Prospect Small eager to play in real games
PHOENIX - Ethan Small's competitive nature – one of the primary traits that helped put him on the Milwaukee Brewers' radar long before they made him a first-round draft pick in 2019 – was put to the test over the past year.
It's not easy to get the juices flowing when the extent of your action was participating in the team's alternate training site in Appleton, where an eclectic group of players spent two months working out and playing against each other. With the minor leagues shut down in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic, that became the player-development substitute for Small and other prospects.
“It was tough because one of the best things about this game is always going up against somebody else and competing,” said the 24-year-old left-hander, who is in the Brewers' big-league camp this spring as a non-roster player.
“One thing is for sure: It kind of gets a little repetitive when you're just doing the same thing, day in and day out. So you've got to really make sure you're locked in and focused on your development. One thing I'm really happy about is hopefully this year we'll have a full season and get to play against other people.”
Small found the two months in Appleton more of a mental challenge than physical, particularly for starting pitchers with time off between outings. The Brewers' inventive staff did its best to keep things interesting and challenging, but at times it was the baseball version of Groundhog Day, including stringent COVID-19 protocols.
“I guess it's more of a thing of it's harder to be locked in, in that kind of environment when you know there's no fans in the stands and it's more of a simulated scrimmage. I think that can definitely be a challenge, and just mentally being there every day is probably part of that, too.”
To get the most from that experience, Small took on a personal pitching project – developing a reliable slider to add to a repertoire that includes a sneaky fastball, an above-average changeup and a curveball.
“From where it was last year at this time to this year is a pretty drastic difference," Small said of his slider. "I'm pretty happy with where that's going.”
Even with that expanded pitch mix, the key to Small's success is a fastball that bedevils opponents despite modest velocity, usually sitting in the low 90s. It gets on hitters faster than they expect, with riding life and tremendous deception that he enhances by varying his leg lift and tempo of his delivery.
Asked why his fastball is so tough to hit without being overpowering, Small smiled and said some people think it has to be high spin rate.
“I would say that's not exactly the case,” he said. “I would say it's probably whatever your average four-seam fastball is – 2,000 to 2,200 (revolutions per minute). So, by no means above average.”
Small said his fastball gets the “sneaky quick” description because of the extension he gets by having long arms for his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds).
“I think a lot of it has to do more so with an extension number, like whatever that distance is from home to wherever I'm releasing the ball, and then also the vertical break number,” he said. “Probably more so than spin efficiency. It's probably flirting with 98-100%, and then also that big extension that gets that rise on the fastball late in the (hitting) zone.”
Small used that fastball to dominate hitters in the rugged Southeastern Conference while pitching for Mississippi State, the same school that produced Brewers ace Brandon Woodruff. He led that league in strikeouts and was named pitcher of the year as a junior, moving him up draft boards before Milwaukee took him with the 28th pick overall.
After signing for $1.8 million, Small was sent to rookie ball in Arizona for a couple of starts before jumping to Class A Wisconsin. In five impressive outings there, he forged a 1.00 earned run average with a remarkable 31 strikeouts in 18 innings and .172 opponents batting average.
The Brewers expected Small to make a big leap toward the majors in 2020, but the pandemic struck and minor-league seasons were canceled, a tremendous blow for player development.
“I think the biggest thing is it just feels like you're constantly training and developing, and you never really get that chance to go prove what you've gotten to develop,” he said. “You practice and lift (weights) and all that stuff but you don't ever get that feeling and that satisfaction of going out there and having stats lined up over the course of a season, and you get to reflect on that and develop for the next year.
“The biggest thing is you kind of feel like you get robbed of a year, a little bit. Not in a sense that you don't get to develop and get better, but you don't get to have that feedback of how well you're doing and how you're tracking.”
All of which makes competing in his second big-league camp a welcome feeling for Small. He has seen action in two Cactus League games, getting to throw pitches to hitters wearing a different uniform than his for a change.
“It's fairly similar as far as the baseball side,” Small said of being back in camp. “I know some of the games are shorter (because not as many pitchers are in camp as in normal springs).
“The COVID stuff is a little different, but I'm happy that we're here and getting to have some semblance of normal even though it's not, really. You come back for the second one and you kind of have that experience to go off of. I'm continuing to develop my off-speed stuff and then also continuing to learn from the older guys who have been here and done it more.”
Players don't normally get to skip steps in rising to the big leagues, but assuming the minor leagues do play games regularly after a delayed start in 2021, Small could put himself in position for a call from the Brewers. He has the maturity and stuff to possibly make such a leap without detrimental effects on his development.
“I really don't want to try to get too caught up in that because the whole thing about me is I've got to stick with the process, continue to get better," Small said. “Really, it's just the day-today grind of all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes for me as it is on the field. So, I'm just going to keep trying to focus on that and obviously, the big leagues are the goal.”
As for where a year of no minorleague games left Small, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said, “Like any player, especially a player who hasn't been able to get professional innings, he was hurt by it. More than anything, just hurt from being on the professional schedule of a starting pitcher.
“Missing that is not ideal, so we just have to start over with that again and realize it's going to come at some point so he can get back on track and get back to being a great performer.”
Not to mention a great competitor.