Sunday will mark the Tampa Bay Rays regular season debut for pitcher Luis Patino, who will open the rubber match of the team’s three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field, and the 21-year-old feels he is ready to return to the big leagues after making his Major League debut last year with the San Diego Padres.
“I feel good, and I’m very happy to be up at this level again,” Patiño said through translator Manny Navarro Saturday. “I’ve been at the alternate training site working and training and preparing for this opportunity.”
It’s an opportunity that no doubt comes with a lot of expectation. After all, Patiño was a key piece — perhaps THE key piece — that made Rays general manager Erik Neander comfortable in trading Blake Snell to San Diego in the offseason.
Fans have the expectation of him performing on the field. His fellow teammates likely have the expectation that he’ll be able to fit in with the dynamic already being built in the clubhouse. But perhaps the biggest expectation for Patiño comes from within, because Sunday’s debut with the Rays will take place in front of the two people he cares about the most: his parents, who flew in from Colombia Saturday evening to be at Tropicana Field.
“Last year when I debuted, I couldn’t call anybody to show up at the stadium,” Patiño said. “[My parents] will be able to come out here and prepare accordingly, and mentally it’s good to know that my family [is] going to be around, and I’m prepared to just go out there and do something special, and I’m ready to go.”
Patiño said he has gotten stretched out to four innings, and last pitched on Monday, but has only pitched against one other team at the alternate training site in Port Charlotte due to rainouts: the Blue Jays. But manager Kevin Cash feels he can still make a strong impression.
“We know he’s got a lot of talent. He’s a continued work in progress, shaping his breaking ball and his changeup, but the fastball, he’s got a good one,” Cash said. “We’re excited to have him, and he can help in whatever capacity.”
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
