Rays Star Pitching Prospect Listed Among Hottest Minor Leaguers

The Tampa Bay Rays have a pitcher who is off to a fantastic start in the early going of his season in the minor leagues.

Apr 3, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; A general view of a Tampa Bay Rays hat and glove during the seventh inning of the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. | Scott Taetsch-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays have a pitching prospect that could be joining them quite soon at the Major League level, especially given his hot start.

Left-handed starting pitcher Ian Seymour is the Rays’ No. 20 prospect per MLB Pipeline. But to start the season he’s pitching like a No. 1 prospect, and his performance early this season made Baseball America’s 20 hottest prospects for action ending April 7.

It two starts with Triple-A Durham, the 26-year-old is 1-1 with a 0.90 ERA, with one earned run allowed in 10 innings. He’s struck out 15, walked one and hit one batter. He’s only allowed seven hits.

Historically he has a high strikeout-to-walk ratio, so the fact that he has so many strikeouts this early in the season isn’t out of the ordinary for him. What is out of the ordinary is what the publication calls his “throwback” approach to pitching.

“His 90-93 mph fastball has below-average velocity, but it’s effective because of his funky delivery and solid movement,” per Baseball America. “And his changeup is a pitch that drives hitters a bit crazy.”

The publication also noted that Seymour had 14 swing-and-misses in his first two starts.

Once the Rays need a starting pitcher, he might be the first one called up.

Seymour has been in the Rays’ organization since he was a second-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft out of Virginia Tech. He was a star there, as he left the Hokies in the top seven in six categories, including first in strikeouts per nine innings (10.77), third in lowest opponents batting average (.243), sixth in strikeouts (191) and lowest ERA (3.83), and seventh in starts (30) and most pickoffs (5).

With minor league baseball shut down in 2020, he didn’t get a chance to pitch until 2021, but he went straight to work, playing with three different affiliates and finishing that season with a 4-0 record and a 1.95 ERA in 14 games (13 starts). He struck out 87 and walked 19 in 55.1 innings.

He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, which stalled his development. He worked back slowly in 2023 (1-0, 1.50 ERA in 13 games, 46 strikeouts, 16 walks in 42 innings) before a monster 2024 with Double-A Montgomery and Durham.

That season, he went a combined 9-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 27 starts, with 162 strikeouts and 41 walks in 145.1 innings. He’s on the Rays’ 40-man roster as the organization thought enough of him to protect him from the Rule 5 draft when he was eligible.