T-Rat Talk: Tanner Gillis
The Milwaukee Brewers have had a fair amount of success in recent years with pitchers who have followed unlikely paths to professional baseball, and Tanner Gillis certainly fits that mold.
The Milwaukee Brewers have had a fair amount of success in recent years with pitchers who have followed unlikely paths to professional baseball, and Tanner Gillis certainly fits that mold.
Gillis pitched four seasons across five years (missing the 2020 season) for Division II Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, a program that went 67-117 overall during his active seasons. He started school as an infielder but his coach spotted his arm slot and natural sink on the ball and moved him to the mound.
The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to players whose college tenure was impacted by the pandemic and Gillis used his to pitch a final college season at Northern Kentucky. He took a big step forward during that extra year: He was selected First Team All-Horizon League after a season where his 5.00 ERA was nearly three and a half runs better and his strikeout rate was over 25% higher than the league average. He pitched 8 ⅔ innings and logged eleven strikeouts as the Norse knocked off #1 seed Wright State in the conference tournament on their way to securing the league’s automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Ready for our 𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 💍
— NKU Baseball ⚾️ (@NKUNorseBSB) January 23, 2025
Come out to @NKUNorseMBB's game tomorrow night to honor your 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗭𝗢𝗡 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗚𝗨𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗦 🏆
🎟️ - https://t.co/ro1KRhYWVI pic.twitter.com/mm03mMQWOU
When that season’s MLB Draft rolled around, however, Gillis’ phone did not ring. About to turn 24 years old and without an invitation to continue his career in affiliated baseball, Gillis had a tough decision to make about his future. Thankfully, he didn’t have to look far for advice.
During his time at Cedarville Gillis spent three years as a teammate and roommate with infielder Payton Eeles, who now plays for the AAA St. Paul Saints in the Twins organization. Like Gillis, Eeles was undrafted out of college (he spent his extra year with Coastal Carolina in 2023) but opted to continue his career in independent ball, playing in the American Association in 2023 and starting the 2024 campaign in the Atlantic League. The Twins came calling after just six games that season, however, and Eeles climbed the ladder from Low-A to AAA in his first affiliated year.
“I remember last year we had a series in Toledo against the Mud Hens and he and his now wife came to that series,” Eeles said. ‘It was right after the draft and he didn’t get picked up, and he was kind of contemplating, ‘Man, do I stay on this baseball journey? Do I keep trying to do what I want to do?’ and I was just telling him the whole thing that went down with me, my experience. I literally was the same thing. I was hoping to get a senior selection in the draft and get a shot, but it didn’t happen for me and so I went to indy ball. Seeing what happened with me and getting picked up by the Twins and all that, I think that really was an encouragement to him to be like, ‘ok, I’m going to do this too.’ And sure enough, it actually happened quicker for him than it did for me, getting picked up by the Brewers.”
For Gillis the next step was relatively close to home. The first half of the MLB Draft League season is built as a showcase for draft eligible players, but in the second half teams shift to undrafted players looking to continue their careers. Gillis signed with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, less than four hours up the road from Cedarville in Niles, Ohio.
“It was cool. It was a very minor league setting, so you’re playing every night with a good amount of fans, so it’s very similar to this. It’s a good way to get used to the minor league feel before actually being in the minor leagues,” Gillis said.
With all due respect & I mean with all due respect, @tannergillis8 was the best pitcher in our league. Scouts, he's worth another look, you won't be disappointed. Impact guy & off the field. @mlbdraftleague @mvscrappers @NKUNorseBSB pic.twitter.com/bYpwoGDYLM
— Steve Dintaman (@CoachDintz41) August 15, 2024
Gillis made five appearances for Mahoning Valley down the stretch that season and experienced significant success, allowing just five earned runs (a 1.80 ERA) and striking out 24 batters across 25 innings. The second half of the Draft League season is only eight weeks long, however, and Gillis had to work to avoid the distraction of wondering what would happen next.
“I wouldn’t say I was jumping every time (the phone rang), but it was cool getting the text from the Brewers and knowing that they’re about to call me. It was exciting, but I felt like it could happen at any moment and it finally did towards the end of the season,” Gillis said.
Gillis had to wait for the 2025 season to make his affiliated debut but has hit the ground running in the Brewers organization. He posted a 1.32 ERA across seven outings in long relief for Carolina before being promoted to Wisconsin, where he moved into the starting rotation and allowed just four earned runs in 19 innings across his first three starts. An injury slowed his progress and cost him the month of June, but he’s working his way back to full strength across three abbreviated starts in July.
“When you’re coming back, just velocity, control and how you feel is the mark of success. I wasn’t too worried about how I did, it was more being healthy and being back on the mound,” Gillis said.
In both his extended outings before the injury and his shorter starts since opposing batters have had significant trouble getting much traction against Gillis. He’s allowed just a .238 on-base percentage to opposing batters with Wisconsin and has limited hard contact on balls in play. He said he’s working on two-strike execution in an effort to get more strikeouts, but in the meantime he’s also happy to be getting outs early in the count.
“It hasn’t been something that’s been the usual for me, but I’ve been having success getting early contact and weak ground balls and so I’m ok with it, as long as it’s getting outs,” Gillis said.
Many of the Brewers’ pitching development success stories involve some kind of overhauled arsenal, a new pitch or pitches that unlock a new career trajectory at the professional level. That’s not necessarily the case for Gillis, who credits more of his success to changing his approach to his existing repertoire.
“Since joining the Brewers I really learned a lot about my pitches and the best way to use them,” Gillis said. “So I’d say although my arsenal hasn’t changed a lot, just knowing how to use my pitches is the biggest thing.”
Tanner Gillis has been steady to start the season 💪
— Brewers Player Development (@BrewersPD) April 28, 2025
In his first 4 outings (15.1 IP) he has a 19:3 K-to-BB ratio and has only allowed 2 XBH and 2 runs.#ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/2BmO5Nwf9s
Early in his tenure with Wisconsin Gillis narrowly missed an opportunity to pitch against his old friend. Eeles was on a rehab assignment with Cedar Rapids at the end of May and the two missed each other by one series.
“That would have been really cool,” Eeles said of the opportunity to face Gillis. “I still think it’s going to happen at some point. But that would have been really cool, just to be out there.”
If or when they do eventually cross paths, however, Eeles will face a pitcher that’s nothing like the “scrawny” teenager he used to annoy with his snoring and steal Cheez-Its from at Cedarville.
“If you would’ve told me (that Gillis would go on to pitch in affiliated ball) the first day I met him, we had a cookout and I met him, he and his brother Trace, I would not have believed you because he was pretty scrawny and all that,” Eeles said. “But I think getting to know him and how competitive he was… we would play ping pong in our dorm and we would have some intense games where you could really see that fire come out of him, same with any video game or something. Once I got to know him I definitely would have believed it, but the first day probably not.”