Todd Johnson

Prospect Update – Ethan Roberts Developing Via Twitter This Year

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It has just been the strangest of years.

Back in the old days, I remember actually going to games to watch prospects play and develop over the course of the season. While I may have said that with a bit of sarcasm, I miss those days quite a bit and I am sure the players miss them even more.

In early May 2019, I made my way to Clinton, Iowa to catch a glimpse of pitcher Ethan Roberts, the Cubs’ 2018 fourth round draft pick out of Tennessee Tech. It was a pretty cool day as I got to interview him and watch him pitch in relief that night. I came away impressed with his curveball, his attitude, and his overall character. 

Later in 2019, Ethan was promoted from South Bend to Myrtle Beach. As a Pelican, he continued to develop as he expanded his arsenal. In college, he was mainly a cutter and a slider guy. The Cubs wanted him to focus more on throwing a curve and using his fastball more. As the year went on, he began to work in all four pitches. The Cubs, as well as many prospect hounds, began to realize that his two breaking pitches were special as they each had a RPMs of over 3300.

Last fall, I wrote that I expected Ethan to play at AA Tennessee this year, which is about an hour and a half from his home in Sparta Tennessee. Instead, the pandemic rearranged his development. Then again, Ethan has been keeping everyone up to date on his progress via videos on Twitter.

Ethan’s first video surfaced in April and it was just Ethan throwing outside and you really get a good view of how his pitches move from behind him. That was only just the beginning.

Once the season was basically canceled, Ethan began going to a local facility to work on increasing his velocity and to keep in shape. Add in a summer of home cooking and baby lifting and Ethan has added 10 pounds of muscle this year. The next clip is of him throwing his cutter in the low 90s which is a nice change of pace from his breaking ball and fastball, which will see you later. His breaking balls used to be in the upper 70s and low 80s. 

As the summer progressed, Ethan’s strength and conditioning started to come out more in the videos. He started to look bigger in the arms and his fastball velocity was really beginning to tick up. When I saw him back in South Bend for Clinton, he was throwing 89 to 91 that night. But then again Clinton is not known for having the best radar gun. I at least thought it was pretty close. This shot shows Ethan hitting 96, a huge step in development.

The next reel from July shows him throwing some offspeed stuff where you really get an idea just how tight the spin is. The more RPMs he can get, the harder it is for hitters to pick it up at the plate. They can’t tell if it’s a fastball or a slider until it’s too late.

In the last week of August, Ethan posted the “pièce de résistance” of the summer where he hit 98 in a short exercise. If Ethan can do that in a game it would be great, but the mid 90s are going to be just fine for him.

Here is the key thing that I’m taking away from all these recordings: It’s only just the beginning. 

I doubt we are done seeing Ethan post Twitter videos of his progress. We are probably going to be lucky to see him keep going for another six months until spring training. And, at the rate he’s improving, I can’t wait to see him face live batters to start next year. Whether that’s at AA Tennessee or AAA Iowa, he is really putting himself out there with his work ethic and his natural talent as someone we could watch in the near future in Chicago. 

Every time he posts a video, it makes it extremely easy to root for him. And having met him, and knowing what kind of person he is, we just get excited to see what he’s up to at every turn.

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