Frank Cairone 7/9/26

Milwaukee Brewers 2025 2d rounder Frank Cairone made his second pro appearance Thursday, after missing significant time due to a serious car crash in January. Cairone wrote on his Instagram he wasn’t sure if he would ever walk again or talk again, and he spent a month in the hospital rehabbing. It was a brief look but certainly great to see this kid back on the mound.

Cairone is a well-proportioned lefty with clean mechanics and deceptive life to his fastball. It wasn’t an overpowering pitch velo wise (89-91), but hitters weren’t able to square it up despite the velo. I didn’t make much of it at first, but after some digging, it’s very evident this fastball has attributes that help it play up.

Baseball Savant cites a flat approach angle and a whopping 7 feet of extension. Cairone works from a standard ¾ slot and releases the ball WAY out front which creates both extension and a flat vertical approach angle. You often see flat approach angles from low slot pitchers; I believe the VAA given his arm slot is a unique trait/weird look that throws hitters off the scent. Cairone also has a short arm action and stride bordering on cross body which create deception, adding to his fastball’s effectiveness.

There are also several factors suggesting better velo is on its way. The Brewers are well known for excellent pitcher development. Cairone is an easy/smooth mover on the mound with excellent body control. And he touched mid 90s in high school. I think you could reasonably project a plus fastball.

Cairone has some feel to pitch - he displayed distinct fastball shapes, with good feel to cut or run it, working east/west with intent, and elevating with two strikes. The fastball played well up in the zone, and hitters were swinging under it. I believe in the command profile. He had one really nice sequence against Cristian Arguelles spotting the SL, 2sm, and SL east/west, resulting in a ground ball.

Cairone exudes a very relaxed, stoic vibe on the mound. He strikes you as a low pulse individual with low highs and high lows. I am guessing he will have good response to failure and should take well to instruction from this body language read.

This was a tease. I am looking forward to monitoring Cairone’s development and will hopefully get to see Cairone work deeper into a game later in the year as he builds up. My prevailing thought coming away from this look was “Frank Cairone - I get it."