Q&A: Jimmy Nelson, Brewers Emerging Ace

Jimmy Nelson has emerged as Milwaukee’s best starter thanks to a pair of tweaks. The 26-year-old righty has unleashed a spike curveball and tightened up his delivery. The results are striking. Nelson leads Brewers hurlers in punch outs, wins, and innings, and his 3.61 ERA is as solid as his 6-foot-6, 245-pound frame.

Nelson discussed his adjustments, as well as his repertoire and approach, when the Brewers visited Wrigley Field earlier this month.

——

Nelson on his delivery: “Before the season, I smoothed out the rhythm and timing of my delivery, which allows me to throw with less effort and to command the ball better. It was a mechanical change. Instead of going over my head with my hands to start my delivery, now I just keep them in front and drop them down. That allows me to be more consistent and repeatable, and a lot more relaxed.

“I’ve actually switched back and forth in the past. I’d stuck with going over my head the last couple of years, but when I first got into pro ball, I was right in front of my body like I am now. It makes the transition a lot easier when you’ve done it before, because you’re kind of just knocking off the dust.”

On slowing down and not muscling up: “There are a ton of ways you can relax. They talk about breathing and trying to keep your heart rate down. When your heart rate goes up and your breathing gets heavy, you tend to get tense and go too fast. If you can relax your muscles — relax your body — everything works more efficiently. That’s something we’ve been trying to accomplish ever since spring training — getting better results out of less effort.

“You don’t want to muscle the ball to the plate; you want to let everything be free and easy. That also helps you to stay healthy the whole year. If you’re tense, you’re putting a lot of stress on your body. And when guys muscle up and try to throw hard, they usually don’t throw as hard as they can. It’s when you’re loose and relaxed — when your arm works the way it’s supposed to — that you throw harder.”

On his spike curveball:Hiram Burgos, one of my teammates back in Double-A, had a nice curveball. His was a lot slower then mine, but I liked the break and the spin. He showed me his grip. I played around with it a lot the last few years, basically on the side, but never really used it in a game.

“After last season, I figured I needed something a little slower, because everything I threw was mid- to upper-80s and harder. I wanted something slower to mess with the timing of hitters. This past off-season, I dedicated a good bit of time to working on it off the mound. I then worked on it in spring training, against hitters.

“It’s improved as the season has gone on. I’ve gotten to a point where I can throw one 81-83 (mph) — a get-me-over with a little bigger break — and I can also throw one harder, around 84-86. It’s still more of a curveball break, but it’s little harder and a little later. With repetitions, I’ve been able to feel that out and add and subtract from that one pitch.”

On his slider and his fastball: “Sometimes I’ll throw my slider a little harder, but it usually stays in a pretty consistent range (86.8 mph on average). As far as my fastball goes, I think everybody in the big leagues has a little extra they can reach back for if they need to, they want to work up in the zone or they’re trying to get a punch out. That said, I’ve learned what my comfort speed is in order to be able to command it. Again, I’ve found that when I’m free and easy, I’m actually throwing harder than when I’m trying to throw hard.

“Out of 10 fastballs, I’ll usually throw anywhere from two to four four-seams and the rest are sinkers. Especially at Miller Park, I want to try to keep the ball on the ground. I want to try to get early swings and force bad contact, and my sinker does that for me. The four-seam I can use to elevate or work down and away to righties.”

On his changeup: “It’s come a long way. I’m commanding it a lot better this year, although if I’ve got the curveball and the slider working really well — and I have the two different fastballs — sometimes I don’t use the changeup very much. But there are times where your other pitches aren’t working, so I do need to use it.

“I just use my sinker grip and spread my fingers out. You want to throw your changeup off of whatever fastball you throw the most, and for me, that’s my sinker. Basically, my change up is my sinker with the finger placement a little different.”

On his approach: “I’m more in attack mode. When I first came up, I might have been trying to paint the corners a little too much, trying to be too fine. Now I’m just trying to go after hitters, let my pitches work, and let my defense do their thing. Even with scouting reports, we’re taught to throw to our strengths and not really to the hitters’ weaknesses. If they match up, so be it. The number one thing you’ve got to do as a pitcher is throw to your strengths.

“Every pitcher has different pitches and different stuff. The scouting report might have a guy hitting .350 against curveballs, but the curveballs he’s hitting are 73 to 78 miles an hour. I’m throwing my curveball 83 to 85. You’ve got to take the reports with a grain of salt, but at the same time, it’s a good visual — especially the heat maps.”

——

Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz on Nelson’s spike curve: “It’s better than I thought it was going to be. Originally, we wanted something to slow a hitter down so everything wasn’t so hard, hard. It actually ended up being a power pitch. He can use it to get ahead and he can use it to put away a hitter. It’s been a big reason he’s starting to show success. The slider has always been good; this just adds a different element to his game.”

On Nelson’s effort level: “A big key is that his effort level has been relaxed. He’s such an aggressive guy — he’s really ready to get the ball to the plate — but he’s got to pitch relaxed. That’s helped him command all of his pitches.”





David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.

8 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Beer League Softball
8 years ago

He’s an “ace” only in the sense that he is the best pitcher on his bad team. In that definition either Greinke or Kershaw is not an ace so I reject that definition.

McNulty
8 years ago

“Brewers Ace” clears this up pretty well

Malcolm-Jamal Hegyes
8 years ago
Reply to  McNulty

Don’t forget the word “Emerging” either. He’s gotten 3.1 WAR over his first 229 big league innings, so he could be finding himself like Arrieta did.

munchtime
8 years ago

Or perhaps you simply missed the modifier “emerging” in the title. There’s a big difference between a player showing promise in his first full season at the MLB level, and someone who has been an elite player for 5+ seasons.