ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays will be without starter Ryan Pepiot for the rest of the year, as manager Kevin Cash said on Friday the right-hander is set to undergo season-ending right hip surgery on May 13.
Pepiot has been sidelined since the end of Spring Training due to right hip inflammation. He was placed on the 15-day injured list on March 25, when the Rays set their Opening Day roster, and he was transferred to the 60-day IL on April 14.
Dr. Thomas Byrd will perform the procedure in Nashville, Tenn. Pepiot is expected to be ready for Spring Training next year.
“It’s unfortunate,” Cash said before the Rays’ series opener against the Giants at Tropicana Field. “We were hoping he was going to be available at some point. It just didn’t look like it was going to turn in the right direction.”
Pepiot was a key part of Tampa Bay’s rotation the previous two seasons, posting a 3.75 ERA in 297 2/3 innings over 57 starts in 2024-25. The Rays planned to have him back in their season-opening rotation until the final days of Spring Training, when he was sidelined by the injury he had been attempting to pitch through.
At the time, the Rays and Pepiot expected it to be a short absence. He threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on April 12, then he received another injection in his hip. He said he felt “unstable” playing catch from 60 feet on April 20, but he planned to continue his throwing program, noting that he felt fine doing everything but pitching.
“I thought it was a whole lot of nothing. I think we all did, and it's just kind of not bounced back,” Pepiot said on April 21. “It's a weird one. It's tough, because I can walk around and I can do things and I feel like I'm fine, and then I get to do my job and I physically am struggling to do that. So obviously it's frustrating, and I'm getting frustrated when I'm out there, because I'm trying to do what I know how to do.”
Last week, Pepiot said he had undergone an MRI and three different X-rays to examine his hip area. But throwing continued to be an issue, as he said he didn’t feel like he could use his legs in his delivery due to the instability in his hip.
When Pepiot was initially sidelined, the Rays recalled Joe Boyle to take his spot in the rotation. Boyle has been out since April 10 due to a right elbow strain, although he’s working his way back and could soon begin a Minor League rehab assignment.
With Boyle also injured, the Rays turned to right-hander Jesse Scholtens to fill a bulk-innings role. Now, it seems that spot in the rotation will be filled by right-hander Griffin Jax.
After an inconsistent start to the season in the bullpen, Jax worked 2 1/3 innings as an opener in his last outing on Sunday. He is slated to start against the Giants on Saturday as he continues his transition from the bullpen to the rotation. Jax is likely to throw three innings or roughly 40 pitches as he gradually increases his workload.
It’s a familiar path for the Rays, who guided Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell through similar moves from relieving to starting. Like those three, Jax has a track record as a starter, having broken into the Majors in the Twins’ rotation, and he boasts a diverse pitch mix that should allow him to turn over a lineup multiple times.
Jax has been preparing to start since his last outing, and he spent the entire series in Cleveland in the Rays’ dugout with the other starting pitchers. Moving back into the rotation was a topic of conversation in Minnesota before he was traded last summer, and it came up again after being dealt to Tampa Bay.
Jax said he wanted to keep things as simple as possible to finish last season, and being selected to pitch in Team USA’s bullpen in the World Baseball Classic required a different approach in Spring Training. But injuries created another opportunity, and Jax felt he was ready for it.
“This is an organization that's had some success doing this in the past,” Jax said. “I felt like this was the right place to do this because of the success this team has had. Kyle Snyder's the best pitching coach in the Major Leagues, so when the conversation got brought up, it was a pretty easy decision for me, just knowing that this was the right place to do it. … I think, all in all, it's gonna be the right decision.”