Three Brewers Pitching Prospects You Might Not Know... But Should

At the moment, MLB Pipeline has 20 position players in the Brewers' Top 30, compared to only 10 pitchers. If you dig a bit deeper, there are quite a few interesting arms that don’t find their names on those lists. We are going to look at three names that fans will want to keep an eye on this season.

Jesus Rivero
Signed out of Venezuela as part of the 2021 international signing class, Rivero spent that first season entirely in the Dominican Summer League. After 30 innings in the Arizona Complex League in 2022, Rivero began his 2023 campaign back in Arizona. This time, he only spent three games there, in which he struck out 19 and walked only one batter over 11 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Low-A Carolina at the end of June and finished the season there. In 2024, he is back in Carolina and showing some signs of continued development.

Rivero has elite fastball characteristics, despite only sitting in the low 90s the majority of the time. The general shape of the pitch doesn’t stand out as special, either, generating around 16” of Induced Vertical Break (IVB), and 10” horizontally. However, Rivero throws from a low arm slot, and that slot helps him generate an elite Vertical Approach Angle (VAA) of -4 degrees on the fastball. 

VAA is a term, and measurement, that has only been around for a few years now. It measures the degree of variation from parallel to the ground at which the ball is traveling as it enters the zone. The average four-seam fastball in MLB the last couple of years has been right around -5 degrees. While the difference of only one degree may not seem all that noteworthy, it is a much bigger difference than it appears on the surface.

Batters have trained the majority of their lives against fastballs that come in around the average VAA. They are used to the ball following a somewhat predictable downward drop based on gravity, speed, and spin. Connecting with any pitch requires a split-second decision, which means they have to rely on the law of averages for how pitches move.

That’s why outliers in either direction are valued so highly. Outliers play tricks on the eyes. A -4 degree fastball is much flatter than what most hitters are used to, and it will often cause them to swing under the ball. Freddy Peralta’s “invisible fastball” averaged a -3.89 VAA in 2023. Check out the league's performance on four-seamers last year, split by VAA, to get a sense of the effect.

Flat fastballs earn whiffs and stifle overall offense. Rivero has one. He is more than a one-pitch pitcher though. He also throws a curveball, slider, cutter and changeup. All of these grade out as close to average, or better, with the slider currently being the best of them. It is a starter's repertoire, and he knows how to use his fastball to help the other offerings play up as well. Rivero showed off all five pitches in his last outing, as you can see below, thanks to the Brewers Player Development account on Twitter.

Rivero has been used as a bulk innings reliever in Carolina the majority of the time. However, the pitch counts and innings pitched still point to a pitcher they would like to have start in the future. At only 20 years old, Rivero will be a name to follow this season.

Yujanyer Herrera
Herrera is a perfect example of the importance of exercising patience when it comes to prospects--especially those who are young for their level. Though he made it to Carolina during the 2022 season, Herrera was only 18 at that time. This aggressive promotion, mixed with some preliminary knowledge of his pitch mix, had Herrera checking a lot of boxes for a potential breakout. Unfortunately, he followed the promotion with command struggles and quite a bit of loud opponent contact. Thus, he headed into the 2024 season without much attention.

Through his first three outings this year, Herrera has done his best to get some of that attention back, highlighted by his second appearance, wherein he went four innings, allowing only one hit, while punching out nine. In that outing, he racked up an insane whiff rate of 53%. For the season, his whiff rate is hovering right around 40% overall. He is keeping hitters off-balance with his starter's pitch mix, throwing four different pitches.

Herrera’s fastball sits in the 93-95 range and has reached up to 97. He can use it up in the zone, or run it in on the hands of right-handers at times. Metrics have been hard to come by for the pitch, but it seems to have a decent shape to it, with the previously mentioned mid-90s velocity.

The changeup has been Herrera’s best secondary since he signed, and that still appears to be the case. It has late fade and tumble and is his best swing-and-miss pitch against left-handed hitters, though he isn’t afraid to use it against righties, either.

His slider was his go-to strikeout pitch against righties in the past, and that seems to be the case again this year. While it has an inconsistent shape at times, it generates quite a bit of sweep at its best. He will likely continue to work on consistency, but the slider shows flashes of being an above-average pitch.

Herrera’s curveball is the pitch that seems to have made the biggest strides so far this season, showing more consistent command, and a sharper shape. Previously a pitch he liked to drop in for strikes more than anything else, it has shown an ability to get more swing and miss in 2024.

Herrera is being used very similarly to Rivero so far. He’s pitched out of the bullpen, but his pitch count and inning load are those of a starter. The Brewers seem to want to give him the chance to stay stretched out and potentially start down the road. If the first three games of 2024 are any indication, he is going to have a chance to do just that.

Craig Yoho
The Brewers' eighth-round selection in the 2023 draft out of Indiana, Yoho is the only one of these arms that appears to already be slotted into a relief role in the future. Once a position player in college, he transitioned to a two-way role for a couple of seasons, but after battling quite a few injuries, he finished his college career exclusively working off the mound.

Yoho does not possess the velocity that we have all come to expect out of a high-leverage reliever. You will not see him in the upper 90s. His fastball is a strong offering, currently sitting in the 91-93 range with huge arm-side run. Carrying his profile, though, are his secondaries. 

Instead of throwing heat, the pitcher named “Yoho” looks like he’s throwing pitches attached to a “yo-yo.” Comparing a changeup to Devin Williams’s “Airbender” is not something you can (or should) do very often. Yoho is throwing a changeup in the 78-81 MPH range that is very similar to that of the “Airbender.” In reality, given the movement they generate, both of them should probably classify their pitches as screwballs. Whatever you want to call it, it looks like a special pitch and it would be hard to grade it as anything less than a plus offering. 

Devin Williams has struggled to find a third pitch that moves to the glove side. An inability to throw a breaking ball is not uncommon for someone who has such comfort with pronating while throwing. Yoho, however, does not have this issue whatsoever. His curveball is another borderline plus pitch, sitting in the 74-76 MPH range, with spin rates of up to 3,000 RPM. The spin and the axis he throws it on help him generate a ton of sharp movement, both vertically and horizontally. 

Yoho also threw a sweeper in college, but does not appear to be using it in pro ball thus far. Despite scrapping the sweeper, he may still have another wrinkle in his repertoire. As Curt Hogg showed in this tweet, Yoho looks to be mixing in a cutter (or perhaps a shorter slider) in the 86-88 range. It’s early right now, but the early returns on the pitch are very interesting. The cutter could pair very well with the run he gets on his primary fastball, and it would also give Yoho a pitch that changes speeds a bit differently than his other secondaries.

Yoho is the type of pitcher who could work out as a starting pitcher with the repertoire he has. The Brewers likely determined that his injury history would make starting difficult over the long haul. While that dream seems to be in the rearview, this is the type of pitcher who could move through the system very quickly now that he is locked into a relief role. A 2025 MLB debut should not be ruled out for Yoho.

There were a number of pitchers who could have been featured in this article.  Brett Wichrowski, Tyler Woessner, Manuel Rodriguez, Bishop Letson, and others were all worthy of consideration. The pitching depth is proving to be a lot better than what prospect lists would lead you to believe. While there may not be a Brandon Woodruff/Corbin Burnes/Peralta trio coming through the system, there are a lot of talented arms who will give the Brewers quite a few shots at forming a strong stable of pitchers for years to come.

Interested in learning more about the Milwaukee Brewers' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!