Gage Hinsz arrives with the RedHawks in 2021 for his sixth season of professional baseball and first in independent baseball. Hinsz played four seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization after they took him in the 11th Round of the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft. He reached the Advanced-A level in 2017 with the Bradenton Marauders, going 5-5 with a 5.61 ERA in 20 appearances (19 starts). He struck out 52 batters and gave up 31 walks in 94.2 innings pitched in 2017, his most recent season of summer baseball, despite missing parts of the season with a shoulder injury that was eventually diagnosed as a scapular stress fracture. He was listed as the Pirates’ 20th-ranked prospect on MLB.com’s 2018 prospect watch list.

After undergoing open heart surgery to repair a failing aortic valve in May 2018, Hinsz returned to baseball during the instructional league in Florida and then at Pittsburgh's academy in the Dominican Republic, where he pitched simulated games before joining Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican Winter League. Hinsz made his first official appearance since his surgery Nov. 17, 2018, when he struck out five over four scoreless innings and allowed one hit and one walk.He went 0-1 with a 1.08 ERA in five starts for Carolina in 2018-19, striking out 23 batters and walking seven in 25.0 innings of work. He was placed on the injured list just prior to the start of the 2019 season with a right forearm strain and did not make any appearances that season.