Small moved to bullpen for the time being
PHOENIX - Add another arm to the Milwaukee Brewers’ bullpen mix.
Ethan Small, the team’s 2019 firstround pick and a starter for the majority of his tenure with the organization, is being switched to a relief role for the time being according to manager Craig Counsell.
“Ethan Small will be treated as a reliever here. But a multiple-inning reliever,” he said Wednesday. “And then at some point, we’ll have to figure out what we’re going to do with Ethan. But we don’t have a lot of left handers, and that’s good from his perspective. There’s some opportunity there, and then he needs to show us something, too.
“He’s on board with that and is on board with pitching out of the bullpen here. And so far, I think we’ve all liked and he’s liked what’s going on.”
Small, who turned 26 on Feb. 14, opened last season as one of Milwaukee’s top pitching prospects after a promising 2021 season that began at Class AA Biloxi and ended at Class AAA Nashville.
A strong start at Nashville last year led to Small making his major-league debut in a spot start against the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field on May 30.
Small turned in a so-so performance, allowing four hits, two runs and four walks with four strikeouts in 22⁄3 innings and ultimately didn’t earn a decision in a Brewers victory.
After roughly two more months back at Nashville, Small made another spot start for the Brewers against the Minnesota Twins at American Family Field.
And while the Brewers again won, Small turned in a similarly uneven performance in another no-decision.
Things got worse rapidly upon Small’s return to the Sounds with the bottom falling out for him in a start at Charlotte on Sept. 7, when he was rocked for 10 hits and eight earned runs in 42⁄3 innings – a performance that led the Brewers to pitch him out of the bullpen the remainder of the year in an attempt to get him back on track in smaller stints.
Small’s final line for the season – 7-6, 4.46 earned run average, WHIP of 1.36 – wasn’t awful.
But his confidence took a big hit as his command faltered, with his walk rate finishing as 5.1 per nine innings.
“The biggest thing was I was in a pretty bad spot starting,” he said. “My arm was all over the place, arm slot was really bad, mechanics really bad, which fed some mental issues. My confidence kind of wavered. But the bullpen, it just kind of gave me a little reset. Just come out of the gate and let everything go.
“I think I needed that. Starting, I was trying to be too fine, nibble on the corners, missing. I mean, it felt like the strike zone didn’t exist for me, honestly. I just couldn’t find it. But yeah, in the bullpen, everything shortened up and tightened up.
“I threw a little harder, too, so I’m trying to carry that momentum into this camp.”
Small’s game has never been predicated on overpowering velocity; his fastball normally sits around 91-92 mph and he also throws a changeup with an occasional slider. Instead, his success relies on keeping hitters off-balance by altering his arm angles and approaches to the plate – deception that makes his fastball play up.
But when those tricks stop working, and the strike zone becomes a moving target as a result, a pitcher can wind up in a bad, bad place as Small unfortunately learned after experiencing years of success.
“That was the really tough part about it,” he said. “I had a run for a long time where things were going really well. It seemed like the balls that guys did put in play were always at somebody. And last year was one of those that was kind of the opposite. The walks, somebody would hit a double when I made a good pitch, and it would just pile on.
“Mentally, I was in a bad spot, too. But a lot of the Triple-A staff rallied around me and just kind of helped me reset myself and just really take a step back. I really needed a step back last year. I was worried about it too much. When you try to fix a problem like that by trying too hard, it can make it worse, and I think I did that.
“So just resetting, coming out of the bullpen, I felt fresh.”
Counsell believes Small’s previous track record should set him up well for his new role.
Currently, he and Hoby Milner are the only two healthy lefties on the 40-man roster who are pegged for relief duty, with veteran Alex Claudio also in camp on a minor-league deal.
With the bullpen picture as unsettled as it’s been in recent springs, perhaps Small can latch onto a role and re-discover success.
“Ethan’s performed at a really high level, so I don’t feel like we’re dealing with a player that we don’t have anything to lean on,” Counsell said. “We have success to lean on. And, he’s been dominant in minor leagues for stretches. But at the same time he got his first taste the big leagues, it didn’t go well and we need improvements.
“We’re going to try to help him do that; change his role, simplify things. Generally, the the move from starter to bullpen simplifies things for guys, and hopefully that helps.”
Taylor sidelined with elbow injury
The Brewers are now dealing with their first position-player injury, as outfielder Tyrone Taylor will be sidelined for the first two weeks of Cactus League games due to a sprained right elbow.
“We’re going to take it slow with him,” Counsell said. “It’s kind of taken some steps – bothered him, recovered, started to bother him again. We’ve done imaging; it’s clean. So, we’ll just try to just reduce symptoms and then try to get the symptoms out of there. Then it’s a pain tolerance thing.
“But while we have some time we’re going to reduce symptoms.”
Counsell said Taylor has been bothered more by swinging a bat than throwing but that he’ll be shut down from all baseball activities in the meantime.
Taylor, who turned 29 on Jan. 22, entered camp as one of the Brewers’ more indispensable players considering his ability to play all three outfield positions. With Hunter Renfroe having moved on, Taylor figures into the lineup both in right field as well as center, where he might platoon with rookie Garrett Mitchell based on pitching matchups.
Mitchell, Blake Perkins, prospects Sal Frelick – who will be departing soon for the World Baseball Classic as part of Team Italy – and Joey Wiemer and nonroster invitee Skye Bolt will all see time in center in camp.
The Brewers also picked up some insurance in right field on Tuesday with the addition of veteran Tyler Naquin.