‘This guy is the best pitcher out there’: Behind the Brewers’ scouting process of Ethan Small
New York TimesWhen Ethan Small was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in 2017, he’d watch games from the stands at Mississippi State’s baseball stadium. Nichols only saw Small pitch once during his 2016 freshman season for the Bulldogs — “He was lights out,” Nichols said — and remembered the outing. Said Nichols: “He was like, ‘Scott, you will not find a better young man than that boy.’ ” Small’s eventual return to the mound came on a mid-February afternoon in 2018 against Southern Mississippi. “The biggest thing about last year’s season – learning how to start, learning how to get hitters out – is it was my first year off of Tommy John,” Small said. Each had the same evaluation, he said, that Small was “dominant.” So, when Nichols departed to Milwaukee for the Brewers’ pre-draft meetings, Small was his guy.
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