Banda, who recorded two strikeouts over two scoreless innings in Friday's simulated game, is a candidate to potentially see some spot starts if the current absences of multiple Rays pitchers extend into the regular season, Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports.
The trio of Tyler Glasnow, Yonny Chirinos and Brendan McKay are all currently missing from summer camp workouts for undisclosed reasons, leaving open the possibility at least some of them may have produced a positive COVID-19 test. Any such scenario would make the potential return date of the affected player difficult to pin down, and Toribio reports Banda could be one of the options manager Kevin Cash turns to if there are spot starts for the taking early in the season. Banda is now more than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, and he's reportedly looked better with respect to velocity and his breaking pitches as compared to his September big-league stint last season. Additionally, Banda has now added a cutter to his arsenal, and manager Kevin Cash has praised the young left-hander for pitching "fearlessly."