NORFOLK — The rise has been steady for Keagan Gillies, to be sure, but the notability is relatively sudden.
A 15th-round draft pick out of Tulane in 2021, Gillies is the latest player to ascend to the Norfolk Tides from Double-A Chesapeake. But his overnight success took five years.
A gas-throwing, 6-foot-8 right-hander with the build of an NBA forward, the 27-year-old Gillies will soon play in the ultimate young man’s game.
After going 4-1 with a 1.15 ERA in 26 games at Chesapeake this season, Gillies earned a spot in the prestigious All-Star Futures Game, usually the realm of 18- to 22-year-olds.
If it’s possible to be a prospect without being a prospect, Gillies is the guy.
Still, he wasn’t entirely caught off-guard by the news.
“I guess ‘shocked’ isn’t really the word,” Gillies said after arriving Wednesday and playing in a spirited clubhouse mini-hoops game with teammates as rain fell at Harbor Park. “I think I deserve being there, just with my performance. But overall, I was just grateful for the opportunity. I think that’s the main thing, is understanding that opportunities are very limited in pro ball. And when you get those opportunities, that you’ve just got to go out and enjoy the journey and ultimately take advantage of those opportunities.”
Gillies is the oldest player on either Futures Game roster by three years, and he is perhaps one of the oldest players in the game’s history.
Recent Norfolk players to participate include right-hander Zach Davies, catcher Chance Sisco, shortstop Gunnar Henderson and outfielder Heston Kjerstad — all elite prospects at the time.
Gillies isn’t even on MLB.com’s list of the Orioles’ top 30.
The exhibition, which will take place July 12 in Atlanta in conjunction with the MLB All-Star Game three days later, will feature a handful of upcoming teenagers.
They’ll likely catch a glimpse of Gillies’ electric three-pitch mix, which includes a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and touches the upper reaches, as well as a cutter and a put-away splitter.
Gillies, a native of the New Orleans area, landed firmly on the parent Baltimore Orioles’ radar in 2023, when he went 5-1 with a 2.43 ERA at two levels.
He spent last season repeating at Double-A, going 1-3 with a 4.94 ERA.
This season, Gillies has focused on living within the strike zone and commanding his secondary pitches when they’re least expected. To say it’s worked wouldn’t do his performance justice.
Entering Thursday’s game against Durham, Gillies had walked just four while striking out 34 in 31 1/3 innings and collecting eight saves. His WHIP was a miniscule 0.574.
First-year Norfolk manager Tim Federowicz had only heard good things about Gillies. He wasn’t aware of the Futures Game selection, or even that Gillies is 27.
“He’s got elite stuff, like back-end-type stuff,” Federowicz said. “We’re going to break him in. If it so happens that he pitches later in the game, we’ll kind of see. But to start, he’s just going to be used like a normal reliever, and we’ll see as he gets his feet wet how successful he is and where he’s going to pitch from that point on.”
Gillies, who checks in at 255 pounds, played five seasons at Tulane, which explains part of why he’s arrived at Triple-A at 27.
The other part: He was figuring things out at the lower levels. Norfolk marks the fifth level at which Gillies has stopped in the organization.
As for what took him so long to arrive, he prefers not to speculate.
“I try not to play GM or any of that,” Gillies said. “Just going out there and dominating the zone, controlling my routines and coming here every day and doing that. And then preparing for the game every day and understanding what I need to do to get better — a percentage better every day. That’s all I focus on. All the other stuff is just noise and things that are out of my control.”
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