Tampa Bay Rays’ Lefty Ian Seymour Effective In Starting, Bulk Roles

Ian Seymour considered himself a “bad sports fan” growing up outside sports mad Boston. Sure, he may have had a pennant or two on his wall as a youth and when he was developing into a top-shelf high school pitcher at St. John’s in Shrewsbury, about 40 miles west of The Hub. Living and dying over a team’s performance? Nope. Miss a big game on TV? Who cares.

Should the 27-year-old southpaw continue to perform admirably in multiple roles as a member of the Tampa Bay’s pitching staff, plenty of fans may turn their attention to No. 61 in a Rays uniform.

Seymour, who is listed at six feet and 215 pounds, began the season in the bullpen before starting a couple of games in June. He also had multiple lengthy outings following an opener, including no-hitting the Royals over 6 2/3 innings June 25. In his most recent outing Thursday at Toronto, he followed opener Casey Legumina. Seymour threw six solid innings (5 H, 2 ER, 7 SO) and took the loss in the Rays’ 3-1 setback.

Frankly, Seymour has done it all. He had a couple of stints with the Rays as a rookie in 2025 and made each of his five starts following his final recall from Triple-A Durham at the end of the July. He had not worked out of the bullpen in his career, either at Virginia Tech or in the Rays’ system, until he first joined the parent club in June. Ironically, he made, and won, his MLB debut in Boston by throwing a pair of scoreless innings.

“They’re different jobs,” he said, of coming out of the ‘pen, especially in the latter stages of game, and starting. “To start, you use more of a full menu of pitches and you’re trying to get contact. Out of the bullpen, you’re pitching to not allow batters to put the ball in play. That difference was a little bit of a struggle early on out of the bullpen, and just navigating how to attack hitters in, say, the eighth inning versus in the first inning. It’s your full menu as a starter versus late in the game throwing my best pitch.”

Seymour was not making any pitches in the summer of 2022. He was shut down less than 20 appearances into his professional career thanks to an injury that required Tommy John surgery, which was performed that June. It was less than one year after he was named the Rays’ minor league pitcher of the month in August 2021.

“I went into that 2022 season not feeling great, and ended up needing Tommy John surgery,” he recalled, in the Rays’ clubhouse prior to the all-star break. “That ate up about two years of my minor league experience.”

Misery had plenty of company, which actually did not make the extended layoff so bad. In fact, it all worked out pretty well. Seymour rehabbed with a few of his best friends in the organization and made many more friends while feeding off each other’s positive vibes. That was especially the case while rehabbing at Class-A Charleston during a 2023 late-season return to mound that produced 40 innings of work across four levels.

Seymour’s effort fed into a productive offseason that yielded a banner 2024 campaign when he was named the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year. His scintillating resume included a 9-4 mark with a 2.35 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 27 starts between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham.

“That was a special year for me,” said the 2020 second-round selection (57^th) out of Virginia Tech, where he threw only a fastball - his heater tops out at about 94 mph – and a change before adding a bender after turning pro. “Just to know that I could still be successful after surgery, and at the (performance) level I was at previously, was nice. I was like, ‘I am still capable of doing this.’ There is always that doubt after surgery.”

There is no doubting Seymour’s value to the Rays. He directs much credit to manager Kevin Cash, pitching coach Kyle Snyder and a host of others who understand baseball is more than a business.

“This organization is always looking out for the player first,” he said. “I think that shows with (players) who are willing to try to do different things when they come here, and that is why you see so many guys come here and have success. I really think it’s a special culture that they have developed with getting to know you as a person. From top to bottom, I have nothing but praise for the people here and my development.”

This article was originally published on Forbes.com