Left-hander Pilon starts pro career in Rays' system

ABC and Junior National Team grad Jérémy Pilon (Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que.) has started his pro career with the Tampa Bay Rays’ Rookie Ball Florida Complex League affiliate. Photo: Baseball Canada

August 14, 2023

By Trevor Fitzpatrick

Canadian Baseball Network

There may not be a better feeling in the world than hearing your name called on draft day.

For Jérémy Pilon (Salaberry-De-Valleyfield, Que), it’s an experience he’s had twice.

At only 16, Pilon was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB draft after impressing scouts with his play for the Canadian Junior National Team and Académie Baseball Canada.

In Pilon’s own mind though, he wasn’t ready for pro ball just yet.

“At 16, I didn't think I was ready to go mentally and physically. So, in the last offseason, I worked a lot to prepare for next year.”

The work certainly paid off.

During the 2022 season, Pilon was listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds. During only one off-season, he shot up to 6-foot, 200 pounds at 17-years-old, bringing him much closer to the size of other pro pitchers.

Alongside the extra size came notable improvements in his pitching repertoire. He now touches the low 90 mph range on his fastball, while still having his hammer-like curveball, which hovers around 75 mph with an unbelievable 2700 rpm spin rate for his age.

His curveball is comparable to Tyler Glasnow’s, who has one of the best curveballs in the majors. Both players sit around the 2700 rpm range on the curveball.

All of this was more than enough to pique the Tampa Bay Rays’ interest. Leading them to pick the young Pilon in the 18th round of the 2023 draft.

“I remember I was in my house with about 20 people, friends and family. I knew around round 16 to 18, I was probably going to get drafted by the Rays because we had talked a bit earlier on in the day. So, on the 18th round, I saw my name jumped up and that was exciting, I know I got a chance to get drafted last year, but it was really different, like it was my first time.”

Immediately after signing Pilon, he was sent to the Florida Complex League (FCL) Rays where he and the team got to work on developing his pitches further.

“The first thing they said to me was: ‘We’re probably going to play around with your change and fastball, but your curveball, we probably won’t touch that.’”

Pilon developed his curveball at a very young age. Back in grade seven was when he first learned the grip and he’s barely made any changes to it since.

“My coach showed me the grip and pretty much every day we were throwing it together, one day it just clicked for me. Ever since then, I’ve been throwing it with the same grip and it's been a pretty good pitch. I love it.”

What has changed is Pilon’s approach and mentality towards the game. Growing up in Quebec, his time was evenly split between both baseball and hockey. In summer it was baseball and in winter it was hockey.

It wasn’t until eleventh grade that Pilon decided to focus on baseball full-time. That means that Pilon didn’t start playing baseball full-time until the same year that he was drafted for the first time by the Blue Jays.

One of the biggest jumps forward for his young career was joining the Académie Baseball Canada where he got to play with Quebec’s top players.

“I was a little bit nervous at first, being with all the best players in Quebec but everybody did a great job to include me in the program and I developed the confidence that I still have today.”

Realizing that ground balls are just as good as strikeouts played a large part in building that confidence.

“I had to learn to not try to strike out everybody. When you're young you try to blow fastballs by everyone but when you get older you learn how to pitch to contact, how to get your pitches lower. That's been a good addition to my game.”

The tool that’s been helping Pilon the most with getting ground balls has been his newfound changeup. Improving upon his changeup as a third pitch has allowed him to throw off batters' timings better when the fastball-curveball combination isn’t working.

Having a pitch that has arm-side movement and a speed right between that of his two other pitches has given Pilon more options for pitching east-west while reserving his wicked curveball for once hitters are already off balance.

“I’ve been working on it a lot, 92-93 on a fastball doesn't scare pro players. Having a good changeup can always be good. Spotting – of all my pitches – is also still a big thing.”

Based on the FCL Rays’ pitching stats, Pilon is in more than capable hands for his development.

This season the FCL Rays lead the league with a 3.92 ERA, the only team in the league to be below 4.00. They’re also ranked fourth in WHIP with a 1.47.

Aside from a bit of an adjustment period, Pilon says he’s fitting in just fine with his new team.

“I'd say I’ve settled in pretty nicely. The first week was tough for sure, it was a new environment, all English people, my first language is French, so speaking English every day, communicating with the guys has been a bit of a challenge. They're all older as well. It was tough for the first week for sure but the coaches and staff really helped me get through it.”

The FCL Rays play their next game today against the FCL Orioles.