BRADENTON, Fla. — Jordan Milbrath is running out of time to earn a spot on the Pirates' opening day roster, yet the 6-foot-6 right-handed relief pitcher insists he's not overwhelmed with spring training almost over.
Milbrath, 26, was chosen by the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft, so his status is unlike any other player in camp with the Pirates. If he's not on the 25-man roster, he'll likely be returned to the Indians unless the two sides can work out a trade.
He could begin the season in the major leagues for the Pirates or be sent back to Double-A for Cleveland, but he still beamed when asked about that looming uncertainty. Last March, the Indians gave him an ultimatum: start throwing sidearm or he'd be released. Reluctant at first, Milbrath eventually agreed to the experiment. Now, he's one of the most intriguing pitchers in competition for a roster spot and expressed confidence that — at the very least — his decision to change the way he throws prolonged his baseball career.
"I don’t think it’s a whole lot different than going into minor-league camp and not knowing what level you’re going to that year," Milbrath, who has yet to reach Triple-A, told DKPittsburghSports.com. "There’s a lot of variables, but I’ve gotten used to it over the years of not knowing. What I do know is I’ll be playing baseball somewhere and that's a good feeling."
The Pirates now have 37 active players in major-league camp, including 20 pitchers, with only one week until opening day in Detroit. Neal Huntington told reporters Tuesday morning at LECOM Park that he's debating whether to keep an extra bench bat or an additional relief pitcher when camp breaks next Tuesday.
The latter would benefit Milbrath, but he still has much to prove in a short amount of time. Although he pitched five scoreless innings this spring, Milbrath has allowed eight earned runs in the other 2 1/3 innings. He has seven strikeouts to eight walks and a 2.32 WHIP.
Such numbers normally lead a player to be cut well before the end of camp, but the Pirates have kept Milbrath over other options because of his status as a Rule 5 pick, and he's unlike any other pitcher in their organization. A 35th-round draft pick in 2013, the lanky graduate of Augustana University — a Division II school in Sioux Falls, S.D. — has used his sidearm throwing motion to create more downward movement on his fastball.
Milbrath also stands to the right of the rubber on the mound, which makes his pitches particularly difficult to track for right-handed batters.
"He’s got good stuff," Elias Diaz said. "The arm action, especially with a lefty, the ball sinks a lot. We throw fastball in to the righties and that thing is sinking and nasty. The slider is pretty tight. It’s difficult for hitters to see."
But Milbrath is struggling to consistently repeat his delivery, which has resulted in shoddy command at times. He's still learning how to stay bent over. Standing too high during his delivery has resulted in pitches over the middle of the plate.
That's not much of a surprise to the Pirates, though. Milbrath didn't even use the delivery until after spring training last season. He had pitched just 2 1/3 innings at Double-A prior to 2017 and was not among the Indians' non-roster invitees last spring. Milbrath had not shown signs of being ready for a promotion, either, recording a 5.32 ERA the previous season.
With spring training coming to a close last March, Milbrath was told by the Indians that he was the top candidate for their program to develop sidearm pitchers. Milbrath's natural throwing motion when fielding ground balls was sidearm and with his long wingspan, his employers thought it would be difficult for opposing hitters. Milbrath was disappointed with the news but didn't see much of a choice.
"That was their ultimatium, but looking back, I’m glad they did that," Milbrath said. "I had already been in the minor leagues and had barely pitched in Double-A. It was four years of over-the-top, and I needed to separate myself from everybody else in the minor leagues. Sidearm was a perfect way for me to get there."
It wasn't the first time Milbrath had used that arm angle, though. During his redshirt freshman season at Augustana, his head coach, Tim Huber, asked Milbrath to give it a shot in a bullpen session. The thinking was that Milbrath could potentially use that throwing motion if his velocity didn't improve.
Milbrath's velocity did improve enough for the Indians to draft him with the 1,041st pick, but he had issues with fastball command with the same arm slot he used prior to last season.
"He was never a guy that commanded the strike zone," Huber said in a phone interview. "He just never located stuff great, but he would throw strikes for the most part. He would have enough velocity with us that he could get by with it, but he was never our ‘best’ pitcher. ... It’s funny to see his progression from us to the minors and the huge drastic change last year. This fits him perfect."
Rather than heading to a minor-league affiliate last April, Milbrath spent an additional month in Arizona to pitch in extended spring training for the Indians. He experimented with the throwing motion, watching video of other pitchers, including the Nationals' Max Scherzer, to see what fit him best.
It led to a breakthrough. Milbrath had a 3.02 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in 56 2/3 innings between High-A Lynchburg and Double-A Akron, producing ground-ball rates of 75.9 and 69.4 percent at both stops, respectively. To compare, the Blue Jays' Marcus Stroman led the majors with a ground-ball rate of 62 percent last season.
Milbrath's four-seam fastball reached 99 mph and right-handed batters hit only .194 against him. He had 63 strikeouts to 25 walks, but he struggled to get left-handed hitters out. Those issues have continued against major league hitters this spring.
"Jordan is very intriguing," Huntington said. "It’s a slot that’s different, it’s a ground-ball rate that’s elite, it’s a high velocity, but he’s one year old in this slot and we’ve seen that at times. Last outing was very good and very encouraging again. We have numbers and we don’t want to force him on the club if he’s not ready or we feel that we have better options in front of him, but he’s still absolutely in competition to make this club and is going to get some more opportunities to go out there and compete."
Ray Searage has worked extensively with Milbrath in recent days and has urged him to focus on repeating the delivery. Milbrath watches video of himself every day to see what slight hiccups have occurred and he's become almost obsessive trying to find success. His fiancé caught him practicing his delivery while the couple waited in line for a ride at Disney World last week.
Milbrath admits the results haven't been good enough. However, the incremental steps he's taken have proven to himself that he made the right decision one year ago.
"I would say it validates what I’ve been doing," he said. "When you stick to the process long enough eventually you have to put up and get somebody out. It’s nice to come into spring training and know I can get those guys out with the stuff that I have. It gives you a different level of confidence that, ‘All I have to do is go out here and make my pitches and I’m going to have success.'"