2022 Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight: Shane McClanahan Having Cy Young Season
It’s no secret that Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan has entered fantasy baseball and MLB stardom this season. The left-hander is a top contender for the American League Cy Young Award as he’s quickly risen to the first tier of fantasy baseball rankings, MLB projections, and MLB statistical league leaders. You can make the case for Nestor Cortes, Martín Pérez, or Alek Manoah, but the Tampa Bay starter deserves special recognition as possibly the best in the AL. Long gone are the days of McClanahan being a hot fantasy baseball waiver wire target or MLB top prospect. Now he’s an ace for fantasy baseball lineups and the Rays’ playoff hopes alike. How did McClanahan go from fantasy baseball sleeper to MLB pitching stud? Can the southpaw keep it up for the rest of this 2022 season? Let’s take a closer look at the Tampa Bay pitcher in this latest Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight.
Shane McClanahan Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight
If you aren’t aware of how dominant McClanahan has been this season, let’s first review some of his stellar numbers. The Rays’ lefty is rocking a 7-3 record, 1.84 ERA, and 0.86 WHIP through 13 starts thus far. He’s totaled 105 strikeouts over 78.1 innings with an elite 12.06 K/9 mark, a 35.2% strikeout rate, and a 7.0 K/BB rate. Oh, and he’s only allowed a .184 batting average against. Talk about tough to hit.
McClanahan ran into some trouble in his latest outing against the Yankees when he gave up four runs on seven hits, though only one of those runs was earned. The 25-year-old southpaw has now allowed just one earned run or fewer in six of his last seven starts. Check out his game logs from these past seven appearances and you can get a good idea of just how dominant he’s been.
| Date | Opponent | IP | ER | SO | H | BB | DEC |
| June 15 | NYY | 6 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | L |
| June 9 | STL | 8 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 1 | W |
| June 3 | CWS | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 0 | W |
| May 29 | NYY | 6 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | W |
| May 24 | MIA | 6 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 2 | W |
| May 17 | DET | 7 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 0 | W |
| May 11 | LAA | 7 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 1 | ND |
The advanced stats also mostly back up McClanahan’s hot start to the season. His 2.73 FIP, 2.48 xERA, and 2.12 xFIP suggest more stud-level outings are on the way. The slight worry is his higher 87% left-on-base rate and low .251 BABIP. That could mean he’s gotten luckier at times than the average starting pitcher, but it’s not like those numbers are huge outliers. Maybe he regresses a touch moving forward, though he’ll still be in the Cy Young conversation through October.
To get a better idea of McClanahan’s impressive 2022 season, check out his Statcast profile on Baseball Savant. Notice all the red in his MLB percentile rankings in a number of advanced stats.
Now check out how his Statcast numbers have improved from last season’s MLB percentile ranks.
If you’re unfamiliar with McClanahan’s career to this point, here’s a quick refresher. The Rays drafted the University of South Florida product 31st overall in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft. In 2019, he compiled a 3.36 ERA over three levels of minor league ball in the Tampa Bay organization. After not pitching in the minors or majors during the 2020 COVID-impacted season, McClanahan did get called up for the Rays’ postseason roster. That first taste of big-league action came with mixed results as he pitched to an 8.31 ERA over 4.1 innings spanning four outings.
McClanahan then cracked the Rays’ rotation to begin the 2021 season and he put together a solid rookie campaign with a 3.43 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 10-6 record across 25 starts. He showed flashes of the talent that made him a first-round pick and top MLB prospect. Still, the 25-year-old has taken a step forward in the starting pitcher rankings to become one of the league’s best young arms.
Now let’s take a closer look at how and why McClanahan is having so much success on the mound this season.
We can start by looking at his top-tier pitch arsenal with multiple plus pitches. First off, the 95-99 mph fastball is understandably tough to hit for even the best MLB hitters. The fact that McClanahan is tossing that gas from the left-hand side makes it even harder. It’s not just about the speed, though. The Tampa southpaw also gets plenty of movement and run on those four-seam fastballs that make them look more like two-seamers.
McClanahan also had his fastball speed last year, but his 2022 success can be largely attributed to the improved changeup and curveball pitches. Let’s look at the change first. In 2021, the lefty threw the changeup on just 8.0% of his total pitches and opposing hitters accrued a .393 average and .515 wOBA with just a 13.3% strikeout rate. This season? The change makes up 21.2% of his pitch repertoire with a 41.3% K rate and .143 BA/.143 wOBA against. The changeup is now a legit out pitch for McClanahan as he’s throwing it with more confidence and run.
As for the curveball, McClanahan is throwing it 26% of the time with a .141 average and .143 wOBA allowed to go along with a 44.8% strikeout rate. Compare that to 2021 when the curve made up 16.3% of his arsenal with a .202 BA, .216 wOBA, and 36.6% K rate. Those are still good numbers, but the slight increase in efficiency and effectiveness has turned the curveball into another elite pitch.
Imagine opposing hitters having to worry about McClanahan’s nasty changeup and curveball when they know a 98 mph fastball is also in the tank. Oh, and the Tampa lefty also mixes in a slider 15% of the time – making his heater and the other offspeed pitches even more lethal.
When you put it all together, that elite-level pitch arsenal is a major reason why McClanahan has taken a step forward among the top MLB pitchers. We saw flashes of his brilliance last year, but the improved changeup and curveball being thrown at higher rates cannot go overlooked. He’s continually mesmerizing hitters at the plate with the threat of three top-tier weapons.
As for McClanahan’s rest-of-season expectations, the lefty is looking like every bit of the ace that the Rays drafted him to be. We have no reason to be worried about negative regression in the coming months. It’s also encouraging to see Tampa Bay let him pitch into the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings on a regular basis. As we know, that isn’t always guaranteed for Rays starting pitchers. There’s a slight chance that the Tampa pitching coach and manager limit his innings towards the end of the year to preserve the youngster’s long-term health. Still, that likely won’t be the case if the team is fighting for a playoff spot in September/October.
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