What's a Tobias Myers? Brewers Call Up Righty to Bolster Bulk Innings Group

[Matthew Trueblood]

The Milwaukee Brewers are going to spend the whole season mixing and matching pitching options. Thanks to some injuries and a densely packed schedule, they need some bridge innings, so they've called up a righty who has seized the attention of pitching nerds everywhere.

Image courtesy of © Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

His name will live in infamy for years in Cleveland. The Guardians gave up infield prospect Junior Caminero to acquire Tobias Myers from the Rays a couple of years ago, and now, Caminero is one of baseball's top prospects. Myers never turned into anything for Cleveland, and received his release at the end of 2022.

The Brewers scooped him up, though, and the early returns on their much smaller investment in Myers look awfully good. The righthander has some interesting characteristics on his fastball, and his pitch mix is intriguing. In two starts with Triple-A Nashville, Myers sat 91-95 MPH with his heater and touched 97. That capacity for adding and subtracting is valuable, and so is (or can be) the cut-ride shape of the pitch. 

Now, the carry on that fastball deserves a little more scrutiny. Because Myers's raw induced vertical break is very high (meaning that, relative to an average four-seamer, it has more apparent rising action), there's been a lot of excitement about the upside on that pitch. That's fair, but we should moderate that enthusiasm slightly. A pitch coming out of a lower release point or arm slot with similar movement would be truly elite. Myers, however, comes straight over the top, so some of his carry is created by his arm path, and it's not as deceptive as the numbers might imply.

For just that reason, though, the other pitches here are exciting. Myers's changeup is nothing special, and probably won't even get ground balls at the rate necessary to make it usable at the big-league level, but his cutter, slider, and curveball are great compliments to that four-seamer. Leftíes will be able to spot the sidespin on his slider, but for that very reason, he sticks to the cutter and curveball against them, The cutter is an all-purpose weapon, a power breaking ball that can tie up lefties and dip off the plate for chases and whiffs to righties.

A few recent passers-through have had very short stays with the Brewers. Kevin Herget joined the active roster, but was then designated for assignment without even making an appearance. Vladimir Gutierrez was claimed, then waived, the latter as part of the transaction to put Myers on the 40-man roster for Wednesday's game. Jared Koenig pitched very well in two outings as a call-up this week, but would be down for a day or two, so he's now headed back to Nashville.

If he pans out, Myers is likely to stick around a bit longer. It wouldn't be a shock to see Wade Miley go back to the injured list, after he was hit in the knee by a comebacker Tuesday night. Myers could stick around as a bulk guy or member of the rotation for the medium-term future. It's also possible that this is the first of two or three stints for Myers this year, even if he's successful. The team will work through a lot of options; it's only mid-April.

Still, compared to new arrivals like Herget, Gutierrez, or even Koenig, Myers is an interesting upside guy. If he shows the stuff that has gotten the team sufficiently interested to do this, he'll become an important part of the story of this Brewers season. 

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[ARobsBrewCrew]

He was in the Brewers organization all of last year FYI

[Joseph Zarr]

Myers really made a name for himself during his brief call-up to the Sounds bullpen in the final days of the 2023 season. He was absolutely dominant in his innings versus Charlotte. Now, of course the addendum here is: Charlotte absolutely stunk last season. Fair. Regardless, having watched him all of the 2023 season, I saw a new man. Truly. There was his opening game start for Biloxi (a true gem - double digit K's) and there was this bullpen work. Bookends of mastery.

Here's a look at his cutter:

You see that 12-13" of induced vertical break here. Really nice pitch. By season's end, as he was setting strikeout records, his fastball really started getting new life sitting 96-97 mph and touching 98 mph (out of the Sounds pen). He was dealing and he knew it. Throwing darts. 

 

As we all know, the jump to 'The Bigs' is fraught with unknowns. BUT, if he is tapping into his best stuff Myers absolutely 'could' stick. Let's hope it's the case.

[Matthew Trueblood]

46 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

He was in the Brewers organization all of last year FYI

Shewww my brain is not in good shape today. I knew that! I swear! Haha. For some reason, today, 2022 was last fall in my head. Thanks for catching it.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

3 minutes ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Shewww my brain is not in good shape today. I knew that! I swear! Haha. For some reason, today, 2022 was last fall in my head. Thanks for catching it.

No problem, it happens!  Excited to see what Tobias can do in Milwaukee!