Dillon Tate

Dillon Michael Tate (born May 1, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the New York Yankees organization. He played college baseball at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, and traded to the Yankees during the 2016 season.

Tate attended Claremont High School in Claremont, California, graduating in 2012. He made the school's baseball team, but received little playing time as a freshman. He then began to train at the Major League Baseball (MLB) Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California. He was not selected in the MLB draft out of high school.

Tate enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he played college baseball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. As a freshman he appeared in four games, pitching three innings, and had a 9.00 earned run average (ERA). That summer, he grew from 165 pounds (75 kg) to 200 pounds (91 kg) through weight training. As a sophomore, he served as the Gauchos' closing pitcher, finishing the season with a 1.45 ERA, 12 saves, and 46 strikeouts. Tate was expected to enter his junior season in 2015 as the closer again, but was converted into a starting pitcher after an injury to one of the teams starters. He started 14 games in his junior year, pitching to a 8–5 win–loss record with a 2.26 ERA and 111 strikeouts in  103 1⁄₃ innings pitched.

Tate was considered one of the top prospects for the 2015 MLB draft. He was drafted by the Texas Rangers with the fourth overall selection. He signed with the Rangers on June 12, earning a $4.2 million signing bonus. Tate made his professional debut for the Spokane Indians of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, and was promoted to the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2016. He spent time on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. Tate pitched 65 innings for Hickory, with a 5.12 ERA, 55 strikeouts, and 27 walks. His fastball velocity, which previously ranged from 92 to 98 miles per hour (148 to 158 km/h), decreased to 90 to 93 miles per hour (145 to 150 km/h) in his time with Hickory.

On August 1, 2016, the Rangers traded Tate and fellow prospects Erik Swanson and Nick Green to the New York Yankees for Carlos Beltrán. The Yankees assigned Tate to the Charleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League to pitch as a reliever for the remainder of 2016, in order to work with pitching coach Justin Pope to fix various mechanical flaws that can lead to an increase in velocity. The Yankees assigned him to the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League after the regular season, and he was named to the Fall Stars Game.