Raya threw five scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks in his first start with Triple-A St. Paul on Friday. He was promoted for the final weekend of the season after posting a 4.06 ERA with a 9.4 K/9 at Double-A Wichita.
Raya wasn't overly impressive at Double-A with a 4.3 BB/9, as walks have been a concern the last two seasons (4.3 BB/9 at Double-A in 2023 as well). Raya also didn't go more than five innings in any outing after being limited to three-inning appearances most of 2023 as he worked his way back from shoulder issues. It's not clear if his future is as a reliever or starter, but he could contend for a major-league job next spring.
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Twins' Marco Raya: Moves up to Double-A
Rotowire
The Twins promoted Raya from High-A Cedar Rapids to Double-A Wichita on Monday.
Raya will make the jump to Double-A after he churned out a 2.94 ERA and 0.93 WHIP while striking out 29.5 percent of the batters he faced. In an effort to manage the 20-year-old's workload, the Twins have limited Raya to 3-to-4-inning starts for most of the season. That trend is expected to continue in Wichita.
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Twins' Marco Raya: Limited to three-inning outings
Rotowire
Raya has a 2.61 ERA and a 20:5 K:BB ratio in 20.2 innings at High-A Cedar Rapids. He's made seven starts, but he's been limited to three-inning outings as the Twins try to manage his workload, MLB.com reports.
A 2020 fourth-round pick, Raya didn't pitch in 2021 due to a shoulder strain and the Twins limited him to 65 innings in 2022. He began the 2023 season on the injured list after experiencing shoulder tightness during spring training, but he returned in early April. It sounds like the Twins are going to be very careful with his workload the rest of the season given the sparse amount of innings he's logged the past three years.
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Twins' Marco Raya: Battling shoulder tightness
Rotowire
Raya left his outing early on Saturday as a precaution due to shoulder tightness, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Raya made a strong impression last season at Low-A Fort Myers with a 3.05 ERA and 10.5 K/9. His fastball sits in the mid-to-high 90s and he has a quality curveball, slider and change as well, so the stuff is there for the 20-year-old to grow into a big-league starter. Durability will be the big question for Raya, so it's worrisome he's facing issues in camp, even though this could be minor.
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Twins' Marco Raya: Wisdom teeth removed
Rotowire
Raya is having his wisdom teeth removed, which is why he is on the 7-day injured list at Low-A Fort Myers, Seth Stohs of Twins Daily reports.
Raya is coming off a dominant start Tuesday, when he struck out 10 and allowed one baserunner in six scoreless innings. According to Geoff Pontes of Baseball America, he was sitting 94-95 mph with his fastball into the sixth inning while commanding an 83-85 mph sweeping slider and also mixing in a 79-81 mph curveball.
