Prior to Friday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays made a small slew of roster moves. They optioned right-handed pitcher Emilio Pagan to Triple-A Durham, and selected the contract of right-handed pitcher, Casey Sadler.

In addition, the Rays have also placed catcher Mike Zunino on Paternity Leave, and promoted catcher Nick Ciuffo. In order to clear space on the 40-man roster, the Rays have also moved right-handed pitcher, Jose De Leon, from the 10-day Injured List to the 60-day Injured List.

Casey Sadler, 28, was a minor league signing by the Rays and he spent some of the spring in the big league camp. He has some major league experience across three seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thus far with Triple-A Durham, Sadler has pitched in two games (one start) allowing two runs on seven hits while he’s walked three and struck out 13 over seven innings pitched.

My family and I could not be happier to start our new journey with none other than my daughters HOME TOWN TEAM. I have such pride to be apart of @RaysBaseball and look forward to this season with anticipation. pic.twitter.com/cwA9W6mqS1 — Casey Sadler (@sadler_squared) December 20, 2018

Nick Ciuffo rejoins the Rays after making his major league debut with the club last September. Ciuffo lost out on the Rays backup catching job to Michael Perez. So far with Triple-A Durham this season he has hit .158/.200/.289 with 1 HR over 40 plate appearances.