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Rays' Ryan Pepiot: Shaky in Grapefruit League debut
Rotowire
Pepiot allowed one unearned run on one hit and two walks in two innings during Friday's Grapefruit League game against Toronto. He struck out two.
Pepiot showed some signs of rust in his first spring outing, throwing just 19 of his 32 pitches for strikes. The right-hander's fastball velocity topped out at just 94.6 mph as well after averaging 95.2 mph in 2025, so he'll be looking to round into form in the coming weeks. Though he did manage a strong 3.41 ERA and 1.12 WHIP across 16 home starts at hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Field last regular season, Pepiot is still likely looking forward to the Rays moving back to pitcher-friendly Tropicana Field in 2026.
Pepiot agreed to a one-year, $3.025 million contract with the Rays on Thursday to avoid arbitration, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Pepiot made a career-high 31 starts for the Rays in 2025 but finished the season with a career-worst 3.86 ERA over 167.2 innings, largely due to his allowing 26 homers. The 28-year-old righty will receive a $2.25 million raise from Tampa Bay during his first year of arbitration eligibility and projects to be one of the top starters in the Rays' rotation in 2026.
Pepiot (11-12) allowed three runs on three hits and a walk over three innings Tuesday, striking out three and taking a loss against Baltimore.
Pepiot gave up a pair of runs in the first inning and another in the third. After six straight outings of at least five frames, he's combined to go just 4.2 innings over his last two appearances. During that stretch, his season ERA has jumped from 3.59 to 3.86. On the bright side, he has not allowed a home run in six consecutive outings. Pepiot took losses in back-to-back starts for the first time since July 13 and 20. He now owns a 167:61 K:BB through 167.2 innings after what is expected to be his final start of the 2025 campaign.
Pepiot (11-11) allowed four runs on four hits and three walks over 1.2 innings Tuesday, striking out three and taking a loss against the Blue Jays.
Pepiot missed his last scheduled start due to fatigue and clearly didn't have his best stuff Tuesday. He gave up a run in the first inning before Toronto plated three in the second. He tied his shortest outing of the year by recording only five outs, and his season ERA jumped from 3.59 to 3.77. On a positive note, his fastball sat at 95.5 mph, up slightly from his season average of 95.1 mph. Pepiot entered Tuesday on a 15-inning scoreless streak, but he hasn't produced a quality start since July 27. He's currently projected to face the Red Sox at home this weekend.
Pepiot (general fatigue) will return to the Tampa Bay rotation to start Tuesday's game against the Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
The Rays opted to scratch Pepiot ahead of his previous turn through the rotation this past Wednesday while he dealt with general body fatigue, a likely byproduct of him having already covered a career-high 163 innings on the season. The extra time off seemingly provided a necessary reset for Pepiot, who will re-enter the rotation this week after he said he felt "back to normal" following a bullpen session Saturday of about 10-to-15 pitches, per MLB.com. Though Pepiot shouldn't face any major workload restrictions Tuesday, the Rays aren't likely to let him push past the 100-pitch mark, which he's cleared just three times through his first 29 starts.
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