The Call-Up: Brody Hopkins
By Grace Turner ·
Tampa Bay called up Brody Hopkins on September 12, adding a 24-year-old right-hander who spent most of 2026 grinding through a difficult Triple-A starting stretch before finding a different gear as a reliever over the final month. No debut has been logged yet as of September 13, but the call-up itself shows what the Rays think they have: a power arm who posted a 16-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over nine relief innings since mid-August, with a 3.00 ERA and a walk rate that finally started resembling something usable. The club needed a hard-throwing bullpen option for the stretch run, and Hopkins gave them the recent form they needed to justify it.
From Two-Way Prospect to Rays Pitching Piece
Hopkins was originally a two-way player in college, an outfielder and right-handed pitcher, which means his professional mound experience is relatively shallow. That context matters when evaluating his development curve. The Rays acquired him from the Mariners organization and have stretched him out as a full-time starter since. He has appeared in the Futures Game, picked up "helium" labels based on eye-catching stuff and strikeout totals, and now sits third in Tampa Bay's prospect rankings with a ranking of 73rd overall. He also throws 96-to-99 mph with a slider that grades as a genuine swing-and-miss weapon. The raw tools were never the concern.
His 2024 season covered two levels: 18 starts at Single-A and 7 at High-A, logging a combined 115 innings. That volume on relatively fresh arm mileage was notable, and the organization clearly treated him as a rotation priority. The results at Double-A Montgomery in 2025 backed up the confidence: 25 starts, 116 innings, a 2.72 ERA, a 28.7% strikeout rate, and a 12.2% walk rate. He held left-handed hitters to a .221 average and right-handed hitters to .186. The ERA was legitimately earned; his WHIP of 1.25 was clean, and the walk rate, while above ideal for a starter, was functional enough to survive at Double-A without the outings falling apart.
The 2026 Regression at Durham
Triple-A exposed the part of Hopkins's profile that the scouting dossier had flagged all along. Through 19 starts and 94 innings at Durham, his walk rate ballooned to 21.0% of batters faced, up from 12.2% at Montgomery. The ERA climbed to 5.17, the WHIP to 1.71. He struck out 27.9% of Triple-A hitters, nearly matching his Double-A strikeout rate, but he also issued 92 walks in 94 innings. That is a command emergency, not a rough stretch.
The scouting profile explains why this happened. Hopkins works with a crossfire stride with a low three-quarters arm slot that borders on sidearm. The delivery generates natural deception and arm-side run on the fastball, but repeating the release point is mechanically difficult. When his timing drifts at foot strike, pitches either yank arm-side or ride up out of the zone. There is also a stability question with his lead leg. You can see in the picture above the angle he lands at, making stabilizing and repeating that front side more difficult.
More advanced Triple-A hitters recognized the patterns more quickly than Double-A lineups did, and they punished the non-competitive pitches by working counts. His strike rate in those starts sat at 43.5%, and at 19.2 pitches per inning he was consistently working deep into counts and limiting himself to five or fewer frames before the walk totals forced the hook.
The platoon picture over multiple seasons is fairly neutral. Against left-handed hitters in 2026, he held them to a .201 average with 50 walks and 55 strikeouts. Right-handed hitters hit .213 with 42 walks and 67 strikeouts. Both sides walked too much, but neither side hit him particularly hard. In 2025, he was slightly tougher against right-handed hitters (.186 vs .221 for lefties), but the two-year view does not reveal a pronounced split. The walk rate was distributed across both groups, which confirms this as a command issue rather than a platoon vulnerability tied to a specific pitch.
The Bullpen Shift and What Changed
Around mid-August, the Rays moved Hopkins to full-time relief work at Durham. The results over the last 30 days look materially different from his season line: nine appearances, nine innings, a 3.00 ERA, a 41.0% strikeout rate, a 12.8% walk rate, and a 48.6% whiff rate. His strike rate jumped to 52.4% over that window, up nearly nine points from his season-long 43.5%. The last 15 days are even cleaner: five appearances, five innings, 10 strikeouts, 2 walks, zero earned runs, a 52.2% strike rate, and a 42.9% whiff rate.
Shorter stints do not automatically solve command problems. But they can reduce the delivery drift that compounds over multiple innings. Hopkins's crossfire mechanics create deception early; the trouble historically increased in the second and third time through a lineup when release timing accumulates small errors. Working one or two innings removes that exposure. The whiff rate climbing to 48.6% over the last 30 days suggests that when he's synced up, the combination of mid-to-upper-90s fastball and upper-80s slider with sharp sweeping action generates significantly more swings and misses than his season averages imply.
The pitch grades support this. His four-seam fastball sits 96-to-99 mph with late arm-side run; his sinker sits 95 mph. His slider grades as a 60, the best pitch in his arsenal, with sweeping action in the upper-80s that has been described as one of the better breaking balls in his leagues. When he has those two pitches working in tandem, he can generate uncomfortable at-bats from a deceptive arm slot even against hitters who know what's coming. His cutter at 92 mph and sweeper at 88 give him additional options, but the fastball/slider combination is what the Rays are buying with this call-up.
What MLB Will Test First
The fastball command is where big-league hitters will probe immediately. Hopkins's weaknesses are known: arm-side misses with the heater, deep counts when the crossfire timing slips, and a changeup (graded 45) that has not yet developed to the point where he can consistently neutralize left-handed hitters when the fastball isn't locating. In high-leverage spots, left-handed bats who recognize the arm-side run tendency and work counts will look to get into situations where Hopkins has to throw a fastball and can't locate it. His walk rate history gives hitters a reason to take pitches early.
The slider is the offset. A 60-grade breaker with sweeping action from a low slot is difficult to pick up, and in one-to-two-inning stints, Hopkins can lean on it heavily without the sequencing demands of a full starting appearance. Watch specifically whether he can throw it for strikes early in counts, not just as a chase pitch with two strikes. A slider that only works as an expansion pitch becomes predictable; a slider that can be thrown in the zone at 0-0 or 1-0 is a different weapon entirely. His pitchability notes suggest he has begun developing a plan around fastball/slider tunneling, but executing that plan in MLB competition against hitters who have seen video will be the real test.
Also worth tracking: pitch efficiency in short stints. His 15-day relief numbers show 18.4 pitches per inning, still technically in the inefficient range, but that's a workable threshold for a one-inning arm. If that climbs back toward his season-long 19.2 in MLB games, it signals the walk trouble resurfacing under pressure.
Role Now, Ceiling Later
For the rest of September, Hopkins is a bullpen arm in Tampa Bay's stretch run, most likely in long relief or higher-leverage matchup situations where his velocity and slider play best. The Rays have a history of finding creative uses for power arms, and Hopkins fits the profile of a pitcher who can handle a second inning if the starter exits early or cover multiple frames in a blowout while still being usable in tighter spots.
The longer-term projection is more complicated. His scouting report projects a number four starter as his most likely outcome, with a clear alternate path toward a swingman or multi-inning bullpen role. The command grade sits at 40, below-average, and the projection notes acknowledge that meaningful improvement is required to reach a number three starter ceiling; the historical walk rates make sustained starter success at the MLB level a genuine challenge. A reliever who can leverage a 96-to-99 mph fastball and a 60-grade slider from a crossfire slot has real value in modern bullpen construction, and that floor is not a bad outcome.
The realistic near-term question is whether the recent command improvement in relief holds under MLB conditions or whether it was a function of Triple-A hitters and reduced innings. His season line at Durham argues for skepticism; his last 30 days argue for a real adjustment. The Rays are betting on the latter, and the next few appearances will start to answer which version shows up.
The strongest card in Hopkins's hand right now is the fastball/slider combination from a deceptive arm slot, a difficult look for right-handed hitters in particular. The biggest open question is whether the walk rate that has defined most of his 2026 season returns when the lights get brighter. If he can hold his strike rate near 52% and his walk rate near the 12% range he posted over the last 30 days, Tampa Bay has a usable power arm for the stretch. If the 21% walk rate comes back, the outings will be short for the wrong reasons.