Sometimes in spring training it’s not about how a pitcher throws so much as what they throw.
Cactus League games are one of baseball’s rare opportunities to try something new against top-level competition in a low stakes environment, and pitchers “working on a new pitch” might be one of the most common stories to come out of spring training camps. In the modern era, however, it’s easier than ever to check in on how they’re doing. This spring every Cactus and Grapefruit League facility has Statcast data, complete with pitch tracking and identification.
For the Brewers, however, the data doesn’t show many inventions happening this spring (although Michael Rosen of FanGraphs did highlight prospect Ryan Birchard’s fastball). If the Brewers’ oft-discussed “pitch lab” has turned out some new offering that can unlock something for a pitcher in camp then it hasn’t shown up in the data yet, at least among their most commonly used pitchers. There are, however, a few arsenal trends to keep an eye on as Opening Day approaches:
Brandon Sproat’s Sweeper
Not that long ago the sweeper, a variation on a slider with more horizontal movement, was baseball’s trendy pitch. For the Brewers as a team it’s a virtual non-factor, however: Only two Brewers threw 50 or more sweepers in a game last season, relievers Grant Anderson and Rob Zastryzny. That made it all the more interesting when one of the Brewers’ biggest trade returns of the offseason, former Mets pitcher Brandon Sproat, had the pitch as his second most-used offering in 2025.
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While the sample is still small, through two outings this spring Sproat has thrown his sweeper just eight times (9.8% of all pitches). Sproat threw six distinct pitch types in just 20 ⅔ innings in the majors in 2025, so it’s not surprising that the Brewers would look to distill that arsenal down a bit as they try to help him reach the next level. At least for now, it seems like as a Brewer his game plan might involve fewer sweepers and more of his other offerings.
Jacob Misiorowski’s Curveball
Jacob Misiorowski’s arsenal has been a hot topic of discussion since his MLB debut in 2025 with a variety of opinions on what pitch would be best to pair with his 100+ mph fastball (including the suggestion that he add a sinker). There isn’t a sinker in his arsenal this spring but there is a noticeable change in his pitch mix: He only threw his curveball less than 15% of the time last season but has nearly doubled that this spring, working 17 of them in among his 59 recorded offerings.
While spring training is a great time to work on new pitches or arsenal adjustments, Arizona has a reputation for not being the best place to throw breaking balls. The combination of dry air and altitude appear to have a negative effect on pitch movement, at least per common baseball wisdom. The fact that Misiorowski is throwing the pitch a lot anyway, at least in the early going, would suggest some level of dedication to getting it into games more often during the regular season.
Kyle Harrison’s Changeup
The Brewers’ research and development team probably didn’t have much time to suggest plans for another of the organization’s biggest offseason acquisitions: Camp was already open when Kyle Harrison came over from the Red Sox in the Caleb Durbin trade. Harrison has already thrown 60 recorded pitches in Cactus League games, however, and he’s done so with a simplified arsenal: All but two of his pitches this spring have been either a four-seam fastball, slurve or changeup.
Relying heavily on the fastball is nothing new for Harrison, who threw the pitch almost 60% of the time in the majors last season. The changeup, however, would be a new point of emphasis if he sticks with it: He’s thrown it eleven times already this spring (18.3% of all offerings) as compared to just 8% of the time last season.
DL Hall’s Slider
After spending five seasons on both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline’s list of the game’s top 100 prospects it’s taken DL Hall some time to find his footing in the majors. 2026 will be his fifth MLB season but he’s never logged more than 43 innings, and his 4.32 career ERA is slightly above the MLB average over that time. Hall only pitched in 20 games for the Brewers last season (17 in relief) but he still managed to work in a big arsenal over limited time: He threw six different pitches at least 7% of the time.
Through his early work this spring, however, the Brewers may have taken the emphasis off of one of those offerings. Hall has thrown his slider, his second most-used pitch in 2025, just four times in games this spring. It’s possible he’s “just working on stuff,” as pitchers have been known to say following spring outings, and he certainly has plenty of other stuff to work on with three distinct fastball types and a changeup and curve. If this trend holds, however, it could suggest he’s changing things up a bit to try to gain a more solid footing in the majors.
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Kyle Lobner covers the Milwaukee Brewers in the Shepherd Express’ weekly On Deck Circle column. He has written about the Brewers and Minor League Baseball since 2008.
Mar. 09, 2026
1:00 p.m.