Written by Trevor Filkins
Edited by John Aidala
The Rays traded away switch-hitting catcher prospect, Enderson Delgado and cash for reliever Alex Faedo. Faedo had already been DFA’d by Detroit as a reaction to the team signing former New York Yankee reliever, Tommy Kahnle. A former first rounder by the Tigers in 2017, Faedo has the potential to be a valuable back end piece in the Rays bullpen. He has already tallied a few above average seasons, but the Rays are notorious around the league for developing pitchers beyond their expected ceilings. For most, Faedo is viewed as an end of game reliever, but knowing the Rays, he could make his way into starting a few games.
Alex Faedo reminds me of a former Rays all-star reliever, Andrew Kittredge. He demonstrates very similar movement profiles to Kittredge, with an even better changeup. This could make him a lethal weapon toward left-handed batters in high leverage situations this year. With a larger frame than Kittredge as well, I believe the Rays can tap into Faedo's potential in ways that Detroit was unable to do. The Rays have a knack in channeling more velocity from their pitchers over the past decade or so.
While Kittredge had a more unique fastball in contrast to Faedo, I expect the Rays to put their effort increasing velocity and movement of Faedo's heater. A pitch to better complement his tremendous slider and above average changeup. I believe the Rays will lean more into a sinker-slider combination for righties and fastball-changeup for lefties. In Detroit, he shied away from his sinker, but I expect that the Rays will tinker around with his pitch repetoire and squeeze the max potential out of of him moving forward.
Faedo has the slider to become one of those feature guys for the Rays. They will certainly try to utilize him as an opener to see how malleable Faedo is in multiple game situations. They will significantly increase the use of his slider, as it is his bread and butter pitch. The Rays are known for having their pitcher rely heavily on their primary pitch as much as possible. Matt Wisler, a former pitcher who concluded his career in Tampa Bay, threw around 91% sliders during his two year tenure with the organization. This is one of many examples of the Rays encourage the heavy use of a primary pitch. Although I do not expect Faedo throwing nine sliders out of ten like Wisler did, I do anticipate an increase of his slider utilization in 2025.
Faedo in Detroit was likeable in his ability to get outs in high leverage situations. He has the experience of pitching in difficult circumstances, including Detroit's playoff run last October. Potentially, he will be considered a high ranking option going in next season. He is a Tampa Bay native, having been to many Rays games as a high schooler. Pitching for his hometown team will only serve to his comfortability when taking the mound for Tampa. The Rays' home will be a lot different this year as the team will be playing at the Yankees' Spring Training facility, as a result of Hurricane Milton.