Jeremy Hellickson

Jeremy Hellickson pitched 10 major-league seasons, attaining his greatest success with the Tampa Bay Rays. In 2010, he became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to win his first three big-league starts. The following year, he helped the Rays overcome the Boston Red Sox for the AL wild card and was named Rookie of the Year.

Jeremy Robert Hellickson, the son of Steven and Leanne (McGee) Hellickson, was born on April 8, 1987, in Des Moines, Iowa. He has a younger sister, Stevi Rae. His father drives a forklift at Des Moines Cold Storage, while his mother operates a Johnston cleaning business. Jeremy’s parents divorced before his fourth birthday. Jeremy and Stevi Rae lived with Steve or Steve’s parents for much of their childhood and then moved to their mother’s home as teenagers.1 Steve was Jeremy’s original baseball coach and mentored him from age 6. “I grew up with him teaching me the game,” Jeremy remarked.2 “[He was] coaching me at every level and catching and throwing batting practice to me every day.”3 Greg Maddux and Derek Jeter were his favorite major-league players.

After participating in the Beaverdale Little League, Hellickson started for five years on the varsity baseball team at Des Moines Herbert Hoover High School. Besides earning All-Academic First Team honors, he made the Des Moines Register First Team All-State in baseball in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Hellickson drew notice from pro scouts as a sophomore in 2003, when he won all six decisions with a 0.63 ERA and was named Iowa Player of the Year. The same year, he hit 94 miles per hour on radar guns at Florida showcase events and paced the USA Baseball’s 16-and-under gold medal winning squad at the 2003 World Youth Championships, finishing with two wins, no losses, 17 strikeouts, and one walk in 14 innings.4

Hellickson participated in varsity basketball for four seasons at Hoover, starting three for the Huskies. An outstanding shooting guard and playmaker, he averaged 15 points as a sophomore in 2003 and made the Iowa High School Athletic Association Class 4A All-Tournament Team. Hoover finished third in the tournament, losing to Waterloo East in the semifinals.

In May 2005, Hellickson graduated from Hoover. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander already had compiled a 3-0 record and remarkable 0.00 ERA as a senior with 33 strikeouts, allowing just three hits and two walks in 15 innings.5

The next month, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (as the club was known until late 2007) drafted Hellickson in the fourth round as the 118th overall selection. The Devil Rays signed him for nearly $600,000. “It has been a dream to play pro ball,” he enthused.6

Hellickson spent five seasons in the minor leagues honing his pitching skills, exhibiting perseverance, resilience, and dedication. After appearing briefly with the Princeton (West Virginia) Devil Rays (Rookie Appalachian League) in 2005, he compiled 4 wins, 3 losses, and a 2.43 ERA for the Hudson Valley Renegades (Lower Class A New York-Pennsylvania League) in 2006. He made the NYP All-Star team.

Hellickson excelled with the Columbus (Georgia) Catfish (Class A South Atlantic League) in 2007, boasting a 13-3 record and 2.67 ERA. His 2008 season was split between the Vero Beach (Florida) Devil Rays (Upper Class A Florida State League), where he finished 7-1 with a sparkling 2.00 ERA, and the Montgomery (Alabama) Biscuits (Class AA Southern League), where he went 4-4 with a 3.94 ERA.

In 2009, Tampa Bay named Hellickson their Minor League Pitcher of the Year. He compiled a 3-1 record and 2.38 ERA with Montgomery, then was 6-1 with a 2.51 ERA with the Durham Bulls (Class AAA International League). Hellickson utilized his size effectively, not relying just on sheer velocity. Minor-league pitching coaches Neil Allen and Dick Bosman persuaded him to “use his changeup rather than curve to make it a little easier on his shoulder. That’s when he developed this awesome changeup.” He consistently threw fastballs in the low 90s, but his improved changeup provided another weapon, especially against left-handed hitters. Rays minor-league coordinator Mitch Lukevics explained, “He was able to throw his changeup for strikes on a consistent basis.” John Jaso, who caught Hellickson, called “the changeup his big equalizing pitch because he throws it to anybody in any count.”7   

“Hellickson’s first outing against a major league lineup” during spring training on March 6, 2010 “was the stuff that makes good Hollywood script.” He faced his favorite team, the reigning world champion New York Yankees, in the first inning, striking out Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira and retiring Alex Rodriguez.8 In 2010, Hellickson won USA Today and Baseball America  Minor League Player of the Year, International League Pitcher of the Year, and Baseball America Minor League All-Star accolades for Durham. He had stellar marks: 12-3 and 2.45 ERA, with 123 strikeouts and just 35 walks in 117.2 innings. That year, Hellickson was selected as pitcher for the United States squad in the All-Star Futures Game.     

Hellickson was leading the International League in victories, strikeouts, and ERA when Tampa Bay promoted him to the major leagues in August. Lukevics observed that “ice in his veins” was what separated Hellickson from other prospects. “This young guy has always maintained his composure. Nothing seems to rattle him.”9

When some Tampa Bay pitchers went on the disabled list, the Rays needed 23-year-old Hellickson to make several spot starts. He made an impressive major-league debut on August 2 against the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field, allowing only three hits and two runs in seven innings. He struck out six and walked only two in a 4-2 victory, becoming just the sixth Tampa Bay pitcher to win his big-league debut. No American League pitcher had retired the first 10 batters faced in a debut in five years. Hellickson’s fastball was consistently clocked at 92 mph, curveball in the mid-70s, and changeup in between. Rays manager Joe Maddon was impressed with the rookie’s “really calm demeanor” and “really good stuff.”10

On August 10 at Detroit, Tampa Bay blanked the Detroit Tigers, 8-0, as Hellickson yielded just three hits, struck out seven, and walked none in seven innings. After Austin Jackson singled to lead off the game, Hellickson retired 17 consecutive batters through the sixth inning. Maddon raved, “To have a guy that young understand this concept of pitching so well is unusual.”11 “He doesn’t get rattled,” pitching coach Jim Hickey said. “Poise is the ability to make a pitch under duress, and he certainly has that ability.”12  

On August 15, Hellickson and the Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2, at Tropicana Field. Hellickson hurled six strong innings to become the first Tampa Bay pitcher to win his initial three major-league starts. No big-league pitcher since 1920 had hurled at least six innings and given up three or fewer hits in his first three starts. In his first 20 innings, he yielded just three runs and nine hits. Baltimore manager Buck Showalter marveled, “It’s unusual to see a guy with that good of a changeup that will attack right-handers with it.”13

When the disabled starting pitchers returned, the Rays employed Hellickson as a reliever in six games. He finished 2010 with a 4-0 record and 3.47 ERA, allowing just 32 hits, striking out 33, and walking only eight in 36.1 innings. That offseason, Hoover High retired his #2 jersey.   

In 2011, Hellickson won 13 games and lost 10 with a 2.95 ERA, walking 72 in 189 innings as the Rays’ fifth starter. The 13 wins was a big-league career high, and the ERA was also his best in a single season.

On May 13, Hellickson hurled his first major-league complete game and shutout, blanking Baltimore, 3-0, at Tropicana Field. He allowed just four hits, striking out three, walking one, and retiring the final 13 batters. “I felt just as good in the ninth as I did in the first,” he related.14 Hellickson finished 7-3 against AL East rivals and had five critical starts in September. He won two of those starts, and he received “no decision” in the other three. The team went 4-1 in the five games, and Hellickson recorded a 2.67 ERA in 33.2 innings. The Rays erased a nine-game deficit against the Boston Red Sox in the final 3½ weeks to win the wild card. “It was unbelievable,” Hellickson remarked.15

On September 15, he allowed only one run, three hits, and four walks while fanning four in 5.2 innings in a 9-2 triumph over Boston.16 Twelve days later, Hellickson induced Russell Martin of the Yankees to ground into a triple play with the bases loaded in the sixth inning to keep the Rays deficit in the game at one run. After he left the game, they came back to win, 5-3. The triple play, he explained, was “probably the most exciting play of the year – definitely the most excited I got the whole year. If I give up three or four runs that inning, we probably don’t make the playoffs.”

In the postseason, however, Hellickson surrendered three home runs in just four innings in his lone appearance. He started on October 4 and took the loss as the Texas Rangers clinched the 2011 American League Division Series by defeating Tampa Bay, 4-3, in Game Four.

Hellickson was named American League Rookie of the Year, the first Rays pitcher to receive the award. “It’s something I really wanted to win,” he reflected. “I’ve believed in myself and had all the confidence in the world in myself.”17 Although pitching in the AL’s strongest division, he amassed a 13-10 record, led all major-league rookies in ERA (2.95), innings pitched (189), games started (29), quality starts (20), and opponents’ batting average (.210), and tied for second in wins.

In 2012, Hellickson was just 10-11, but his ERA was nearly as good at 3.10. He walked just 59 batters in 177 innings. He won the Rawlings American League Gold Glove defensive award for pitchers.

Hellickson compiled a 12-10 record the following year but allowed a career-high 185 hits and 5.17 ERA. He appeared in the postseason for the only other time in his career. On October 7, he started Game Four of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. After retiring the side in order in the first inning, he walked two and allowed a single in the top of the second. He was removed for Jamey Wright, who got the Rays out of the bases-loaded jam unscathed. However, Boston went on to win the game and clinch the series.

Hellickson, who had earned $503,000 in 2013, signed a $3.625 million one-year contract in January 2014. “It’s definitely not going to change me or the person I am,” he said, but “it’s definitely life-changing money.”18

After beginning 2014 on the disabled list, Hellickson struggled to a 1-5 mark and 4.52 ERA. The Rays traded Hellickson after two consecutive subpar seasons. The Arizona Diamondbacks needed a starting pitcher; on November 14 they acquired Hellickson for minor-league prospects Andrew Velázquez and Justin Williams.19 Hellickson started 27 games for Arizona in 2015, winning just nine of 21 decisions with a 4.62 ERA.

Hellickson was traded on November 14, 2015, precisely one year later, to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Sam McWilliams. He experienced a resurgence. Named Philadelphia’s opening day pitcher, he went on to start a career-high 32 games and finished 12-10 with a 3.71 ERA. At Washington on April 27, Hellickson pitched the first seven innings as the Phillies shut out the Nationals, 3-0. He struck out eight batters, including four consecutively, and allowed only a double to Daniel Murphy and bunt single to Danny Espinosa. “He constantly changes speeds,” Espinosa observed.20 Later in the season, on September 17 against the Marlins, he had his first shutout since 2011.

In November 2016, Hellickson signed a $17.2 million one-year contract. “I’m very excited to be back with the Phillies again,” he proclaimed. 21  Later that month, the Hoover High School Alumni Hall of Fame inducted Hellickson, citing him as “passionate about his chosen profession, achieving at the highest levels, and giving back to the community from which he came.”22

Hellickson started 20 games for Philadelphia in 2017, going 6-5 with a 4.73 ERA. He won his four of his first five starts with a sharp 1.80 ERA, exhibiting good command of his fastball – “keeping it down in the zone. So that’s making my off-speed pitches a little better right now—just getting a lot of weak contact.”23

However, Hellickson did not continue to pitch well. On July 26, the Phillies traded him to Baltimore for Garrett Cleavinger, Hyun Soo Kim, and international bonus slot money.24  

Hellickson struggled even more with the Orioles, compiling a 2-6 record and 6.97 ERA.

Washington signed Hellickson to a minor-league contract in March 2018. After making his most lucrative salary, he had to settle for the minimum of $100,000. Hellickson was a useful pitcher for the Nationals in a limited role. He made 19 starts but pitched just 91.1 innings, going 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA, his best since 2012. He walked just 20 batters while striking out 65.

A shoulder injury sidelined Hellickson for most of his final major-league season in 2019. He started just eight games, the last on May 19, with a lackluster 2-3 record and 6.23 ERA.

It turned out to be a rewarding year, though – Washington upset the heavily favored Houston Astros in the World Series, as Hellickson cheered his teammates from the dugout. “It was tough to watch from the bench,” he said. “But to watch my teammates and guys that I grinded with for two years now and to see them just go and out and win a World Series and be a part of it, right now, there’s really no words to explain it. It’s been a blur.”25 Hellickson stood on stage with his teammates at Minute Maid Park in Houston to celebrate the Nationals’ first World Series title.   

Hellickson retired from professional baseball on February 14, 2020. When throwing several bullpen sessions during the offseason, he experienced discomfort in his shoulder and knew something was wrong. “It was just really painful.” Doctors discovered a bone spur in Hellickson’s collarbone. The shoulder would have required surgery, sidelining him for over a year. “The shoulder was letting me know it was time.”26

During 10 major-league seasons, Hellickson had compiled 76 wins, 75 losses, and a 4.13 ERA in 232 games, striking out 929, walking 385, and allowing 1,206 hits in 1,269.1 innings. He started 224 games, relieved in eight others, and hurled three complete games with two shutouts.

In 10 minor-league seasons (which included brief stints in 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019), Hellickson won 51 and lost 23 for a .689 winning percentage. His ERA was a tidy 2.97. He started 117 of 124 games, striking out 697 and walking 150 in 640 innings.

“You don’t ever dream about playing 10 years,” Hellickson reflected. “It’s been unbelievable pitching in the big leagues, traveling, pitching in the stadiums and just making all these friends. It’s been the best 10 years ever.”27   

Hellickson married Natalie Cresta on March 31, 2020, at the Tea Room in Des Moines. They reside in the suburb of Urbandale and have no children. Hellickson has kept close ties to Des Moines and Hoover High, spearheading fundraisers, donating baseball equipment, and supporting charities helping children with cancer and muscular dystrophy.

Last revised: January 11, 2026

Acknowledgments 

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David H. Lippman and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credit: Jeremy Hellickson, Trading Card Database.

Sources 

In addition to using the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.       

Notes

1 Sean Keller, “Jeremy Hellickson: Rays’s Rising Son Rooted in Iowa,” Des Moines Register, October 6, 2010.

2 Seth Livingstone, “Bring on the Bigs,” Des Moines Register, September 8, 2010.

3 Bryce Miller, “Reserved Ray,” Des Moines Register, January 31, 2012.

4 Dan McCool, “Hellickson picking up $500,000 from D-Rays,” Des Moines Register, July 23, 2005.

5 Dan McCool, “Baseball teams throw D.M. pitcher Hellickson a curve,” Des Moines Register, June 8, 2005.

6 McCool, “Hellickson picking up.”

7 Seth Livingstone, “Hellickson has bullish year in minors,” USA Sports Weekly, September 8-14, 2010.

8 Alan Dell, “Two young Rays off to great start,” Bradenton Herald, March 7, 2010.

9 Livingstone, “Hellickson has bullish year.” 

10 Marc Topkin, “Hellickson shines in his MLB Debut,” St. Petersburg Times, August 2, 2010.

11 “Hellickson dazzles in start no. 2,” Des Moines Register, August 11, 2010.

12 Livingstone, “Hellickson has bullish year.”

13 “Three’s a charm for Hellickson,” Des Moines Register, August 16, 2010.

14 “Hellickson nabs first shutout,” Des Moines Register, May 14, 2011.

15 Miller, “Reserved Ray.”

16 “Des Moines’ Hellickson pitches Rays to critical win,” Des Moines Register, September 16, 2011.

17 Ben Walker, “Hellickson AL rookie of the year,” Des Moines Register, November 15, 2011.

18 Tommy Birch, “Hellickson takes lucrative deal,” Des Moines Register, January 18, 2014.

19 “Rays trade Hellickson to Arizona,” Des Moines Register, November 15, 2014.

20 Associated Press, “Jeremy Hellickson pitches Phillies past Harper Nats, 3-0,” Des Moines Register, April 27, 2016.

21 Tommy Birch, “Iowa pitcher gets big payday,” Des Moines Register, November 15, 2016.  

22 Hoover-Meredith Learning Community Foundation, “Jeremy Hellickson,” Hoover High School Alumni Hall of Fame, November 26, 2016.

23 Tommy Birch, “Hellickson hoping to stay with Phillies,” Des Moines Register, May 1, 2017.

24 International Bous Slot money comes from the MLB practice of each organization entering the signing period with bonus pool money to sign international amateur free agents.

25 Tommy Birch, “Hellickson says World Series win ‘hasn’t really sunk in yet,’” Des Moines Register, November 3, 2019.

26 Tommy Birch, “Life After Baseball,” Des Moines Register, February 26, 2021.

27 Birch, “Life After Baseball.”