Pitching Prospect Bryce Jarvis Moved to Relief

Bryce Jarvis will pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of the season, a move confirmed by farm director Josh Barfield. The move appears to be related to his increased workload for the season. He has 96 1/3 innings on the season, he is only 10 innings short of his 2022 total of 106 2/3.

The D-backs drafted Bryce Jarvis in the first round in 2020, betting on a sudden uptick in velocity he made the previous summer. His velocity jumped from around 90 to the mid-90s, which allowed him to throw to dominant the college track for five years. Arizona signed him for a well below slot deal of $2.5 million.

Jarvis quickly got to Double-A in his first full year with the organization, which isn't too surprising for a player of his profile. That's where the problems started, as he pitched to an 8.27 ERA in 2022. He spent the off-season working in the pitching lab to add extension on his release, which yielded positive results in Spring Training. After three solid starts in Amarillo, he was promoted to Triple-A. In his first 16 appearances, all starts, he was 6-5 with a 5.40 ERA with 83 strikeouts and 38 walks in 80 innings.

With a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and tops out at 96-97 MPH combined with a quality slider and changeup, Jarvis' stuff should play well in a relief role. It's a situation where if he looks good in that role for a month, that he should get a big league evaluation in the final month of the season. Long term, the organization still sees him as a starter.