Craig Yoho is Biding His Time and Playing His Angles, and Both His Time and His Opening Will Come Soon

[Matthew Trueblood]

Don't look for the future relief ace on the Brewers' Opening Day roster—but don't let that downshift your confidence that that's what he'll be, either.

Image courtesy of © Curt Hogg / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There's a three-stall batch of lockers in a not-quite-corner of the Brewers' spring training clubhouse in Maryvale that aren't in line with any of the others lining the walls. It's between the showers and the back exit of the clubhouse, where players head to various workout areas, the field, or the training room. It screams "temporary," and the players the team puts there can count on being among the first to be reassigned to minor-league camp. This year, that stretch was also Weird Players Only: switch-hitting, (formerly) switch-throwing utility man (and sometimes-catcher) Anthony Seigler; bats-right, throws-left minor-league signee Jimmy Herron; and the funkmaster, Craig Yoho.

On Friday, the team made their first round of cuts, and sure enough, Seigler and Herron were among the group.

(image courtesy: Brewers PR)

Yoho, then, is the lone survivor, and he has earned the right to stick around a little bit. His numbers this spring are remarkable (no runs and just two baserunners allowed, in five innings over four appearances; nine strikeouts in 17 batters faced), and they only just barely do him justice. He's baffled, overwhelmed, and even overpowered hitters, with four pitches working to perfection—and more than 1 mph of extra velocity on both his fastball and his trademark changeup.

Throughout last season, Yoho's heat sat in the 92-93 mph range. This spring, he's averaging just under 94 mph in his Statcast-tracked appearances, and has been up to 96 on at least one occasion. There's a tangible difference there, one Yoho says is not only expected, but part of a longer-term plan.

"I feel like I held that 92-93 throughout the year pretty well, had a couple 94s in there," he said Friday. "It was my first season. The priority that year for me was more longevity and health, staying healthy the whole year, not necessarily how hard I can throw this season? And the results spoke for themselves, it wasn’t like I needed a tick up in velocity. Whatever’s effective. How can I get outs? That’s all I care about."

He also noted that early in his collegiate career at Indiana, his velocity was right in the range he's showing this spring, so the hope is that he can hold onto this uptick. If so, his whole arsenal becomes that much more devastating.

Just as intriguing, though, is the greater emergence of the pitch labeled above as a curveball and called a slider by many, but which Yoho is thinking of as a sweeper. He got one of his strikeouts against the A's Thursday night with it, and believes it can be a difference-making offering as he matriculates to the majors.

"It’s definitely been something I’ve been working on, just building confidence in," Yoho said. "I used it a lot in college, and once I got into pro ball, there was more of a focus on the changeup. It’s just something to always have in my back pocket, especially when I get late in counts, when I need a swing and miss or a freeze, it’s a good option to go to."

That pitch works in concert with the screwball-style changeup he throws, because he often wants to start that pitch—especially right-on-right, which Yoho will do often—moving toward the first-base side of home plate, so it can look like a strike for a long time and then dip through and out of the zone en route to the hitter. In fact, that outer edge to righties (the inner edge to lefties) is the focal point of what Yoho does, because of his pitch shapes and the angle he creates with his setup on the mound and his arm slot.

"From transitioning from a hitter to a pitcher, I got to the third-base side of the rubber because I thought that would be horrible to try and hit against," Yoho said, evoking the fact that he converted to the mound in college. "I picked that side of the rubber and I’ve stuck with it. So there’s definitely that extreme angle that I create with my arm slot, and then how far off I am on the rubber. It is kind of a focus for me to get to my glove side of home plate, just to keep everything a strike as long as possible. Out of the hand, I have to make everything look like a strike as long as possible, until all of a sudden it’s not."

That angle is something he has in common with former Milwaukee closer Devin Williams, who made The Airbender such a weapon and made it easier for Yoho to bring his own unique changeup to the Brewers organization. Both guys need and want to do the same thing with their dominant offering, because it does more or less the same thing, and that's informed how each sets up on the rubber and aligns the delivery. However, the similarities largely stop there.

Williams's fastball is a much truer four-seamer, riding and not running very much to the arm side. Yoho's heater has much more run and less ride, which affects the way he needs to build out the rest of his arsenal.

That sweeper, then, is a huge separator for Yoho, to force hitters to expect something other than the changeup's bend back to the arm side—but so is the cutter, to play off his running fastball.

"My fastball and changeup both move arm-side similarly," he said. "So [the cutter] is something to get their eyes—whether it’s a righty or a lefty—just off of where they’re looking for that changeup and heater to start. It’s all just playing with where they’re looking, what their approach is. Whether it’s front-dooring it to a righty, or maybe running it from a strike on the outside corner to a ball and getting a chase, or backdooring it to a lefty, or getting in under their hands. It’s just trying to keep the at-bats uncomfortable. Everybody in the ballpark knows I’m probably gonna throw a changeup at some point. So it’s trying to maybe never give it to them. Something to play that chess game with hitters a little bit better."

If this is all starting to sound a lot like a starting-capable pitcher—four pitches, command, profound thoughts on how to confound the expectations even of hitters who have gotten a look at him already—you're not alone in thinking so. Our own @Jack Stern and @Spencer Michaelis responded to a listener question on the subject on the latest episode of the Brewer Fanatic Podcast. The question was also raised with Pat Murphy on Friday. Murphy didn't rule that out in the longer term, but for now, it's not under consideration.

"I think they see him as a reliever," Murphy said about his conversations with the organization's other key decision-makers. "The discussion about him being a starter hasn’t been there. The injury history’s real. He’s a [converted] position player."

Nor does Murphy foresee Yoho winning a job on the team for Opening Day, despite the dazzling Cactus League showing. He emphasized the need to look beyond performance, especially with players who are important parts of a longer-term organizational plan.

"You certainly can. It’s not always a matter of how good their stuff is, you know what I mean?" the skipper said Thursday night, in the afterglow of Yoho's two-inning domination of the A's. "It’s being ready for the big leagues, which is a lot different than just throwing really good in spring training. There’s a lot that goes with it. That transition, sometimes, you take a step backwards, and some of these guys can’t afford that."

In other words, expect Yoho to start the season in Nashville, because that's where the team can be sure he gets whatever remaining refinement is needed, and because it preserves their roster flexibility for the eventuality of injuries and poor performances. When the time does come, though, Yoho will be ready. That's why he was the only member of Weird Guys Only to stick around through the first cut: he needs reps against big-leaguers, and he has the maturity of approach and thought to keep getting them out once the games count, even if it's not right away.

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[Joseph Zarr]

I look back with Monty Burns-like hands when I remember that time not so long ago giggling at Yoho mowing down High-A hitters to start the 2024 MiLB season. I said it then, in his first month, "He could shut down MLB hitters today. He has no business staying in High-A." AND, here we are. It is truly a beautiful thing.

As @wiguy94 and I like to say:

#LetGingerCook

[Sixtolezcano]

2 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I look back with Monty Burns-like hands when I remember that time not so long ago giggling at Yoho mowing down High-A hitters to start the 2024 MiLB season. I said it then, in his first month, "He could shut down MLB hitters today. He has no business staying in High-A." AND, here we are. It is truly a beautiful thing.

As @wiguy94 and I like to say:

#LetGingerCook

I’ll go one bigger than that. He has no business staying in the MiLB. With the much more competitive nature of the NL Central they need to select their best players to start the season.

[Joseph Zarr]

12 minutes ago, Sixtolezcano said:

I’ll go one bigger than that. He has no business staying in the MiLB. With the much more competitive nature of the NL Central they need to select their best players to start the season.

[jesusoftheapes]

The Message is now clear.   

We want everyone to be happy to wait ..YOU ALL  Wait on Yoho and like it !  

They have been trying to hide the guy on the least televised outings of Spring it seems to keep him from being seen by the fans who would be very loud about him being on the roster right now had they gotten to see him pitch in Technicolor.    Hard to get highlights of the pitchers on Yoho games seems to the the theme of the 2025 spring games.  

They cannot hide it much longer because the secret is very much out on Craig Yoho. 

[Matthew Trueblood]

2 hours ago, jesusoftheapes said:

The Message is now clear.   

We want everyone to be happy to wait ..YOU ALL  Wait on Yoho and like it !  

They have been trying to hide the guy on the least televised outings of Spring it seems to keep him from being seen by the fans who would be very loud about him being on the roster right now had they gotten to see him pitch in Technicolor.    Hard to get highlights of the pitchers on Yoho games seems to the the theme of the 2025 spring games.  

They cannot hide it much longer because the secret is very much out on Craig Yoho. 

I *promise* the Brewers are not manipulating anyone's appearance schedules based on the availability of telecasts. Most of their games have just not been telecast.

[GasserFace]

Agreed,  That is quite a conspiracy theory.  I believe the Brewers like a bunch of the relief options available and they want to keep as many as long as possible.  It's a fantastic place to be when, if one of Peguero, Mears, Payamps or Megill struggles or the inevitable IL placement occurs, having Yoho, Uribe etc available as a replacement is a fantastic place to be.

Brewers fans need to get used to having the depth available to keep some of their favorite minor leaguers there.  Think how Dodgers farmhands must feel when they see the offseason that they just had.