The Show Notes #21: Do Not Sleep On Gary Gill Hill
Armed with a lethal kitchen sink repertoire, Tampa Bay Rays prospect Gary Gill Hill is an underrated starting pitcher who is far more than just a guy with a cool name.
Tampa Bay has quietly established itself as one of the few organizations willing to put Black starters on the pitcher’s mound during the 21st century. David Price, Chris Archer, and Edwin Jackson are the three most prominent Black starters in the relatively brief history of the Rays franchise. Current Rays starting rotation member Taj Bradley has the talent to join this trio, but has yet to establish a history of above-average performance.
20-year-old Gary Gill Hill possesses the potential to extend the Rays’ special history with successful Black starting pitchers. He was drafted by Tampa Bay in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of a Catholic high school in Westchester County, New York. He had one of the most polarizing profiles of any player in his respective draft class. Some scouts considered the right-hander an advanced pitcher and a talent worthy of being drafted in the first ten rounds. Others expressed skepticism about his ability due to his cold-weather background and a lack of notable performances until his final year of high school.
He forewent his commitment to the Division I baseball program of a small private college in New Jersey to begin his professional career after being drafted. He played in 12 games with Tampa Bay’s Florida Complex League affiliate before a late-season promotion to the Low-A Carolina League in 2023, posting a 5.49 ERA across 41.0 innings. For the 2024 season, Gill Hill made 22 starts across 108.2 innings in the Carolina League with a 3.15 ERA. He lowered his WHIP from 1.683 in 2023 to 1.113 in 2024, demonstrating significant improvement in his ability to strike batters out while reducing his walk rate.
Gill Hill has made 14 total starts with Tampa Bay’s High-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League for the 2025 season so far. He dominated opposing High-A hitters in April 2025 with a 1.73 ERA across 26.0 innings of work. He struck out only 20 total batters, but still managed to prevent hitters from accumulating hits. During May, he posted an abysmal 9.25 ERA in 24.1 innings. Opposing hitters batted .352/.409/.590 off of him, which inflated his ERA to 5.36 at that point in the 2025 season. He has bounced back impressively in June with a 3.04 ERA and an improved ability to accrue strikeouts. His performance for the third month of the 2025 season has reduced his ERA to 4.62 across 74 innings. The 20-year-old starter is on track to reach Double-A by the last month of the current season, and I wouldn't be surprised if he made his MLB debut in 2026.
Gill Hill is 6’2” and weighs about 180 pounds. He has the lean, wiry build of an average-sized NBA point guard. He has already gained 20 pounds of muscle since becoming a professional baseball player and still has room for more growth without losing his above-average flexibility and athleticism. This development has enabled him to handle a bigger workload and keep his fastball velocity in the mid-90s later into starts. He works from the first base side of the rubber with a quick sidearm throwing motion and mechanics that are often described as “athletic and dynamic.” He repeats his pitching mechanics whether fully winding up or pitching out of the stretch with runners on base.
Gill Hill is a very efficient pitcher who is starting to show a penchant for going deep into games. In 2025, he’s gone at least six innings in five starts and has only thrown more than 75 pitches once. During his longest outing, he threw 73 pitches across seven innings with two earned runs and four hits allowed. He can pitch effectively as an east-west and north-south pitcher to left-handed and right-handed hitters. He understands how to adjust his sequencing and strategy when navigating through an opposing lineup for a second or third time.
There are times when he shows pinpoint control of his pitches, and other times when he lets offerings drift over the middle of the plate that opposing hitters can handle. He has a habit of getting preoccupied with dotting the edge of the zone or forcing a hitter to chase a particular pitch instead of making the appropriate adjustments during the at-bat. Being so focused on attaining specific outcomes in certain situations has completely derailed some of Gill Hill’s starts.
He utilizes a five-pitch repertoire that is headlined by a lively two-seam fastball that sits 94-95 and reaches 97 miles per hour. It has utility in garnering weak contact and whiffs from opposing batters, regardless of their handedness. When he runs the two-seamer in on the hands of righties, it frequently leads to harmless groundouts to the left side of the infield. He also consistently hits the outside corner with it when facing left-handed hitters. Occasionally, lefties will chase well-placed two-seamers on the outer edge of the strike zone. He has worked hard to develop an effective four-seamer that has a distinct yet complementary shape to his two-seam fastball. He made adjustments to his release point and mechanics to consistently generate more carry on the ball. The result is a flat four-seamer that Gill Hill uses in the top half of the zone to get called strikes and whiffs.
He uses two distinct slider grips and exhibits an excellent feel for using both to garner whiffs and weak contact. The first is a cutter-slider hybrid that he throws in the upper 80s with a tight, sharp break. The pitch’s late gloveside movement allows Gill Hill to run it in on the hands of left-handed batters and away from right-handed hitters. The velocity makes it a viable option as a fastball. His second slider is a slurve that he can use as more of a flat, sweeping slider or as a pseudo-11-5 curveball, e.g., Corey Kluber. His fifth pitch is a changeup that is used to steal strikes and force weak contact. His cambio is effective due to his quick arm and ability to throw his entire repertoire from close release points.
Conclusion
With Chase Burns' call-up by the Cincinnati Reds and the promotion of Afro-Colombian Didier Fuentes to Atlanta’s 25-man roster, Gary Gill Hill might be the best active Black starting pitcher in MiLB right now. He has all the traits of a starting pitcher who will thrive as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. I'm interested in seeing how he performs in the upper minors with his vast repertoire and whether he can maintain such a sophisticated identity against MLB-caliber hitters.