During the shortened 2020 season, twelve different Rays pitchers threw 20 or more innings, including front-line starters Tyler Glasnow, Charlie Morton, and Blake Snell. Do you know which of those twelve guys had the lowest Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP)? If you read the title of this article you probably have a pretty good guess; the answer is Aaron Slegers.
Slegers has had an eventful first tenure with Tampa Bay, at least as far as his transaction log was concerned:
- 3/30/19: Pirates traded Aaron Slegers to the Rays for cash considerations
- 5/16/19: Rays designated Aaron Slegers for assignment
- 8/21/19: Rays selected the contract of Aaron Slegers
- 9/2/19: Rays designated Aaron Slegers for assignment
- 10/1/19: Aaron Slegers elected free agency
- 1/13/20: Rays signed Aaron Slegers to a minor league deal
- 8/12/20: Rays selected Aaron Slegers to the active roster
- 2/8/21: Rays traded Aaron Slegers to the Angels for cash considerations
- 8/28/21: Angels outrighted Aaron Slegers to AAA
- 8/29/21: Aaron Slegers elected free agency
- 8/31/21: Rays signed Aaron Slegers to a minor league deal
While Slegers did not actually pitch for the big league Rays in 2021, he did get a few outings with AAA Durham at the end of the season.