Tampa resident and lifelong Rays fan Alex Faedo joins Rays pitching staff

“There were a lot of texts, a lot of messages.”

As a lifelong Tampa Bay Rays fan, Alex Faedo couldn’t be more excited for an unexpected opportunity to pitch for his hometown team.

“Me and my uncle, I was allowed to miss school, to go to opening day,” Faedo said. “Every opening day we would go and the first playoff game at The Trop. It’s exciting, a cool experience.”

Kristie Stacy

The Alonso High School graduate was acquired by the Rays in an offseason trade with the Detroit Tigers.

“There were a lot of texts, a lot of messages,” Faedo said. “My family was really excited, happy for them, happy for my wife. My kids don’t really understand what’s going on, but I am happy to be close to them for most of the season. A lot of people were messaging me, but it was cool to see how happy everyone was.”

Faedo’s father, Landy Faedo, is the longtime baseball coach at Alonso High.

“He gave me a call. I was super-excited,” Landy said. “I called my wife. She broke down in tears. She said she’d been praying for it to happen.”

Faedo was the number 18 overall pick in 2017 out of the University of Florida.

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With the Tigers, he was primarily a starter. Last year, he posted a 3.61 ERA with 55 strikeouts and 28 walks in 57 1/3 innings over 37 appearances. But with Tampa Bay, he will likely transition to a reliever.

“I’m not in a position to be making demands, so I’ll just pitch whenever I am asked to pitch and try to pick up my team whenever I can and throw up as many zeros as I can,” Faedo said.

There is another Tampa Bay tie for Faedo. His dad was an assistant coach at Gaither High School in the mid-90’s when Rays manager Kevin Cash was there.

“Kevin was a gamer,” Landy said. “Super-high IQ baseball player. Fearless, just fearless.”