Rays reunion with former All-Star pitcher doesn't last long

The Rays signed Odorizzi to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp on March 15, but he struggled in his two starts with the Triple-A Durham Bulls.

The 34-year-old allowed seven runs (all earned) on eight hits, five walks and two hit batters with just two strikeouts in his 5 1/3 innings with the Bulls. Odorizzi – who has averaged 3.1 walks per nine innings across his 11 MLB seasons – had control issues during his outings with Durham, throwing just 55 of his 100 pitches for strikes.

The 2008 first-round pick has been traded five times in his career, including from the Kansas City Royals to Tampa Bay in December 2012, where he would remain through the 2017 campaign. Odorizzi went 40-37 with a 3.82 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 639 strikeouts in 698 innings pitched over 127 games (124 starts) with the Rays.

He was moved to the Minnesota Twins in February 2018 and had his best season in 2019, going 15-7 with a 3.51 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 178 strikeouts over 159 innings pitched covering 30 starts. Odorizzi earned his lone All-Star honor that year as well.

The Breese, Illinois, native remained in Minnesota for the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign before spending 2021 and part of 2022 with the Houston Astros. Odorizzi was with the Atlanta Braves from August-November 2022 before he was traded again, this time to the Texas Rangers. He missed all of 2023 while recovering from shoulder surgery.

His hopes of returning to an MLB diamond for the first time in 18 months and coming back to Tampa Bay for the first time since September 2017 now appear to be dashed.

After Thursday's move was made, however, Odorizzi told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that once a hamstring injury is behind him, he is hoping to pitch again.