Brewers Camp Morning Notebook, Feb. 26: Fastballs and Feel with Hoby Milner, Jakob Junis

[Matthew Trueblood]

Throughout this week (and again in mid-March), Brewer Fanatic will be spending some time embedded with the Milwaukee Brewers at spring training in Maryvale, Ariz.. Here are a couple of early notes from the desert.

Image courtesy of © Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Last season, Hoby Milner found a whole new gear for the Brewers. After a successful 2022, he became a left-handed relief ace in 2023, mixing the high ground ball rates he'd delivered in his first year with the Crew with a superior strikeout rate. One key to that transformation was the tactical deployment of both his four-seam fastball and his sinker.

He'd come to the Crew with the four-seamer, largely swapped it out for the sinker in his first campaign with them, and then implemented both as he established himself in full with the club. For some pitchers, throwing two different fastballs can be a hindrance to the command of one or the other (or of some other offering), but Milner said it was fairly easy for him.

"It's just a different grip," Milner said Monday morning in the Brewers' clubhouse. "I don't do anything else differently, it's not a totally different feel, so once we realized we wanted to get both those ground balls and the strikeouts, it wasn't too hard to do that."

Milner also significantly lowered his release point, which made it tougher than ever for opposing hitters to pick up the ball and attack him, but he said that wasn't part of a major overhaul, either.

"I actually wasn't even aware [of the superior extension he got through release]," Milner said. "I would guess it was just the result of a minor mechanical adjustment, but it wasn't anything conscious, anything big I did differently. It just kind of worked out." 

Going into 2024, then, the Brewers hope Milner continues not to do anything especially differently. That he belongs to the class of pitchers who can throw both fastballs without their interfering with one another should make that easier, as does his unique but finely-tuned delivery.

Learning the Science of It
Jakob Junis occasionally threw the sinker during his time with the Kansas City Royals, but never found consistency with the pitch. The team wasn't up to the challenge of getting him to produce the desired movement on a regular basis.

"I would throw it sometimes in Kansas City," Junis recalled. "And sometimes it would do what I wanted, but sometimes it would cut, or just kind of get away on me."

His career got a shot in the arm when he joined the San Francisco Giants, where then-pitching coordinator Brian Bannister had a more systematic approach waiting.

"They were able to explain to me and show me the science of it," Junis said. "So I just got a lot more comfortable throwing it right away, and stuck with it."

Another adjustment came much later, near the end of 2023, but it might be equally important as the swingman looks to solidify his place in the Milwaukee starting rotation for the balance of 2024. In August and September, he increased his changeup usage, and the pitch also got a bit firmer, without losing movement differential from his fastball.

"I think it was just about being really confident in it," he said. "I didn't make a grip change or anything, I just found a feel for it that worked and that led to a lot more conviction on it. I ran into a lot of lefty-heavy lineups there, too, which helps. You throw it more, you gain comfort."

With the Giants, Junis didn't always have to worry about facing many lefties, or facing very many batters, period. He did face at least 20 batters in 15 of his 23 appearances (17 of them starts) in 2022, but in 2023, it was just four starts out of 40 appearances, and he never faced more than 18 batters in an outing. He was sometimes acting as a quasi-starter, behind an opener in San Francisco's creative pitching plan, but he never worked deep into a game, by any definition. 

That figures to change this year, so the changeup is an especially important variable in forecasting his season with the Brewers. A good feel for a pitch like that doesn't always linger through the long winter, but Junis said the Brewers' pitching development group has him feeling confident for 2024.

"It's definitely similar," he said, comparing the Crew's infrastructure to the one in San Francisco, where he got such clarity about his own arsenal and had an exceptional 21.0 K-BB% (26.2% strikeouts, 5.2% walks) last year. "I feel really comfortable with what we're trying to do."

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[Joseph Zarr]

So great was Hoby's growth as a hurler in 2024, the great Bryce Harper was scared to take nary a single swing! Ravens were heard bickering high above in the shadows of the stadium lights. Children were miraculously hushed throughout their seats in awe of the up-and-coming Milner. A Legend was born that day. The songs are still sung, to this very day,  in taverns across the Wisconsin pine barrens and down into the driftless region.

"Long live, Milner! Long live our Champion!"

[Ro Mueller]

Thanks for this. I've been looking for something like this on Junis to feel confident about his addition to the rotation. It's similar to how I felt about Bryse Wilson last year, when you wrote a similarly helpful article.

Junis and Hall look like massive X factors that can easily make or break our season. Go Brewers!

[eddiemathews]

It's still not clear to me why the Brewers traded Houser and signed Junis. Unless they see some untapped potential in Jakob, they seem to be much the same pitcher (results-wise), and Houser would have been considerably cheaper.

[Matthew Trueblood]

1 hour ago, eddiemathews said:

It's still not clear to me why the Brewers traded Houser and signed Junis. Unless they see some untapped potential in Jakob, they seem to be much the same pitcher (results-wise), and Houser would have been considerably cheaper.

I know this clashes somewhat with what our beloved newcomer @Jack Stern wrote for this morning, but I actually think there's been a change--maybe more than one change--in the direction the organization has focused itself on taking this winter. There's definitely an element of "build for the long term even as you win now," but I think the way they've balanced those two considerations has shifted at least once this winter. Something I'm keeping my ear to the ground about while I'm here. I also think that one part of their organizational approach is a belief that they can make a move they like and then unwind it or change tack if needed. A lot of teams try to define a direction and then let that strategy become a prison. This one believes in seizing the moment and making necessary alterations later. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I know some people may disagree with me here but I personally just feel Houser had regressed. He had some unfortunate injuries he dealt with in recent years and he never recaptured any consistent version of his one-time assured 4-5 starter role. His patented sinker wasn't near the pitch it once was either - again, my opinion. In Junis, in the very least, you know you have a guy who can always fall back to a steady and meaningful bullpen role. In Houser, again my own opinion, you just didn't know what you had or what version you were getting game in and game out. I think it's quite understandable they went a different route and picked up an intriguing pitching prospect along the way.