This Rays Minor League trio is a 'really special group'

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NEW YORK -- The Rays felt good about the pitching prospects they added to their system last season, picking up top arm Brody Hopkins at the Trade Deadline as well as Jackson Baumeister, Ty Johnson, Dylan Lesko, Paul Gervase, Michael Flynn and Ty Cummings as a player to be named later.

That significantly reinforced the upside and depth of the pitching in their system, which had thinned out in recent years. But so did the emergence of three young arms they already had: Santiago Suarez, Gary Gill Hill and Trevor Harrison, who finished the season in the same postseason rotation for Single-A Charleston.

“It was a really special group of pitchers last year in Charleston, and seeing those guys pitch together at the end of the season, carry that team into the playoffs … all three of them have a really bright future ahead of them,” assistant general manager Kevin Ibach said earlier this year. “It’s kind of fun at their age to be able to travel together and pitch together, whether it’s in a game like [Spring Breakout] or with Charleston last year.”

Suarez and Gill Hill advanced to High-A Bowling Green after spending all of last season in Single-A, while Harrison returned to Charleston after making only nine starts there last year. And all three are thriving.

Suarez, the Rays’ No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, has put together a 1.85 ERA in his first five starts. Featuring a mid-90s fastball that he uses to fill up the strike zone, Suarez has recorded 28 strikeouts while walking only five batters and holding opponents to a .180 average over 24 1/3 innings.

Facing Aberdeen on Thursday, Suarez threw 44 of his 63 pitches for strikes as he struck out five while allowing just one hit and one walk over six scoreless innings.

Harrison, Tampa Bay’s No. 11 prospect, is a homegrown arm in several ways. For one, he was born in Safety Harbor and got drafted out of J.W. Mitchell High School. He went to a lot of games at Tropicana Field, and he’s young enough (still 19) that he could honestly say he “grew up” watching players like Brandon Lowe, who debuted with the Rays in 2018.

But unlike Suarez, who was acquired in a November 2022 trade with the Marlins, Harrison was drafted and developed by Tampa Bay. The Rays selected Harrison in the fifth round of the 2023 Draft, giving him a chance to someday pitch for the team he’s always rooted for.

“I’m super pumped to think about that. It’s pretty cool,” Harrison said. “With this org being my hometown org, it’s always been a dream of mine. Now that I’m inside of it and I get to hang out with these guys on a daily basis, become friends with them, it’s a blessing, honestly.”

Harrison has held up his end of the bargain pretty well, too. He arguably finished last year as strong as his Charleston rotation mates, if not stronger, logging a 3.15 ERA over 40 innings for the RiverDogs. In three starts after giving up four runs during his season debut, the right-hander posted a 1.23 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings while holding opponents to a .189/.295/.189 slash line.

And then there’s Gill Hill, the 20-year-old right-hander who broke out in a big way during his full-season debut last year. Selected out of a suburban New York high school in 2022, Gill Hill put himself on the radar by logging a 3.15 ERA in 108 2/3 innings over 22 outings last season.

Their No. 12 prospect said this spring he wanted to throw more innings, cut down on his walks and finish stronger than he did a year ago. But what he’s doing so far looks a lot like last season, as he has logged a 1.73 ERA and 0.96 WHIP while holding opponents to a .211 average with 20 strikeouts and only five walks in his first five starts.

It seems inevitable that those three will be reunited in the Bowling Green rotation at some point this season. After pitching in the Minor League postseason last year, they couldn’t help but think about the idea of making their way to the Majors together, too.

“The arms that we have in this org are insane. Everybody’s got good stuff,” Harrison said before all three pitched in the Rays’ Spring Breakout victory against the Red Sox. “Gary, flamethrower. Santiago, flamethrower. All these guys are insane. There’s a lot of talent in this group, for sure.”