TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Rays promoted right-hander Brody Hopkins, the club’s top-ranked pitching prospect, to the major league roster as the 24-year-old auditions for a spot on the postseason bullpen after touching 102.1 mph in his most recent minor league outing.
Hopkins, ranked the Rays’ No. 7 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, has posted dominant numbers since shifting from the rotation to a one-inning relief role. In nine innings over nine appearances since Aug. 15, he has allowed three runs on seven hits and five walks while striking out 16 of the 39 batters he faced.
“Excited for him. Look, since the transition to the bullpen, he’s done a nice job of getting the ball in the strike zone a little bit more frequently,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s big, big stuff, and [we’ll] see if we can just harness it as many times over the [plate] as possible.”
The Rays originally acquired Hopkins from Seattle as part of the return for outfielder Randy Arozarena in July 2024. As a starter from March 28 through Aug. 6, the ultra-athletic right-hander posted a 5.40 ERA with 106 strikeouts and 87 walks in 85 innings over 22 outings — electric stuff paired with command issues that prompted the bullpen conversion.
Hopkins joins fellow prospect Ty Johnson as young arms Tampa Bay is testing in high-leverage situations down the stretch. Hopkins’ triple-digit velocity fills a gap otherwise absent in the Rays’ bullpen, while Johnson brings a swing-and-miss slider.
“When you go into postseason baseball, or with the baseball we’re going to play today and moving forward, you try to catch lightning in a bottle a little bit,” Cash said. “I think that’s fair to say for both of them.”
Cash pointed to the breadth of Hopkins’ arsenal as reason for optimism at the major league level. “If it’s in the strike zone, it’s really nasty stuff. I mean, he’s got balls sinking, cutting, and then I saw some highlights from his last outing [with] a really sharp breaking ball,” Cash said. “Big stuff, and we’ll see how he transitions to this level and see if we can get it in the strike zone.”
Hopkins is expected to be available out of the bullpen as the Rays push toward October, with the club’s postseason roster decisions looming in the coming weeks.