The All-Star break is arriving with some badly needed timing for Drew Rasmussen.
Tampa Bay’s right-hander has been one of the Rays’ brightest arms all season, and his first half earned him a spot in the 2026 MLB All-Star Game. He’ll be joined there by Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz and Bryan Baker, giving the Rays four first-half standouts headed to the midsummer showcase.
Rasmussen’s June was especially sharp. He won the American League Pitcher of the Month Award, while Caminero took home the hitter’s Player of the Month honor, a clean sweep for Tampa Bay. Through his first 16 starts and 92 innings, Rasmussen carried a 2.45 ERA and looked every bit like the steady ace the Rays needed.
The last two outings before the break, though, told a very different story.
Against the Houston Astros on July 4, Rasmussen allowed five earned runs in five innings. He gave up six hits, including home runs to Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz, and his ERA climbed to 2.78. A chance to bounce back came quickly, but the New York Yankees turned that into another rough night.
That matchup usually favors Rasmussen. In his career against the Yankees, he had posted a 0.89 ERA across 50.2 innings, allowing just five earned runs. That number is so low that it ranks as the fourth-lowest mark by any pitcher against a single AL/NL opponent since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913.
None of that mattered on July 9, when the Yankees hit him hard in the final game of their four-game set. Rasmussen was tagged for seven hits and six earned runs in just 2.1 innings.
He got through the first two frames cleanly, then the third unraveled fast: Max Schuemann doubled, Ryan McMahon followed with another double, Trent Grisham drove in a run with a single, and Ben Rice added a two-run homer. After Jasson Dominguez, Cody Bellinger and Jose Caballero all singled in a row, Kevin Cash pulled Rasmussen and handed the ball to Cam Booser.
The damage pushed Rasmussen’s season ERA to 3.26, nearly a full run higher than it had been after his strong stretch earlier in the year.
For a pitcher who looked so locked in just a few weeks ago, the break could hardly come at a better time.
In Other News...
Yankees Just Got Linked To A Trade Fans Will Hate Or Love
A speculative trade idea from Bleacher Report has the Yankees in an eye-catching spot, with the discussion centered on whether a utility infielder could be worth parting with a pair of pitching prospects. The appeal on New Yorks side is easy to see: Carlos Lagrange brings big arm strength and starter upside, while Eric Reyzelman has also drawn enough attention to be included in the kind of package that gets people talking.
Lagrange, in particular, has the sort of profile that makes these proposals divisive. The 23-year-old right-hander can reach 100 mph, pairs that heater with an above-average slider, and was effective in Triple-A before a shoulder injury complicated his season. On the other side of the idea sits Zack Gelof, a versatile infielder with years of team control and an .823 OPS, which is exactly why this kind of rumor can split a fan base right down the middle. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Boone Finally Addressed The Anthony Volpe Confusion
The Yankees shortstop conversation has been noisy enough that it started to feel bigger than the actual depth chart, with Jose Caballeros name entering the debate and Anthony Volpe suddenly having to answer for a position he has long owned. Aaron Boone stepped in to calm some of that down, making clear that Volpe remains the clubs shortstop and treating him like the incumbent rather than a player fighting to keep a job.
Boones comments also helped separate the real baseball question from the rumor mill surrounding Volpes role. The Yankees have supported him as the starter, and while the chatter around a possible move has lingered, the team has not asked him to play elsewhere, leaving the focus where it belongs: on how the Yankees sort out the infield behind the guy they still view as their shortstop. [Read more 🡒]
A Forgotten Yankees Prospect From 2016 Is Back For The Worst Reason
A former Yankees pitching prospect from the 2016 system has resurfaced in an unwelcome way, this time in the Rockies Triple-A orbit. At 34, he is still hanging around professional baseball after a career that never quite matched the early buzz, one that took him out of the Yankees pipeline and eventually led to a major league debut with Oakland.
What makes the latest turn notable is less the uniform than the reason for it. The right-handers path has already included the usual grind of a fluctuating career, but now he is back in the news for a suspension tied to performance-enhancing drugs, a reminder that even players long removed from the spotlight can still leave one more awkward footnote behind. [Read more 🡒]