Those numbers include a no-hitter on May 19 at the Texas Rangers where he struck out nine and walked just one in a 101-pitch game.
It was part of a May where the three-time All-Star went 3-1 in five starts with a 2.27 ERA and allowed just 17 hits in 31.2 innings, striking out 36 and walking 10. Numbers like that are exactly why the Tampa Bay Rays signed Kluber to a one-year deal.
However, there is the flip side of Kluber from 2021. He was placed on the 10-day injured list on May 27 with a right shoulder strain, then eventually moved to the 60-day injured list. He didn’t return to the mound until August 30, then was shelled in his return (giving up five hits and five runs in four innings at the Los Angeles Angels) before posting a 4.37 ERA in five September starts where he surrendered 28 hits in 22.2 innings.
Kluber has been on the 60-day injured list in each of the last three seasons, including a right ulna fracture with Cleveland in 2019 and a tear of right teres muscle after just one inning in a Texas uniform.
Flash back, however, to the three seasons in Cleveland prior to his 2019 injury where he stayed healthy and you will see what the Rays are hoping to get from Kluber. During that stretch, he made 94 starts and finished in the top three in American League Cy Young Award voting each season, including winning the award in 2017 thanks in part to a 2.25 ERA, 0.869 WHIP, and allowing just 6.2 hits per nine innings.
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If Kluber can stay healthy and flash some of his All-Star form, he can not only eat the 2021 Tampa Bay innings vacated by Michael Wacha after he recently signed a one-year deal with the Boston Red Sox, but also be a key piece of the Rays returning to the postseason in 2022.