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The Tampa Bay Rays have made a slew of minor league signings recently with the team reportedly bringing in RHP Hunter Strickland, RHP Joey Krehbiel, LHP Brian Moran, RHP Louis Head, and RHP Stetson Allie.
Krehbiel, 28, has just two big league appearances in his career. Both of which came during the 2018 season while as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is a local product that owns a home just minutes from Tropicana Field and was a high school teammate of current Rays outfielder Brett Phillips. You can read a full profile from Marc Topkin here.
Moran, 32, has pitched in parts of two seasons, spending time with the Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays. A fun tidbit of his career came during his big league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he struck out his brother, Colin Moran. Over his two seasons, he has allowed eight runs over 11 innings pitched.
Given the lack of available lefties on the #Rays roster, I’d keep an eye on newly signed Brian Moran this spring. His submarine slot makes his mid 80’s FB play well up in the zone. He pairs it with a slow, sweeping CB: pic.twitter.com/oTvXOr53yA
— Rays Metrics (@RaysMetrics) February 11, 2021
Head, 30, was an 18th round selection by the Cleveland Indians in the 2012 draft. He has slowly worked his way up through the minor leagues since then, hovering around the Triple-A level since 2017. Thanks to the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season, he last pitched with the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A team in 2019.
MiLB Free Agent, Louis Head. Most recent team: LA Dodgers (AA, AAA). Avg FB around 94, peak 98. SL 86-93, 3000+ RPM. Official numbers from 2019 season). Video from DST in Glendale, AZ. @FlatgroundApp @PitchingNinja @DST_Houston @GKELLY_DST pic.twitter.com/ocgPTYFAhd
— Kevin Poppe, CSCS (@TheKevinPoppe) January 15, 2020
The other two pitchers we have written about more extensively.
Strickland, 32, is a big league veteran of seven seasons. He last pitched in the majors with the New York Mets in 2020, tossing just 3 1⁄3 innings over four appearances. He at one time was among the most dependable high leverage arms in baseball, but those appearances came early on his career with the San Francisco Giants. Read more on Strickland here.
Allie, 29, is a career minor leaguer, who at one time was among Baseball America’s top 100 prospect. He has split his career between being a pitcher and a position player. During the 2017 season, he switched to focus solely on pitching. He has the ability to reach triple digits at time, but his control can be erratic. Read more on Allie here.
As of now, the team has not officially announced the signings.