The tightest pants in baseball made it back to the mound just under 15 months removed from his 2023 Tommy John surgery, but Ray lasted just seven starts until a hamstring injury in late August shelved him for the rest of the season. Even in those 30 innings, Ray once again showed the upside of rostering him, as well as the downside of rostering him. He struck out 43 batters in 30.2 innings but also walked 15 around 6 homers, which pushed his ERA to 4.70 despite a respectful 1.14 WHIP. Even with all the rust from the long layoff, Ray's stuff was as good, if not better, results-wise than in his Cy Young-winning season. His fastball and slider had near equivalent whiff rates to his 2021 outcomes, while the league hit .167 and .148 respectively off the fastball and slider last season. The third pitch he continues to pursue, a knuckle curve, is all over the place for results, and most of them have been poor to date. Ray may not be able to resume the 190-plus inning workload he was shouldering presurgery, but the risk/reward here is rather enticing as long as you understand homers will always be a problem for him. Read Past Outlooks