The Rays will call up David Price to start on Monday:

“He’s a unique young man, and he thrives under this kind of situation,” manager Joe Maddon said Sunday after the Rays concluded a series at Florida. “I know he definitely feels like he belongs here, and those are the kind of things you want.”

The Rays are hoping Price sticks around for a long, long while.

The 23-year-old Price was optioned late in spring training to Durham, in part because the Rays wanted to limit his workload this year. The left-hander went 1-4 with a 3.93 ERA in eight starts for the Bulls.

“He was pitching out of kind of restricted circumstances with the number of innings and number of pitches,” Maddon said. “It’s kind of difficult as a starter. It’s kind of like taking a race horse out there and always holding back a bit. So now we’re going to kind of let him go.”

Price struck out 9.2 per nine innings at AAA this year, but walked 4.7 per 9. He’ll need to get that second number down to be successful as a starter in the majors.