Rays’ Shane McClanahan became an All-Star in a hurry

ST. PETERSBURG — Shane McClanahan wasn’t supposed to be this good this soon.

Not the ace of the Rays’ staff, arguably the best starting pitcher in the majors this season with an unparalleled repertoire of four plus-grade pitches, and the starter for the American League team in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

At least not when you consider how far he had to go, how hard he had to work, and how much he had to grow — physically, mentally, emotionally — to get there.

“Shane,” manager Kevin Cash said, “has come a long way.”

Late bloomer

Playing travel and high school ball in the Fort Myers area after his family moved down from Baltimore, the left-hander didn’t exactly look like a future All-Star.

“I remember going down to a summer tournament, and he was throwing like 82-84 (mph),” USF coach Billy Mohl said. “Skinny kid, not very tall. I turned around and walked away.”

A growth spurt between McClanahan’s junior and senior years made a big difference, as he went from 5-feet-6 to his current 6 feet, adding weight and, more importantly, velocity, into the low 90s.

“I was happy I was growing. I was tired of being 5-6,” McClanahan said. “I just got bigger and got stronger and started throwing a little harder. It was definitely encouraging. And I felt like it was about damn time.”

That got him the opportunity to play Division I college ball, choosing USF over Miami and hometown Florida Gulf Coast, and passing on the pros after the Mets took a 26th-round flyer on him in 2015.

“It was one of those things where it was almost like just before your eyes he was growing, like, ‘We just got done with a conversation, did you grow 2 inches?’” Cape Coral High coach Mike Gorton said.

“So it was definitely there. He just bloomed late. A really, really good high school pitcher became a really great high school pitcher.”

After sitting out his first season at USF while recovering from Tommy John surgery, McClanahan in two seasons became a key part of the Bulls’ rotation, his velocity continuing to increase and impress.

“When he threw, it was special,” Mohl said. “You just don’t see that every day.”

That made McClanahan, as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2018, the subject of considerable interest among pro scouts who saw the fastball nearing triple digits as a valuable weapon. And saw McClanahan being more help sooner in a bullpen role.

“Most teams, in speaking to the scouts prior to him being drafted, it was, ‘We could throw him in a reliever role, and that would probably be his quickest way to the big leagues,’” Mohl said. “It was an elite fastball, and the secondary stuff hadn’t quite gotten to where it is now.”

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The Rays, while not ruling out McClanahan starting eventually, saw him on the reliever track, too.

That was what they were expecting when they took him with their second pick, No. 31 overall, in the 2018 draft and signed him at the deadline for a $2.3 million bonus. (It was a somewhat bold move, given an email from McClanahan’s former representative discouraging them from taking the pitcher in a ploy to get him to another team that supposedly planned to offer more.)

‘I knew I was a starter’

What the Rays, or anyone other than McClanahan, didn’t know at the time is what they are thrilled to rave about now:

How determined he would be about improving, moving quickly to the majors and establishing himself as a starter. “I knew I was a starter,” he said. (Added Gorton, “He’s always gotten better every single year.”)

How receptive McClanahan would be to refining and expanding his repertoire, essentially transforming himself into one of the majors’ most complete starters with a four-pitch mix, using his fastball, slider, curve and newly improved changeup almost equally and unpredictably.

How diligent he would be about his training regimen and arm-care program.

How impressively he would be assume a leadership role, especially for a kid his high school coach called shy and his college coach said was nervous and lacked confidence.

And how consistently dominant he would be.

Nor did they expect that in this his first full season in the big leagues (he was called up in late April 2021) and having just turned 25 this past April he would compile one of the best pre-All-Star break performances in MLB history: a 10-3 record with a majors-best 1.71 ERA and 0.795 walks and hits per inning, and 147 strikeouts (in 110-2/3 innings), tied for second.

Being wrong never felt so good.

“It increases your humility,” Rays baseball operations president Erik Neander said. “There are a lot of things that we think are coming, and we’re wrong a lot. It’s really helpful to be wrong in unexpected positive ways.”

‘We would have taken him earlier’

Not that they didn’t expect McClanahan to be really good. Just not necessarily this great this soon.

“Look, we took Shane in a really high position in the draft, and there was a meaningful financial investment provided,” Neander said. “It was an electric arm that had a nose for strikeouts in college. But the polish, the repeating the delivery, the depths of the repertoire, you’re thinking this is potentially a power arm that has a nose for missing bats and can find its way to impact in the big leagues in some maybe shorter bursts, or roles like that.

“To see him turn into the ace that he is right now, you never — we would have taken him earlier. Like, truly. We clearly had a high opinion of him. ... But you don’t ever expect when you draft a player, even in that part of the draft, to develop and to ascend the way he has. And, frankly, as quickly as he has, too.”

The Rays’ player development and support staffs helped get McClanahan to the majors (he made a historic debut as a reliever during the 2020 postseason) and pitching coach Kyle Snyder has led the team effort to guide and help him continue to improve.

But McClanahan deserves the most credit, with his Rays teammates, staff and bosses raving about how he has matured, developed more confidence and become a better teammate, even now occasionally smiling and making small talk on his start days. “No more headphones in, quiet, just sitting in his locker,” pitcher Drew Rasmussen said.

All while becoming better on the mound.

“Justin S’ua, our head of mental performance, and I were talking and both of us just used the word how ‘remarkable’ it’s been, how fast he’s grown into this leader, how fast he’s grown into probably the best pitcher in baseball,” Snyder said.

Rays TV analyst Brian Anderson, a left-hander who pitched 13 seasons in the majors, coached parts of two and has called games fulltime for 12, said McClanahan is the one big-leaguer from that time who he would spend his own money to watch.

He ticks off a list of McClanahan’s traits that have impressed him: being accountable, responsible and “competitive as all get out,” having a great work ethic and a desire to “want to be great” rather than just good, and pitching at a consistently dominant level.

And all of it so much better this season than before.

“It has been overnight,” Anderson said. “You knew coming into the season he was going to be a big part of the rotation, and you couldn’t wait to see him over 162 (games). But there’s not a person outside of probably Shane that could imagine he’d be this good this fast.”

So, did Shane?

“Yeah,” McClanahan said. “Why not?”

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