Gastón was born in the Matanzas province of Cuba, on Dec. 16, 2001. Before signing with Tampa in 2018 he held a showcase in Miami, where he revealed an electric repertoire of pitches and wowed representatives from various major league organizations. The young hurler known as the “Baby Hurricane” has an array of pitches in his repertoire, but injuries and have stopped his ascent through the Rays farm system.
Baseball America ranked Gastón as their #24 international prospect before his signing for 2.8 in 2018. The heralded baseball journal described Gastón as having “an uncanny velocity for his age and as one of the hardest throwing 16-year-olds ever.” The right-hander has a dominant fastball, a deceptive change up, a plus slider and a split-finger.
In Cuba Gastón saw action in the Cuban Sub 15 league in 2016 where he was third in earned run average (1.22) and struck out 77 batters and in only 66 innings. In his final year in Cuba (2017), he fanned 47 batters in 47 innings as a member of the country’s Sub-18 tournament. During his four seasons in the minors with Tampa he has a 7-12 and a 5.19 ERA.
This offseason he has seen action in the Venezuelan Professional Winter League and began working with heralded pitching coach Hector Berríos. The renowned instructor has a track record of bringing out the best in his students and following their offseason work with Berríos plenty of pitchers have had career, Vladimir Gutiérrez and Aroldis Chapman are two examples of hurlers on this long list.
El lanzador Sandy Gastón nos habló sobre su preparación en la temporada muerta con @HLB_Pitching y su experiencia en la @LVBP_Oficial este invierno con los @labarrabrava.#pelotacubana #LVBP pic.twitter.com/RsbJQLUSzk
— Yusseff305 🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@yusseff305) January 24, 2024
Sandy, tell me about your offseason training with Héctor Berrios.
Super happy with the coach. There polishing small details and fixing a couple of things in my mechanics that I should have fixed a long time ago. But I feel very happy and he is doing a great job with me.
How was your experience playing Venezuelan winter baseball?
It was great, although I didn’t pitch as much, but I really liked the experience. I was surrounded by many players who have a lot of experience with the ball, some who even played in the Major Leagues and some who are there currently. But the most I learned was off the field. I listened to a lot of advice from plenty of veterans. I didn’t pitch much, but thank God I took advantage of the time.
The Rays have invited you to their Spring Training camp. Do you have any goals upon your arrival there?
Well, the idea is to arrive in shape and take advantage of the chance I havegiven, it doesn’t matter if it is as a starter or closer. Whatever they are in need of, I will fill that role. They called me for February, so they gave me time to work and prepare here with the coach for this upcoming opportunity.
Have they told you what level you are going to start at?
No, specifically not yet. You know what baseball is like, you have to arrive in shape and earn your place here.