Kyle Harrison finds ideal landing spot with Brewers after two trades in one year

MARYVALE — The trade shook up marquee organizations on both coasts, altered the trajectory for the best Giants pitching prospect in a decade, and shocked an entire industry. But when Kyle Harrison looks back on the evening of June 15, 2025, he realizes that there was actually a sign of what was to come.Harrison went through his normal long toss routine at Dodger Stadium and then moved on to plyometric balls. Throughout his warm-up, people kept subtly telling him that he should take his time getting ready, an unusual message given that Shohei Ohtani would soon be digging in against him.When pitching coach J.P. Martinez finally pulled him out of the bullpen and told him that Bob Melvin needed to talk, Harrison knew what had happened. It’s a long walk from the warm-up mounds at Dodger Stadium to the visiting manager’s office, and long before he sat down in front of Melvin, Harrison figured out that the team that drafted him and convinced him to pass on UCLA was sending him elsewhere.“I think it was just the time that I expected it the least,” Harrison said Thursday morning. “You always come up in (trade) rumors and you always see them but you don’t really believe it. That was probably the year that I thought about it the least, especially in June. It was just a shock, knowing all the people and the coaches that I have great relationships with and the players. That’s where I was drafted and spent my pro career for five years.”It was an emotional day, although it was mostly a blur. Harrison doesn’t remember many specifics about that Sunday night, which was spent trying to say goodbye to as many teammates as possible while they tried to process the addition of Rafael Devers and the fact they were playing on Sunday Night Baseball as it all went down. Two days later, the left-hander was in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was part of the future for the Boston Red Sox — until the organization spent the offseason amassing rotation depth, trading for Sonny Gray and signing Ranger Suarez.Harrison wondered where he would fit in, but he was eager to compete. He reported early to camp in Fort Myers so he could throw bullpen sessions in front of pitching coach Andrew Bailey, another former Giant. He looked for a place to live and tried to familiarize himself with Florida ahead of his first spring outside of Scottsdale. And then, just as quickly as before, he learned a lesson about the business of baseball.The second Harrison trade in eight months was not as stunning as the first. But it might have been weirder.Harrison was going through his physical at the start of camp and had just had his blood drawn when team executives pulled him into an office. He smiled Thursday morning as he stood in front of his locker at the Milwaukee Brewers’ spring training facility and thought back to that day.“I was like, ‘Oh … I know where this is going …” he said.Harrison is only two years removed from being named the top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball. Players like that rarely get traded, let alone experience it twice in less than a year.It has been a perfect storm, with Harrison getting caught up in San Francisco’s need to pay the price for a cornerstone like Devers, and Boston’s tumultuous year of baseball decisions.Three of the four players the Red Sox acquired for Devers have already been traded a second time. The centerpiece of the second Harrison trade from Boston’s perspective was infielder Caleb Durbin, who was needed in part because the Red Sox got outbid for Alex Bregman, the player who took Devers’ position originally and led to the star being sent to San Francisco.It has been a fascinating series of moves, and waiting at the end of it all was Milwaukee. They develop pitchers as well as anybody, and they’re thrilled to have Harrison in the building.“He’s a really talented player that we had targeted for a while,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said. “To be able to access him, obviously you have to give up talented players like Caleb Durbin and the others, but he’s got great pedigree and when you talk to him you instantly realize this kid is really sharp and very thoughtful.“You have the combination of a really talented and physical kid, and also really sharp. We love those ingredients. We’re really excited about him.”Arnold dealt for Harrison a few days after sending ace Freddy Peralta, a free agent at the end of the year, to the New York Mets. This is what the Brewers do, and they do it well.For all that has been out of his control over the past year, Harrison now feels back at home. He moved to Scottsdale a few years ago so he could train at the Giants’ facility during the offseasons, and while Maryvale is a much longer commute, it’s certainly easier than Florida.Most of all, though, Harrison finds himself with an excellent chance to establish himself as a big league starter. The Brewers are slow-playing veteran Brandon Woodruff and fellow right-hander Quinn Priester has a wrist injury. Neither is expected to be ready for Opening Day, but even before that became apparent, some in Brewers camp felt Harrison was throwing well enough to make their initial roster. “He’s a candidate to be in our rotation,” Arnold said. “I think he’s going to get that opportunity. I’m pulling for him.”Harrison finds himself in a camp competition for a second straight year, although the circumstances this time around are much different. An illness at the start of Giants camp last February cost him significant weight and put him well behind Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong. Months later, some Giants officials admitted that they did not handle things well by positioning it as a three-arm race.Harrison was playing catch-up the whole time, and he needed time to get his strength and velocity back in Triple-A. Roupp ended up winning the competition and Birdsong started the season in the bullpen.One year later, Harrison is fully healthy, and he looks like his old self. In three scoreless innings against Great Britain on Tuesday, his fastball averaged 94.5 mph and topped out at 97. He also showed off a new changeup, one that will look very familiar if he ever uses it against the Giants. The kick-change is a pitch Harrison initially saw Birdsong throw, but he couldn’t imagine the grip working for him, and the Giants didn’t ask him to try it, focusing on a more traditional circle-change. When he arrived in Worcester last June, he found that the Red Sox essentially intended to put him through a second spring training. They added three new pitches — the kick-change, a sinker and a new variation of a cutter — to his arsenal and he spent two months working on adjustments in Triple-A before finally returning to the big leagues for three September appearances.In the offseason, while playing catch to prepare for Red Sox camp, Harrison felt the new changeup start to move the correct way. The feel for the pitch has gotten better and better in recent weeks, and it could be crucial as an ideal pairing with Harrison’s elevated four-seamer.The Brewers have seen the fastball at its best, and manager Pat Murphy hasn’t forgotten it. Harrison faced them in Milwaukee in 2024 and struck out five in the first four innings — all on his fastball — before unraveling in the fifth. Earlier this spring, Murphy had Harrison stand in front of his new teammates and discuss some of the intricacies of that outing. Murphy has won back-to-back Manager of the Year Awards while leading the Brewers to division titles. They have done it with run prevention, leading the Majors in ERA over the past two seasons and consistently helping young starters find another level. Priester went 13-3 with a 3.22 ERA last season after being acquired in a deal with the Red Sox. Two years ago, it was Tobias Myers — once acquired by Farhan Zaidi for cash considerations — who broke out and posted strong numbers in 25 starts. Before them, the development success stories included Woodruff and Peralta and Corbin Burnes. This spring, Harrison is one of the young pitchers creating buzz around Brewers camp. They’re hopeful he keeps their pipeline going, and the 24-year-old is, too. He talked passionately Thursday about the way the Brewers develop young arms and the bits and pieces of knowledge he has already picked up over the past month. It’s been a weird year, but Harrison is excited about what’s to come. “I’m just glad I’m feeling good now, and now it’s like, ‘Alright, let’s start stacking the days and keep building,'” he said. “We’ve got some momentum going now. I’ll keep building.”Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Kyle Harrison finds ideal landing spot with Brewers after two trades in one year

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