Brewers Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month - April 2023

We continue our MiLB Player of the Month series with our Top 4 Starting Pitchers for the month of April. To begin with a small disclaimer, the Mudcats complicated the choices by having a lot of “tandem” starts, which led to a number of pitchers with starter innings, but only one or two starts. Because of this we made the cutoff 15 IP, and at least one game started, in order to be eligible for the list.

Honorable Mentions
RHP - Janson Junk - Nashville Sounds - 4 G, 3 GS, 20.2 IP, 2-1, 1.31 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 0.97 WHIP, 12 H , 8 BB, 15 K.
One of the three pitchers acquired in the Hunter Renfroe trade, Junk got off to a solid surface level start in AAA, though a bit of a deeper look at his stats, such as a 20% line drive rate, would seem to paint Junk as having a lot of good luck throughout the month. Still, it’s nice to see good results early on in his Brewers tenure.

RHP - Joseph Hernandez - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 4 G, 4 GS, 20.0 IP, 1-1, 3.15 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.15 WHIP, 13 H, 10 BB, 17 K.
Acquired from the Mariners in the Justin Topa deal, Hernandez flashed a filthy slider and changeup combination this month. He will need to limit the walks a bit better, but he got off to a good start as a Brewer and showed the qualities that made him an intriguing pickup for the organization.

TOP 4 PITCHERS OF APRIL

#4 RHP - Tyler Woessner - Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - 4 G, 4 GS, 22.0 IP, 0-1, 2.45 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 16 H , 7 BB, 19 K.
The Brewers sixth round selection in the 2022 draft, Woessner was quite a bit older than the average JUCO arm, but he showed a lot of interesting traits, including the way he can spin his pitches and especially his fastball. Woessner is actually throwing six pitches right now; throwing two different sliders, that high spin fastball, a sinker, a knuckle-curve and a changeup. These pitches were all used regularly and gave him the tools to have a very successful April.

Woessner’s strikeout numbers were looking fantastic until he was only able to strikeout one in his final start of the month. He still generated a lot of swing and miss the entire month, and it is safe to assume that the strikeout numbers will end up closer to the 9 per 9 that pitchers are always chasing. He did a good job limiting walks, and avoiding line drives, which is a great way to counter the strikeout numbers being down. Woessner’s best start came on April 14th, when he went 5 IP with 8 punch-outs and only 1 walk and showed off the entire repertoire.

#3 RHP - Carlos F. Rodriguez - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 4 GS, 17.0 IP, 0-1, 2.12 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 11 H , 10 BB, 25 K.
Carlos Rodriguez likely put his name on some fans’ radars when he pitched for Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic and limited a Puerto Rico lineup, containing numerous MLB players, to two hits over four innings pitched, while also striking out four. Similar to Tyler Woessner, Rodriguez was a JUCO pitcher that the Brewers selected in the sixth round, in his case that was in the 2021 draft. However, despite their similar backgrounds and Rodriguez being drafted a year earlier, Rodriguez is actually over two years younger than Woessner. He is also the sixth youngest pitcher in all of Double-A. 

The Brewers Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2022 picked up right where he left off with a great start to his 2023 season. Rodriguez is able to keep hitters off balance with two plus secondary pitches, in his slider and his changeup, as well as a “get me over” curveball that really changes the hitting speed, sometimes dropping into the low 70’s or high 60’s. His fastball rides well up in the zone and he gets a lot of swings and misses on the high fastball. His repertoire is that of a fly ball pitcher, so keeping hitters off balance will be key to avoid the home run ball. He did a great job of that in April. When he wasn’t striking hitters out, he was generating a lot of weak fly balls. He did not allow any home runs during the month.

While he was racking up strikeouts and generating weakly hit fly balls, Rodriguez was also struggling a bit with his command, walking over five per nine innings, and causing himself to be unable to go very deep into games. This is something he will certainly work to clean up throughout the rest of the season, but for a player who seemed to breakout last season, the hype train will continue to roll after his first month of 2023.

#2 RHP - Edwin Jimenez - Carolina Mudcats - 4 G, 1 GS, 18.0 IP, 0-1, 2.12 ERA, 2.16 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 13 H, 5 BB, 23 K.
Jimenez is one of the Mudcats that was referenced in the opening paragraph. Despite only making one true start, Jimenez is definitely being stretched out as a starter. A 2018 international signee, Jimenez is still only 21 years old and beginning to show major progress toward the potential he flashed in the spring of 2022. Jimenez had always had a curveball with good traits; a good shape and sharp break and a changeup that showed flashes. However, the fastball had lagged behind in the past. In April his velocity was up into the low 90’s with more consistency and the fastball was commanded better than in the past. This laid the foundation for what may end up being a breakout month for him.

Jimenez struck out over 11 batters per nine innings in April while only walking 2.5 per nine. The strikeout numbers were much more in line with those that he put up in the rookie ball levels back in 2021 when Fangraphs had listed him as a top 30 prospect for the Brewers. Lack of swing and miss last season took him off of that radar, but it’s great to see that return for him. Generating grounders at a 50% clip, Jimenez was able to keep himself out of danger even when he wasn’t missing bats. He did not surrender any long balls in April, which was something he struggled with a bit in 2022.

Jimenez, a player who will be Rule 5 eligible this offseason, will look to build upon this strong start to the season. Though he is unlikely to be selected in the Rule 5 draft, being eligible does mean that his organizational timer is ticking and the team will likely be aggressive with his promotions. If he continues to perform as he did this past month, he will handle those promotions just fine.

#1 RHP - Justin Jarvis - Biloxi Shuckers - 4 G, 4 GS, 23.0 IP, 2-1, 1.57 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 17 H, 6 BB, 29 K.
Jarvis was the Brewers fifth round selection in 2018 out of Lake Norman High School in North Carolina. His fastball has always played above its velocity due to having elite spin characteristics, and because of that Jarvis has always been seen as a pitcher who just needed a little bit more velocity to take him to the next step. It appears that he found that velocity, perhaps with a slight adjustment to his arm slot. 

Formerly with a delivery that was extremely over the top, Jarvis used to sit in the 90-91, touching 93 range. While still with a high slot, he has appeared to drop it slightly Jarvis sat 93-95 in April and got up to at least 96 on a few occasions. Accompanied by three distinct secondaries in his slider, curveball and changeup, all of which are average or slightly above offerings, Jarvis looks to be a player the Brewers will be keeping a close eye on, as he will be Rule 5 eligible again this offseason.

Jarvis has shown flashes of dominance at times throughout his career, but had struggled to put it together for more than a start or two at a time. That is, until this past month, where he was the epitome of consistency. He threw exactly six innings in three of his four starts, and he threw five innings in the other. He struck out at least a batter per inning in each start, and was able to keep the free passes to a minimum, which is something he has battled at some of the lower levels.

Along with walks, the home run ball has also caused some issues for Jarvis in the past, though he only allowed two in April. The previously mentioned increase in fastball velocity should help him as he moves forward, as the margin for error increases a rather significant amount whenever velocity is increased.

In some ways, Jarvis is reminiscent of Brandon Woodruff. Not necessarily in the way their pitches move, but more so in the way that they use their pitches. Both go heavy on the high fastball, and use decent offspeed pitches to keep hitters off balance and to prevent them from barreling the fastball if they do make a mistake with it. Jarvis has a ways to go before he will have a Brandon Woodruff type career, but he does look like a pitcher who is ready to make a bigger name for himself this season.

So what are your thoughts on the rankings above and what it means, if anything, for the Brewers. Congratulations to Biloxi's Justin Jarvis and each of the pitchers that we highlighted for their week's performance.  Please feel free to ask questions and discuss these players in the Comments below. 

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