Rays’ Edwin Uceta Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

Rays right-hander Edwin Uceta underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder last month, president of baseball operations Erik Neander revealed in a session with the media earlier today (link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Specifics aren’t clear, but Neander added that Uceta is expected to miss at least the first couple months of the 2027 season. Uceta was a minor league pickup in the 2023-24 offseason who’d previously pitched with the Dodgers, D-backs, Mets and Cubs organizations. He came to the Rays with a career 5.80 ERA in 40 1/3 frames, but like so many other small-scale Rays pickups found a home in Tampa Bay. From 2024-25, Uceta pitched 117 2/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA. He fanned exactly one-third of his opponents, limited walks at a tidy 7.3% clip and induced some decidedly poor batted-ball metrics from opponents (88.1 mph average exit velocity, 34.8% hard-hit rate). Before long, Uceta had found himself in a high-leverage role. He saved five games and tallied seven holds late in the ’24 campaign, and he was one of manager Kevin Cash’s go-to setup arms in 2025 when he notched 21 holds (plus one rogue save). He looked locked into a setup role entering the 2026 campaign. Injuries changed that outlook. Uceta was slowed early this spring due to inflammation in his shoulder. He opened the season on the injured list, but a lengthy absence wasn’t expected. He was going through rehab appearances in extended spring training but was slowed down when he felt renewed discomfort. Follow-up imaging revealed a subscapularis strain in late April. At the time, the Rays signaled only a shutdown of two to three weeks, but Uceta was never able to get going. He wound up missing the entire season and will now be sidelined into 2027. With Uceta now out well into next season, the Rays could end up non-tendering him. Granted, his projected $1.525MM salary — a repeat of his 2026 salary, as is standard for arb-eligible players who miss a whole season — isn’t particularly burdensome. But keeping Uceta means dedicating a roster spot to him until the 60-day injured list becomes available whenever spring training opens in an offseason widely expected to be impacted by a lockout. It’s possible the Rays could non-tender Uceta and move to re-sign him in short order, of course. Though the track record is fairly short, he was an effective contributor who remains affordable and can be controlled all the way through the 2029 season. View Comments (1)