The Diamondbacks have started the process of converting Bryce Jarvis into a reliever, a move confirmed by farm director Josh Barfield. In his last two appearances with Triple-A Reno, he has pitched out of the bullpen. With Jarvis eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in December and the team's bullpen in need of quality arms, the organization is looking to find ways to upgrade their roster in both the short and long term.
The D-backs drafted Bryce Jarvis in the first round in 2020, betting on a sudden uptick in velocity he made the previous summer. His velocity jumped from around 90 to the mid-90s, which allowed him to throw to dominant the college track for five years. Arizona signed him for a well below slot deal of $2.5 million.
Jarvis quickly got to Double-A in his first full year with the organization, which isn't too surprising for a player of his profile. That's where the problems started, as he pitched to an 8.27 ERA in 2022. He spent the off-season working in the pitching lab to add extension on his release, which yielded positive results in Spring Training. After three solid starts in Amarillo, he was promoted to Triple-A. In his first 16 appearances, all starts, he was 6-5 with a 5.40 ERA with 83 strikeouts and 38 walks in 80 innings.
With a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and tops out at 96-97 MPH combined with a quality slider and changeup, Jarvis' stuff should play well in a relief role. It's a situation where if he looks good in that role for a month, that he should get a big league evaluation in the final month of the season.
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