© Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY
Bryce Jarvis Emerging Out of the D-backs Bullpen
Jarvis, a former first rounder and starting pitcher prospect, has found a successful role in the Diamondbacks bullpen in 2024.
The Diamondbacks drafted Bryce Jarvis in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft, with the belief that his makeup combined with an uptick in stuff and velocity would translate into a potential frontline starter. However, he would make the 2024 Opening Day roster as a long reliever and is slowly transitioning more toward a traditional relief role.
Monday night marked the first time in his career that he threw on back-to-back days, a significant milestone when projecting him as a potential back-of-the-bullpen arm. Jarvis has always shown the ability to recover quickly between starts, hence why the team approached him towards shifting to a relief role in the second half of last season. It's worked out well so far, as it got him to the major leagues for the first time in his career. Now he'll be looking to stay there and develop into a high-impact arm for the club.
In the offseason, he made some mechanical adjustments. The first noticeable adjustment comes from the windup. In 2023, he started with the hands chest-high and stepped forward off the mound. This season, his first step is back with the hands set at the belt. Pitching coach Brent Strom talked about the reasons for these changes.
"This winter, he was really diligent, we stayed together all winter. Talked about revamping his delivery to gain some extension, to get out in front a little bit more with it. If you notice in his old video, he used to stand and he'd step forward then step back, hands were pushed back. I tried to talk to him about the value of momentum. Now he steps back and he separates normally as opposed to pushing them back. He worked really hard on that, we got videos, we stayed in touch all winter, credit to him for the push on that."
Looking at the Statcast metrics, Jarvis averaged 5.9 feet of extension on his fastball in 2023. He's up to 6.0 in 2024, which isn't a significant change as that's roughly an inch. However, Strom believes the changes in Jarvis' delivery add more deception and make it more difficult for hitters to pick up on what he's throwing.
Another significant change for the 26-year-old right-hander was the addition of a cutter. The D-backs analytics department had been talking to him about adding that pitch to his arsenal for a couple of years and he finally bought in. The early results have been encouraging, as it's yielded a 25.0% whiff rate and is the best pitch at putting away hitters with two strikes. According to Strom, the residual effect of working on that cutter has also improved his slider. The slider has morphed into a "plus-plus" quality pitch, generating whiffs on a third of the swings against it and his go-to putaway pitch to right-handed hitters.
With the combination of a mid-90s four-seamer, slider, cutter, and a changeup headlining his arsenal, Jarvis has starter caliber stuff. However, for the long-term benefit of the team, it's much more likely he'll find himself working closer to the end of games than the start of them.
Strom referred to him as a "Quiet Assassin" , a description Jarvis said he liked and felt fit his personality. Given the total package of intelligence, competitiveness, and ability to recover quickly, he has a strong chance of excelling in an impactful role out of the bullpen.
