The Baby Giraffe Grows Up

Five-Eight With Size Fifteens

Tyler Glasnow stood about 5-foot-8 with size-15 shoes as a freshman at William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California. By his senior year he was roughly 6-foot-7, on his way to the 6-foot-8 frame he carries now. The Pirates took him in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, 152nd overall, signing him for $600,000 after he had committed to the University of Portland. Former Pirates teammate Jameson Taillon gave him the nickname Baby Giraffe in reference to that towering height and frame.

That is the body that has now struck out 1,000 major-league hitters. Glasnow crossed the number on May 6 of this season, his third with the Dodgers. A lifelong Southern California resident, he attended Dodgers games growing up and listed Clayton Kershaw and Shawn Green among his favorites.

Three Cities

The career went Pittsburgh first, three seasons starting in 2016. Then Tampa Bay, six seasons from 2018 through 2023. Then back to California and the Dodgers in 2024. He has logged 793.2 innings across 174 appearances. Teammates have always reached for a specific word. Blake Snell called him electric. Pete Fairbanks said he had the best arm talent in the big leagues.

He won a World Series with the Dodgers in 2025 and made the All-Star team the year before.

Santa Clarita

His parents, Greg and Donna, have run a hardwood flooring business in the Santa Clarita Valley since 1979. Greg swam and played water polo. Donna was a gymnast who coached at Cal State Northridge. Older brother Ted competed as a decathlete at Notre Dame.

A minor-league teammate from Louisiana once told him a California kid could not love rap that deeply. Glasnow got a "No Juice" tattoo inside his lower lip and an Ol Dirty Bastard image on the sole of his foot to prove it. The teammate laughed when he heard.

Glasnow is 32, in his eleventh major-league season.

Reporting: The Athletic, ESPN, MLB.com, People, Wikipedia, Altoona Curve. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.