PEORIA, Ariz. – The light teal of his spring training cap was saturated from perspiration of an afternoon in the Arizona sunshine.
But this was a different kind of sweat that had soaked Matt Brash’s cap and undershirt. This wasn’t sweat from doing conditioning drills. This was from competition, well, sort of. And that’s still the best way to sweat on a baseball field.
“Yeah, it’s the good kind,” he said.
A large group of fans surrounded Field 2 of the Mariners’ complex, along with front-office members and pitching coaches, to watch Brash reach another major milestone in his recovery and return from season-ending elbow surgery.
For the first time since April of last season, Brash stepped on the mound of a baseball field to face hitters. He threw his first live batting practice session since undergoing the Tommy John brace procedure in early May.
“It’s always better when you’re getting off the game mound,” Brash said. “There’s a little more juice, and everything just comes out smoother. I even got my adrenaline going for the first time in a while. It was fun.”
Admittedly, Brash had some butterflies when he woke up Wednesday morning. That’s something he didn’t feel throwing bullpen sessions every three days to build up his arm strength.
“I was a little nervous this morning, honestly,” he said. “It’s not because I was nervous that I was going to feel something or anything like that. It was just like excitement. Whenever you have a game, you can’t eat as much and you’re just kind of ready to go. And that’s how I felt, which is really cool, to get that feeling back.”
When was the last time he felt that?
“Not since the 2023 season,” he said. “And that’s the feeling you want as a player – that little nervousness and anticipation of getting to compete.”
This wasn’t a typical live batting practice session. Ryan Bliss and Luke Raley were instructed not to swing.
Meanwhile, the pitching coaches didn’t want Brash to go into full compete mode and start ripping fastballs and sliders at maximum effort. They wanted him to graduate from bullpen sessions to a game mound incrementally with the mindset of staying smooth in his delivery and not overexerting to throw. The plan was for him to keep his fastball velocity – four-seam and two-seam – in the 93-94 mph range while throwing his breaking pitches to get a feel for them.
Brash’s fastballs were in that 93-94 mph range, with his last few hitting 95 mph, drawing excited chatter from the staff.
But it was the slider and knuckle curve that might have been more impressive. Brash showed unexpected feel and command with the breaking pitches, while the spin rates were at similar RPMs (revolutions per minute) as in 2023, which is a big plus.
“I threw them for strikes early in counts,” Brash said. “And then I had a couple two-strike counts, so I kind of bounced my curveball at the back foot, and then I threw a good slider down away to a righty. So that’s coming back great. My slider feels really great. I’m really happy with it. It’s coming out nice. And the velo on it was pretty good. The feel has (been) coming back really nice.”
While Brash is highly competitive, he was able to maintain his focus and not let the adrenaline overcome him. He’s following the guidance of the training staff and staying within their parameters. He knows this is just a step in the lengthy process and there are still more outings ahead.
“I wasn’t full-full, but I was still letting it go a little,” Brash said of his effort. “I know I wasn’t throwing 100 or whatever, but I was still giving it pretty good. So I think the next couple times, I’ll be kind of full go and I look forward to that.”
What’s next for Brash?
Assuming he feels good after his most recent outing, he could either have another bullpen to bump up his velocity again or he could face hitters again in a full live batting practice session.
“I don’t know for sure,” Brash said. “I’m hoping the next steps are getting more into game-like situations, facing hitters and getting ready to get this thing rolling.”
Roster moves
The Mariners made more roster moves to trim down the number players in MLB camp. Reassigned to minor league camp: SS Colt Emerson, OF Lazaro Montes, LHP Austin Kitchen, RHP Sauryn Lao and RHP Casey Lawrence.
Emerson, the Mariners’ consensus No. 1 prospect, and Montes, the No. 2 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, will both start in Friday’s Spring Breakout Game in Goodyear. They are expected to start the season with High-A Everett.
Also
General manager Justin Hollander had a little fun with announcer Rick Rizzs for Wednesday’s game. Sitting in the radio booth was a new Mariners catching helmet and mask for Rizzs to wear during the broadcast after he was struck in the head by a foul ball in Monday’s game in Maryvale.
Always a good sport, Rizzs wore the mask and helmet initially but didn’t want his view obstructed so he kept the helmet on instead.