Tampa Bay Ray lefty Shane McClanahan fires a pitch against the Boston Red Sox Friday in Port Charlotte. The Cape HIgh graduate is set to start the season with the Rays after missing the last two seasons with injuries that required surgery.

NATHAN MAYBERG

A year ago, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher and Cape Coral High School graduate Shane McClanahan couldn’t feel his hand. The two-time American League All-Star had recovered from Tommy John surgery, which kept him out of baseball for the 2024 season. Pitching in his final Spring Training last year against the Boston Red Sox, a sudden pain led him to abruptly exit a game.

Diagnosed with nerve damage in his triceps, McClanahan missed another year of baseball.

On Friday, McClanahan was giving hugs in the Rays dugout to his pitching coach, fitness coach and others after throwing five scoreless innings against the Red Sox in a Spring Training game in Port Charlotte. It was the most innings McClanahan had thrown in any game since July 2023.

“Anybody who wanted a hug,” McClanahan said after his parade of hugs through the dugout.

This latest trial for McClanahan to pass, is just one of many he has been through. After a dominant 2015 senior season at Cape High that led to him being drafted by the New York Mets in the 26th round, McClanahan went to the University of South Florida instead and in his first year underwent his first Tommy John surgery. He was able to bounce back and pitch well enough to be a first round compensatory pick by the Rays in 2018. He flew through their Minor League system, and became one of the few players in baseball history to debut in the playoffs, when he was called up in the fall of 2020. debuting in the post season.

McClanahan would pitch against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series and the Astros in the American League Championship Series. He finished his playoffs with one inning of relief against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series. After being named to two American League All-Star teams in 2023 and 2023, McClanahan had his second Tommy John surgery, losing all of his 2024 season.

A year ago, it wasn’t clear when McClanahan would get back to the mound after the nerve injury required surgery.

McClanahan’s road to recovery was even more emotional after his dad James (Clancy) died in January. Shane was born in Baltimore and moved to Cape Coral with his family when he was 5. His dad volunteered at St. Andrews Catholic School in Cape Coral and coached his children’s softball and Little League teams. He later was a volunteer umpire at several local Little League baseball fields.

So when you saw McClanahan on Friday hugging coaches and teammates after throwing five innings for the first time in more than two years, it was easy to understand how emotional it was for him.

“It was fun,” McClanahan said of his last Spring Training outing. “It doesn’t matter if it’s pretty, sexy, ugly, just get the job done that’s all that matters.”

McClanahan said he thinks he still needs to be “more consistent with his body and fill out the zone better” as he navigates being away from pitching for more than two years. “That will come with reps,” he said.

While McClanahan will find time to fine tune his arsenal throughout the season, on Friday his stuff looked crisp, especially for somebody who hasn’t pitched in more than two years and has had to overcome what he has. Over 73 pitches, his fastball was moving between 93-96 mph, his changeup and slider were working between 85-86 mph, and his curveball has plenty of bite at 80 mph. Before Tommy John surgery, McClanahan was known for being able to dial up his fastball up to 98 mph with a slider that could top out at 90 mph.

“I thought everything was working good,” he said. “I have got to throw a little bit more strikes with the fastball. That’s the last thing to come. I am still trying to get this body going and getting everything timed up. That will come though.”

“I am not worried about it, he continued. “I am not going to press too hard. It’s Spring Training. The regular season has got a little bit more juice to it.”

He started off Friday’s game by hitting Roman Anthony on a fastball but settled down to strike out three batters in the inning. He finished the day with four strikeouts over five scoreless innings while allowing three hits and two walks.

“It’s always good to get that last one under your belt,” he said. “It feels really good.”

McClanahan is expected to make his big league season debut in Milwaukee next week.

“Excited to get this thing rolling,” McClanahan said.

Rays Manager Kevin Cash liked what he saw from the left-hander. “I was excited by him,” Cash said. “He looked really good. His last two outings, he has got a good feel for the changeup. His fastball velocity is right in line with what we were hoping it would be at this point.”

Cash said McClanahan’s changeup is his most effective pitch.

“When he is healthy, it’s a four-pitch mix that is pretty dominating. On a given night, he can use two pitches to keep hitters off balance. The changeup has probably been the highlight pitch this Spring Training. The arm speed, the fade and the action that he creates, the depth, it doesn’t seem like many hitters have an answer for it,” Cash said.

Garrett Cleavinger relieved McClanahan on Friday.

“I can’t wait to see what does this year,” Cleavinger said. “The adversity that he has gone through the last couple of years was tough. To see him healthy and back out there, you can just see the smile on his face and how happy he is to be here again.” Cleavinger said hitting that five-inning mark for McClanahan was “a good hurdle to cross now and now he is ready to roll. He is incredible, one of the best in the game.”

McClanahan said he lost about 15 pounds since last year.

“I came into camp around 215, 216 last year thinking the extra muscle would help and decided that it was a little bit more of a hinderance. I felt stiff and I wanted to get back to being loose and being who I am and just letting my body be whatever it wants to be.”

McClanahan doesn’t just throw with high velocity, touching better than 96 miles per hour with his fastball in his last start, but he also wastes no time between pitches. His quick delivery makes him perfectly suited for the pitch clock era.

McClanahan’s quick movements are all part of the confidence he exhibits on the mound and away from the mound, something that he has exhibited going back to when he made his brief stop in Port Charlotte in 2019 and left town with a 1.46 ERA. While pitching for the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs that year, McClanahan limited hitters to a .183 batting average, on his way to speeding through three Minor League levels.

“It’s a big deal,” Cash said of what McClanahan has gone through to get back on the mound. “It takes some type of mental strength to overcome it because there are a lot of frustrating days throughout that rehab process. They all think when they go through it to some degree that they are invincible and then when they realize they are not, it’s an added element that you have got to have it in your mind that you are going to get through it and withstand it.”

McClanahan makes Tampa his home these days. His family has since moved from Cape Coral. McClanahan’s number was retired by Cape Coral High School in 2022. He still has friends in Cape Coral that he connects with, he said.

“A lot of love for all the people in Cape Coral that support me and I am very thankful for it,” McClanahan said Friday after the game.

Following the game, there were more hugs waiting for McClanahan from his family on the field in Port Charlotte for the last time this Spring Training. He now heads up I-75 to pitch in St. Petersburg on what he and Rays fans hope will be an injury-free season for the 28-year-old.

Last year, McClanahan said he thinks he got a little bit ahead of himself returning off Tommy John surgery and thinking too far into ahead.

“Just take it one day,” he said Friday. “Just let one foot lead you to the next and trust today’s work will lead you to tomorrow.”

To reach NATHAN MAYBERG, please email nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com