Griffin Jax

Jax gave up a ton of loud contact with nine balls in play registering as hard hits. He also generated 11 swings and misses and six strikeouts, so it was more of a case of poor command than lack of stuff. He also was almost assuredly left in too long, and gave up a homer to David Hamilton in the fifth before exiting. Jax did a solid job as a starter for Tampa Bay in 2026, and he’ll likely be back in the middle of the Rays’ rotation in 2027, but he likely will be an option in Game 6 or 7 if Tampa Bay can force one.

Jax last started Game 3 against the Guardians in the ALCS and allowed three runs over four innings in what turned out to be a 3-2 loss for the Rays. It’ll be his first career World Series appearance.

Jax struck out two and walked two on the day, but one of those walks came back to hurt him in the second inning when he walked Jo Adell, who then came around to score on a Nathaniel Lowe double. Jax then settled down until the fifth inning, when Patrick Bailey reached on an infield single and then Petey Halpin crushed a go-ahead two-run home run. Jax would then allow a single ot Brayan Rocchio before his day was done. There is a chance that he could be used out of the bullpen in Game 6 or 7 if the series gets that far.

This is a surprise, but Nick Martinez did leave his ALDS start after taking an Anthony Volpe liner off his lower back. Jax will be making his first ever postseason start. He allowed one run and struck out four over two innings in his one relief appearance last week against the Yankees. Jax had a 2.41 ERA and a 39/9 K/BB over 37 1/3 innings in his final eight starts of the regular season.

Trea Turner lined a ball off Jax that bounced to the shortstop and turned into an out. Jax was then replaced by Steven Matz in the fourth. Jax, who was diagnosed with a low back contusion, will probably be fine by the time the ALDS rolls around, and he likely will serve as the Rays’ fourth starter with Shane McClanahan absent. His regular season ends at 8-10 with a 3.53 ERA in 23 starts and 11 relief appearances.

Jax gave up three hits, walked two and struck out five. He improved to 8-10 with the win. Jax has won two of his last three starts and allowed only one run in 15 innings in that span. He has a 3.62 ERA this year. Jax is lined up to face the Phillies on the road in the last weekend of the regular season.

Jax gave up two hits, walked none and struck out seven. He’s allowed two runs and recorded nine strikeouts in 10 innings over his last two starts. Jax has a 3.40 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings over 21 starts since the Rays moved him into the rotation at the end of April. Jax is lined up to face the Red Sox at home on Sunday.

It was nice for Jax to quell the concerns after his rough return from the injured list last week with a strong start here, but he still wasn’t completely back to form. His command was off in general and he hung far too many breaking balls, the Braves just didn’t do much with those mistakes. His velocity was also still down about a tick compared to his season averages and he only forced four total swings-and-misses. Back to those breaking balls, the Braves found it easy to spit on practically every one that Jax threw out of the zone and he’ll need to get more whiffs on them if he wants to truly return to form. He’s scheduled to face the Athletics at home next time out.

Jax was abysmal in his return from an elbow injury. The Mets jumped on him for three runs right away in the top of the first inning and then added three more in the third. In total, nine of the 14 balls the Mets put in play off Jax were hard-hit as their left-handed heavy lineup consistently teed off on his changeup. We expected him to be rusty in his first start back, but this was a catastrophe. Also, it’s important to note that his velocity was down about one mile per hour across the board. He’ll have a chance to right the ship next Wednesday on the road against the Braves.

Jax threw 42 pitches in his last rehab start with was also on August 23rd. There had been a discussion that he might throw one more minor league start, but that never came to fruition, so we would expect him to be under 65 pitches in this outing on Wednesday. He struggled to command his changeup and sweeper in that rehab outing, so we’ll see how sharp he looks against the Mets. We would leave him on the bench in fantasy leagues.

Jax struck out two and walked two while throwing 42 pitches in the outing. He threw 60 percent of his pitches for strikes and posted a 17 percent swinging strike rate and 31 percent CSW. His sinker has 95.1 mph, and his four-seamer was 95.4 mph, so there didn’t seem to be much concern with his velocity. He did struggle to command his changeup and sweeper, so the Rays may opt to give him one more rehab start and try to get him closer to 60 pitches before activating him.

This phenomenal and unexpectedly good news for Jax who went on the injured list for elbow discomfort nine days ago and then sought a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister regarding it. He deemed surgery wouldn’t be necessary and now Jax is back on a mound just one week later. Kevin Cash told Topkin that Jax “looked good” and was able to use all of his pitches. The plan as of now is for him to make a rehab start on Sunday, meaning he could be back with the Rays as soon as next week.

It’s arguably the best-case scenario after Jax hit the shelf with elbow discomfort over the weekend. It sounds like he won’t require surgery, which is the positive news. Rays manager Kevin Cash said that Jax will be shut down for a couple days before starting a throwing program. There’s a decent chance that he’s back in Tampa Bay’s rotation at some point next month.

The 31-year-old hurler was scratched from his scheduled start on Saturday due to the elbow issue and he’ll now be shelved for at least a couple of weeks. Michael Grove was recalled from Triple-A Durham to take his spot on the Rays’ active roster.

Ryan Vilade started the game with an error at second base and Jax later made an error of his own on a tapper back to the mound in the White Sox’s two-run first inning. The lone earned run was produced by an Andrew Benintendi 378-foot home run. It’s the fourth time in five starts that Jax has allowed exactly one earned run. He’ll be a fine option in mixed leagues with a road start in Seattle coming up.

Jax did walk three, but this stuff should be considered a hard-luck loss. The right-hander has now allowed no more than an earned run in three of his last four starts, but unfortunately has a seven-run outing in the middle of those efforts that obscures how well the former reliever has pitched as of late, and really the majority of 2026. The 31-year-old now has a 92/30 K/B over his 86 2/3 innings, and he’ll be back on the bump with a chance to improve those efforts against the White Sox over the weekend.

Jax struck out five and only issued one walk. The lone run against him came on an RBI ground out by George Springer in the opening frame. It was a much-needed bounce-back effort after getting torched for seven runs over five innings by the Red Sox his last time out. The 31-year-old has made a flawless transition to Tampa Bay’s rotation, emerging as one of the better in-season waiver wire pickups for fantasy managers with a 3.89 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 82/27 K/BB ratio across 81 innings of work. He has a two-start week up next with matchups against the Rangers and White Sox.

Nothing under the hood looked too bad for Jax, who gave up his one home run just inside the Pesky Pole to Masataka Yoshida. The Red Sox chained a HBP-single-walk-single start to the sixth inning together and reliever Chris Roycroft allowed two inherited runners to score to balloon Jax’s ERA. Jax had a 36 percent whiff rate and allowed just seven hard-hit balls -- four against his four-seamer -- in 85 pitches. He’ll look to bounce back next time out against the Blue Jays.

The Rays are expected to go with Mason Englert, either as a traditional starter or behind an opener for the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. Ian Seymour will then get the ball on Saturday and Shane McClanahan will start in Friday’s series finale.

Jax stranded the bases loaded in the first inning with a pair of strikeouts, then gave up a run on a hit and sacrifice fly in the second. He tossed three more scoreless innings, ending his day with three strikeouts over five innings. The 31-year-old right-hander has done well in the rotation, posting a 2.80 ERA over 61 innings as a starter.