Tyler Glasnow leaves rehab start early with ‘very mild’ side tightness

Just as Tyler Glasnow looked to be on the verge of returning to the Tampa Bay Rays’ rotation, the righty may have hit another snag in his recovery from an oblique strain. Glasnow was set to throw four innings at Triple-A Durham on Wednesday night, the second of a planned three rehab starts before heading to the Majors, but he only made it through one frame before being pulled due to tightness in his left side.

Obviously it’s a big red flag, particularly with how fickle oblique injuries can be. But Glasnow and the team don’t seem too concerned just yet.

We’ve seen pitchers downplay the severity of various injuries all year only to wind up needing lengthy IL stints — and Glasnow’s health history doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence — so we’ll take that with a grain of salt for now. Still, it could very well be that Glasnow needs to build up gradually after missing most of Spring Training. With the best record in baseball right now, the Rays’ eyes are on October, and they have no reason to push it unnecessarily with a guy who could be a major difference-maker come playoff time.

Glasnow has been among the league’s nastiest starters when healthy, with a 2.75 ERA and 300 strikeouts in 212.2 innings since 2019. Of course, the fact that he’s only thrown 212.2 innings over the last four-plus years is a big part of the problem, and why Tampa will treat him with kids’ gloves until he’s feeling 100 percent.