Frosty Microbrew: Brewers Hope Young Pitchers Worth the Wait

Kyle Lobner’s latest Frosty Microbrew is on some young pitchers who might be heading to the Timber Rattlers in 2019. Meet Cade Lemons, Max Lazar, and Justin Jarvis.

Timber Rattlers fans have already had the opportunity to get to know most of the players the Milwaukee Brewers selected in the early rounds of the 2017 draft: First round pick Keston Hiura, sixth rounder Devin Hairston and ninth round pick Dallas Carroll all played in the Midwest League in their first professional seasons, and Competitive Balance pick Tristen Lutz, third rounder KJ Harrison, seventh round pick Bowden Francis and tenth rounder Alec Bettinger followed them to Wisconsin in 2018. There are still a few 2017 draftees that haven’t made the jump yet, however, and the Brewers are hoping their performances will be worth the wait.

Right-handed pitcher and second round pick Caden Lemons was selected out of high school as part of that group, and could be poised to join Wisconsin in 2019. The Brewers have handled their young draft pick with care, as he’s pitched just 34.1 regular season innings at the rookie ball level over the season and a half since signing his first professional contract. This fall he attended the Brewers’ annual Instructional League camp and said he was feeling “great.”

“I’m working on a lot of things to get better and being the pitcher that the organization needs me to be, and feeling good about it,” Lemons said.

As is often the case for pitchers drafted out of high school, Lemons had some work to do to make the mental and physical transition to the professional game. Between the fall of 2017 and 2018 he noticeably filled in his 6’6” frame, but he said mental growth was the biggest change in his game over the previous 12 months.

“I would say maturity up on the mound,” Lemons said. “I’m trying to learn a lot about more so pitching than just throwing the ball. Learning different pitches, how to make them do what I need them to do and throw them for strikes when I need to throw them for strikes.”

Players in Instructional League usually have a specific goal or focus they’ve been asked to work on during the brief camp. For Lemons, a specific element of his mechanics was his primary area of concentration.

“Right now I’m just working on tempo. Keeping the same arm slot, tempo and being fluid with working on the mound, not slow to fast, just keeping the same tempo,” Lemons said.

Despite his relatively limited professional experience the Brewers challenged Lemons by giving him five starts with advanced-rookie Helena during his age 19 season. He struck out 17 batters in 18 2/3 innings of work at that level, and said advancing within the organization was the biggest thing he was proud of from this season.

“Obviously it’s a long process but one step at a time and you’ve got to keep your eye on what’s the real goal,” Lemons said.

The Pioneer League’s high altitude and small ballparks tend to create a challenging environment for young pitchers, but Lemons described the experience as “a lot of fun.”

“The change of scenery was good for sure. Shoot, it definitely can be a hitters’ game at some point, but if you’re making pitches and doing the things you should be, it doesn’t make a difference,” Lemons said.

Lemons took a five-pitch arsenal with him to Helena: He throws a two-seam and four-seam fastball along with a changeup, curveball and slider. He said the trick to keeping all of his pitches sharp is to “just throw as much as possible.”

“You throw your fastball a lot, so you’ve got to throw everything else a lot too to make them just as good as your fastball,” Lemons said.

The Instructional League environment created an opportunity for a lot of coaches to monitor Lemons’ work, and he welcomed the chance to get a lot of input on how he could improve.

“Everyone here really knows what they’re talking about,” Lemons said. “So you take in as much as you can, put it into what you do up on the mound and if it works it works, and if it doesn’t… Nine out of ten times with our coaching staff, or ten out of ten times it works.”

Despite his youth and relative lack of professional experience, MLB Pipeline rated Lemons as the #14 prospect in the Brewers organization in their latest update.

Lemons is not the only high school pitcher from the 2017 draft that could be poised to make the jump to Wisconsin, however: Right-hander and eleventh round pick Max Lazar was also in Instructional League camp this fall. Lazar spent the 2018 season as a 19-year-old in Helena, where he led the team with 68 innings and posted a 4.37 ERA, which was seven tenths of a run below the Pioneer League average.

“It was great just to get out,” Lazar said. “My first year I was in Arizona, so Helena was like my first taste of pro ball outside the (Brewers’ Maryvale) complex. It was good to be in a rotation, be on a team that’s competing and trying to make the playoffs and win games.”

A low walk rate has served Lazar well across two professional seasons: He’s walked just 16 batters in 81 2/3 professional innings, a rate of 1.8 per nine. He said the improvements he made in pitch location were the biggest thing he was proud of from his 2018 season.

“I felt like I improved my pitchability. My fastball and curveball were working pretty well for me, locating north-south as well as east-west,” Lazar said.

This fall Lazar said he was working on adding a changeup to his arsenal.

“I’m looking to get a third pitch. I’ve always had a changeup, but never really thrown it as much. So I’m just trying to get that better,” Lazar said.

The Brewers selected another high school pitcher early in the 2018 draft, selecting North Carolina native and right-hander Justin Jarvis in the fifth round. Jarvis made ten appearances, including three starts, in his professional debut season for the Arizona Summer League Brewers, where he recorded 18 strikeouts in 19 innings.

“I thought it went pretty solid, it was definitely different, throwing every day compared to in high school where you just throw whenever, but overall I thought I threw pretty well, made some adjustments,” Jarvis said.

Jarvis was a participant in Instructional League camp for the first time this fall, and described the experience as “fantastic.”

“You have every coach you could think of, honestly, and everyone’s trying to help you get better. So I think it’s great,” Jarvis said.

This fall Jarvis’ primary focuses were adding weight to his frame and improving upon the consistency of his delivery.

“(I’m) Getting stronger, just putting on some pounds so I can carry velo (velocity) through the whole season, and then just consistent mechanics,” Jarvis said.

Adding weight should help Jarvis manage the grind of a long first full professional season. He said adjusting to the schedule and saying healthy were big focuses of his early pro career.

“When you get here you pretty much already know how to play. You’ve got to get used to the level a little bit, but just staying healthy and all that is a big part of it, getting used to that,” Jarvis said.

MLB Pipeline rated Jarvis as the #27 prospect in the Brewers organization despite the fact that he won’t turn 19 until February and has pitched just a handful of professional innings. Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs included him as an honorable mention in their recent rankings, citing his above-average changeup.

It remains to be seen when Jarvis will get an opportunity to climb the Brewers’ organizational ladder, but he’s excited to see some new baseball environments for himself.

“I’ve heard some funny stories. I’m looking forward to it,” Jarvis said. “Some of the people might be different, but I’m looking forward to it.”