The left-hander has good stuff but needs a big year to keep him on a starter’s path in 2025.
The big names playing with the Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2024 were Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle, and Josue Briceño, but quite a lot of other talented players started to make a name for themselves as well. Two of our favorite young rising pitching prospects were on hand, and while we’ve covered Rayner Castillo already, southpaw Gabriel Reyes is a personal favorite of mine.
The 21-year-old’s quick arm and plus slider stood out in his first look at the Low-A level and he continued to improve throughout the season. In 2025, he’s on track to tackle West Michigan and could well be ready for the leap to Erie by year’s end.
Certainly a good left-hander has a distinct advantage over similar right-handed pitchers in the lower levels. Most prep hitters and even most college bats see precious few quality southpaws in the amateur ranks. The simple lack of familiarity often gives lefties an early advantage that doesn’t dissipate until they graduate into the upper minor league levels. Even so, Reyes’ strike-throwing, deception, and raw stuff stood out beyond the pack in his 65 2⁄3 innings of work between the Complex League and Low-A level in 2024.
Reyes was signed as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic back in February of 2020. He had pretty good showings in the Dominican Summer League in 2021, and again in the Complex League in 2022, but then missed the 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery. He was at best notable prior to the surgery, but started turning heads after getting his feet under him in the Complex League ball last spring. He then advanced to Lakeland in mid-June and quickly found his groove.
Reyes punched out 33.9 percent of hitters he faced, and his walk rate was above average for the level. He threw 21 consecutive strikes in a start in late July, just three off the major league record and was the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for the final week of August. The momentum kept building, and Reyes capped it off with a brilliant start for the Flying Tigers in the postseason, firing six innings of one run ball with three hits and two walks allowed against 10 strikeouts to take down the Clearwater Threshers.
Reyes season came to an end with a rain delay in the championship series, but he’d done a nice job serving notice that he was recovered from UCL surgery and a fast-rising pitcher in the Tigers system.
Reyes mainly features a fourseam fastball and his slider, but the changeup is coming along as well. Less often used are his sinker and curveball.
In terms of velocity, Gabriel Reyes currently tops out between 94-95 mph and is typically sitting 92-93 mph. He has a quick, lively arm and hides the ball pretty well throughout this delivery. That deception is augmented by a sneaky, low-three quarters release. Reyes will use the fourseamer up in the zone and has pretty good angle there, but it’s undercut a bit by fairly pedestrian movement. The actual movement profile is more twoseam in nature because of the lower slot, and a little tuning is still required to really get better riding action. He got a solid 22.4 percent whiff rate, but hitters did most of their damage against him off the heater.
Reyes release is a little difficult to pick up and even advanced Low-A hitters were often late against the fastball, but it could be better. He average 2367 rpms on the heater, which is above average, and we’d guess the Tigers will have some ideas to help him turn that into better riding action. If he can manage that and build himself up to sit around 94 mph and sustain it, a major league career as a starter becomes much more likely because Reyes throws a ton of strikes and showed developing ability to command the fastball and slider all around the strike zone.
In year two back from UCL reconstruction, we’ll see if there’s a little more in the tank. Reyes isn’t a big guy at six-foot-one and he came back from rehab with a good deal more muscle on him. He’s still got room to grow, while he can dial it up to 95 mph already, expecting him to sit there as a starter is probably hoping for too much. He won’t turn 22 until July, but if there are any significant velocity gains ahead of him, they should show up this season.
Reyes’ 85 mph slider is a nasty breaking ball for him, and he used it nearly 40 percent of the time. He racked up an enormous 46.8 percent whiff rate on the breaker in Lakeland. Hitters posted a feeble .147 wOBA against it with no power at all. It has some sweep to it, but there’s also plenty of depth and he was able to get chases down and away from left-handers and back foot right-handers pretty effectively.
He already commands it reasonably well, and the deception in his delivery and his quick arm help it play up even more. Hitters were often frozen when he threw it for strikes. Better hitters will do more damage against the odd hanger, but even when he was aggressively throwing it in the zone, Reyes was good about keeping it down and around the edges.
Most likely, Reyes is bound for a career in the Tigers bullpen. To alter that path, Reyes is going to have to find a better changeup, or at least become a lot more consistent with the circle change he throws. Perhaps the fastball-slider combo was just effective enough that he didn’t want to lean into the changeup, but he threw it less than 10 percent of the time. It has good fading action and his armspeed sells it well, however it doesn’t have great velocity separation at 86.6 mph. Improving that pitch is crucial if he wants to remain a starting pitcher beyond 2025.
2025 Outlook
Right now, Reyes does present like a future reliever, and possibly a good hybrid arm that can handle spot starts and multiple innings. He has a simple, efficient delivery that he repeats well, but he can still improve his lead leg block and should find more consistent velocity and command if that comes along. As he is, there’s still a tendency to fly open a little too much as he drives to the plate.
As he moves to High-A West Michigan, focus should be on the changeup and how well Reyes can ultimately hold the top of his current velocity range. He’s throwing plenty of strikes, the slider is really good, and the fastball is a solid pitch that has potential to improve in shape even if he can’t get much further in terms of velocity. The package of skills needs to get a little deeper to keep him on a starter’s track beyond the 2025 season. If not, the Tigers may simply fast track him to Erie by year’s end and see how he can handle the upper minors in short outings in 2026.
Due to the international free agent status, Reyes was already Rule 5 eligible last November. That makes it a little more pressing for the Tigers to figure out how they’re going to ultimately develop him. Even if things go well in a starting role, the pressure to get him to a point where he’s useful at the major league level may force a move to relief, but Gabriel Reyes is a talented young pitcher. Hopefully he gets a chance to put the surgery behind him and show what he can do in a starting role with a healthy offseason under his belt.