PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — As a team and an organization, the Rays are thrilled about returning to Tropicana Field this season after spending last year outside at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
But you might not find anyone in Tampa Bay’s clubhouse who is more excited about getting back to the Trop than Ryan Pepiot.
After a season in which he seemed to draw an inordinate number of the club’s sweltering early-afternoon starts at Steinbrenner Field, he’s ready to get back under the tilted roof, where it’s 72 degrees at first pitch no matter the day or time.
“I’ll tell you what, I cannot wait for air conditioning and my mound — not my mound, but the mound,” Pepiot said, smiling. “I love the Trop. I know some people don’t like it. I love it. It’s fantastic.”
Pepiot’s unironic appreciation for the Rays’ home dome is just one way in which the 28-year-old right-hander has come to embrace the Tampa Bay area, the city of St. Petersburg, the Rays and their fans as he enters his third season with the team.
Pepiot had no connection to the area before the Rays acquired him and Jonny DeLuca from the Dodgers in the December 2023 trade for Tyler Glasnow. He’d visited the Tampa Bay area for spring break in high school, and he went to a game at the Trop during one of those trips. But he was born and raised in Indiana, went to college at Butler, debuted for Los Angeles and spent his winters in Arizona to be closer to the Dodgers’ Spring Training complex.
Then came the trade. Pepiot and his wife, Lilia, had to decide whether to relocate. They thought about the impracticality of maintaining three residences, but they planned to rent in St. Petersburg and keep their place in Arizona.
Then they spent a little time in St. Petersburg.
“Two days later, my wife’s like, ‘All right, we can move here,’” Pepiot recalled.
After Pepiot’s first season with the Rays, they bought a condo near the waterfront in downtown St. Pete. It’s become their year-round home, complete with a view of Tropicana Field.
“I love St. Pete. I feel like I wake up on vacation every single day, and I get to work in the vacation spot,” Pepiot said. “There’s something therapeutic about the water every day. Being able to walk downtown and hit all my coffee shops, hit all my lunch spots and my dinner spots. I have my places where people know who I am, and they say hi.
“The people are just nice. And there’s just so many good causes around the area to support. I know how much people have given to the Rays, and I want to give back to them.”
He’s done exactly that, quickly becoming one of the more public-facing representatives of the team while also establishing himself as a reliable source of quality innings in the starting rotation.
“I try to do everything,” he said. “In the offseason, they always ask, ‘Hey, would you d–’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m there.’”
When it came time for the Capital One MLB Open in November, Pepiot represented the Rays alongside David Price. In January, he co-hosted an entire four-hour local sports talk radio show on WDAE. When the NHL Stadium Series came to Tampa in January for a matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins, there was Pepiot at Raymond James Stadium alongside Junior Caminero and left-hander Ian Seymour.
“I wasn’t missing that,” Pepiot said. “That was so fun.”
Pepiot has also leaned into his standing to support charitable work in the community, from taking part in Reading With The Rays and Rays On The Runway events to supporting Feeding Tampa Bay, the Ronald McDonald House and GiGi’s Playhouse Tampa.
And when the Rays hosted their annual Fan Fest outside Tropicana Field last month, with players coming and going from camp in shifts, Pepiot spent the entire day participating in various events. That culminated with a stage show alongside DeLuca and brand engagement executive Brett Phillips.
With his words and actions, Pepiot has made it clear: There’s no place he’d rather be.
“The Rays took a big chance on me, put a lot of faith in me to come in and do what I have been able to do the last two years,” Pepiot said. “The belief they have and the personability the whole staff has in just embracing me and letting me be myself, I want to give back to that. Not just the team, but the city of St. Pete, the people of St. Pete.
“It’s a really good place to live,” he added, “and the Trop is a great place to pitch.”