The Seattle Mariners drafted pitcher Ryne Stanek in the third round of the amateur draft in 2010. The University of Arkansas beckoned, but he declined to enroll.
His signing bonus was over $1.75 million when Tampa Bay Rays scout Rickey Drexler selected him during the 2013 amateur draft’s supplementary first round.
On May 8, 2014, he made his professional baseball debut with the Bowling Green Hot Rods, going the distance against the Lake County Captains and allowing just one earned run in five innings of work.
Ryne Stanek pitched for the United States in the 2016 Futures Game, but he was beaten on the mound by Eloy Jimenez of the World squad, who hit a big three-run home run in the ninth inning of a seven-run game.
At the time of his MLB debut in 2017, he had a 5.85 ERA and had pitched only 21 times in relief for the Rays, without getting a single out.
A rookie year in 2018, he had an unusual stat line since he was frequently deployed as the opener on “bullpen days,” a technique the Rays embraced enthusiastically.
As a rookie on September 3-4, he started consecutive games for the first time in 75 years, pitching only one inning each day before turning the ball over to other pitchers.
Both games were won by the Rays, but Stanek had no say in the outcome. A second appearance in a row “is very much like two relief appearances in a row,” Stanek said following the second game.
He had been the last St. Louis Cardinals rookie to start on consecutive days, but under very different circumstances:
He had made a short start lasting just a third of an innings on July 28th, then had followed that with a complete-game victory the following day.
Where Was Ryne Stanek Born?
Ryne Stanek was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.