Bill Batterman is the Spring Training begins in less than a month and the Brewers will have no shortage of fresh faces at their Arizona compound. To help fans get acclimated with this year’s crop of newcomers to the organization, the Daily Brew will be publishing a series of player profiles over the next several weeks. This is the fifth installment in the Newcomer Breakdown series, which will cover major leaguers as well as selected minor leaguers; the first four profiles covered Jerome Gamble, Derrick Turnbow, Justin Lehr, and Julio Santana.
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Entering the 2003 season, Jose Capellan was a relatively unknown pitching prospect with the Atlanta Braves. Having missed most of the previous two seasons with an elbow injury, the 22-year old right-hander was just another hurler with big league dreams and loads of untapped potential.
Fast forward to the Spring of 2005 and Capellan is one of the premiere pitching prospects in professional baseball. Coveted enough to net the Braves’ an All-Star closer from Milwaukee, the Dominican standout with the body of a linebacker and the confidence of a Cy Young winner is poised to become a key part of the Brewers’ rebuilding ballclub for years to come. Featuring a blazing fastball that sits comfortably in the upper-90s, Capellan’s rise from unknown to under-the-spotlight has been as fast as it has been unexpected.