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Rays outright former SF Giants prospect Dusten Knight to Triple-A

Longtime SF Giants prospect Dusten Knight reached the big leagues last year. However, he was outrighted to Triple-A by the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.

The Tampa Bay Rays designated right-handed pitcher Dusten Knight for assignment earlier this week. After clearing waivers, Knight has accepted an outright assignment to the Rays Triple-A affiliate in Durham. Knight had appeared in six MLB games with Tampa this season, posting a 5.73 ERA in 11 innings pitched with nine strikeouts and four walks.

Knight was originally drafted by the SF Giants in the 28th round of the 2013 MLB draft. Over the next six seasons, Knight was one of the most effective relievers in the Giants organization, but never received a call-up to the majors. After bouncing around for several years, Knight made his big-league debut last season with the Baltimore Orioles.

Knight mixes and matches with a four-pitch arsenal. His four-seam fastball sits around 90 mph, but he only throws it around a third of the time. His changeup is his carrying pitch. Opposing big-league hitters have managed just two hits in 26 at-bats against the pitch over his career. He also utilizes a mid-80s cutter and high-70s curveball.

Rays pitcher Dusten Knight throws a pitch. Knight was drafted by the SF Giants back in 2013. (2022)

A late-round pick, Knight was never aggressively promoted through the Giants minor-league ranks. Despite coming out of college, Knight spent two seasons with the Giants in short-season ball before receiving his first full-season assignment in 2015.

At Single-A, Knight began showing his impressive ability to remain effective in multi-inning outings. While he only made one start in 38 appearances that season, Knight completed 73.2 innings with 86 strikeouts and a 2.69 ERA.

By 2017, Knight had reached Triple-A, and was quite effective in the hitter-friendly environments of the Pacific Coast League. He continued primarily working as a long reliever, racking up 60.1 innings in 31 appearances (three starts), and had nearly a strikeout per inning with a 3.43 ERA.

After another successful season in the upper minors without being added to the 40-man roster, Knight became a minor-league free agent. In 2019, Knight was released after a short stint in the Twins system. He bounced between two independent leagues (the Mexican League and Atlantic League) for the rest of the year.

Knight returned to the minors in 2021 when he inked a minor-league deal with the Orioles. For the first time in his career, Baltimore shortened his outings to try and help him get more out of his arsenal of pitches. Late in the season, they rewarded him with a promotion to the bigs.

Knight was designated for assignment by Baltimore after struggling through nine MLB outings. He cleared waivers and was outrighted back to Triple-A before he became a free agent last offseason and joined the Rays.

For the second-straight year, Dusten Knight finds himself heading back to Triple-A after a short big-league stint. The 32-year-old righty will likely become a free agent at the end of the season and hope to catch on with another organization and receive a more prolonged MLB opportunity.