The evolution of Beau Brieske

Beau Brieske continues to evolve from being drafted in the 27th round.

It wasn’t too long ago that in our first road trip to West Michigan back in 2021 that myself, Chris, Jake Boes, who wrote with us over at Motor City Bengals and James Chipman sat in to watch the Whitecaps play the Great Lakes Loons. It was our first look at Spencer Torkelson and Dillon Dingler, but it was right-hander Beau Brieske who turned our heads that weekend.

Jake said at the time that his changeup stood out at High-A because it was a pitch that Brieske had already an advance feel for. He featured a curve and a slider to go along with then a 93-94 MPH fastball that had good riding action on the inner part of the plate. We broke him down back in 2022, since he was able to get good separation from his change and fastball.

Developing another pitch

At the time, when Brieske was starting, in order to advance to the next level, you really need to have a solid third pitch. As he mentioned in Cody Stavenhagen’s piece in the Athletic back during spring training, it was the change that got him through the minors, but the breaking ball was continuing to be a work in progress. But first, he was working his way back after two injuries that set him back in 2022 and 2023.

“The big thing for me was finding a breaking ball that feels like it fits my natural motion, fits my natural mechanics, fits my throw to where it’s a grip and it’s a rip,” Brieske said back in February.  “It’s not any other thought of me manipulating it or trying to make it move a certain way. Grip the ball and rip it.”

And he has  “grip the ball and rip it” this postseason, with increases in his velocity on his fastball as Jason Beck of MLB.com points out, he hit 100 for the first time in the series against Houston. That movement up in the zone with the pitch is key to set up his change and slider. This is a pitch that not only has increased in speed but in rising action.

Slider evolution

But the evolution of his slider, to be an effective pitch against right-handers, is one that the results are the most noticeable.  This data, courtesy of Baseball Savant, shows the movement of his slider back when he came up in 2022.

Now here is the slider in action, tailing away to draw the swing and miss.

Beau Brieske comes in from the ‘pen to neutralize the threat 💪 pic.twitter.com/vW6zgAwd4p

— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2024

To put that pitch in context as far as movement goes, here’s how it looks this season. The increased break and movement shapes up with the fastball and the change.

“So there are suggestions for me on multiple pitches that I throw this year. Just because I did like the way that they were feeling or the way that they’re performing. And that was definitely one of them Brieske said on slider while speaking to the media on Thursday.  Kind of just making choices so that it feels good really is the main key, the main factor. And I don’t really worry about trying to do a pitch design type change in the middle of the season. It’s more of just what feels good for me and what I feel like I can do on a consistent basis.”

The consistency will be key as the Tigers will go back to using a five-man rotation in 2025. Brieske, with his performance this season, has cemented a spot.