Though he’s already been working out at the team’s Salt River Fields complex for almost two weeks, D-backs first-round Draft pick Bryce Jarvis’ formal signing of his contract took place Tuesday afternoon.
As with everything in this COVID-19 world, it was not a typical signing. With his family back in Nashville and friends spread throughout the country, the D-backs surprised Jarvis by having close friends and family on a Zoom call with him so they could feel like a part of the experience.
“It was good,” Jarvis said. “I saw a bunch of names up on the screen from back home. Extended family and friends -- always good to have them share in experiences like this. I didn’t get here on my own. Having the people who helped me along the way to get to this point get to share in the experience was definitely nice.”
The D-backs selected Jarvis, the son of former big league pitcher Kevin Jarvis, with the 18th overall pick in last month’s MLB Draft out of Duke University. He agreed to terms with the team in late June on a $2.65 million bonus.
Jarvis, 22, was selected to be one of the players in Arizona’s 60-man pool roster for this season and he has been with 24 other players at Salt River Fields. The other 35 members of the pool are based at Chase Field.
“I’ve been over there for a couple of weeks working out, getting into the swing of things a little bit and getting my feet wet a little bit,” he said. “It’s cool anytime you can get into any type of organized baseball these days. It’s nice to get away from the quarantine workouts and more of a team setting -- still social distancing and new protocols we’re working around and through -- but I’m thankful.”
In a typical year, a college pitcher like Jarvis would likely not be asked to throw many innings during the summer since he would have completed a full college season already. However, because college baseball was shut down in March due to COVID-19, the D-backs would like to see Jarvis get some innings this summer.
More than likely those will be simulated innings with the rest of the D-backs’ player pool that is not playing in the big leagues. But given the uncertainty of what game strategy in a shortened 60-game season will be like, there is a chance he could see some big league time.
“Yeah, it’s definitely something that’s been in the back of my mind,” Jarvis said of the prospect of pitching in the Majors this season. “I think that now that I’m here in the moment, it’s important to just take things one day at a time, trust the people that are in place to get me to where I need to be and listen to them and follow the progressions that they have set up and see where that takes me.”
With the D-backs farm system rising in the rankings the past couple of years it’s no surprise that their 60-man pool is filled with top prospects. In fact, nine of the team’s Top 10 are included, which should allow Jarvis to get a chance to face some quality hitters even in intrasquad games.
In the meantime, Jarvis will get used to the ins and outs of professional baseball. It’s quite a change for him going from being one of the veteran leaders at Duke to being the newbie in the pro ranks.
“It’s all part of the process,” Jarvis said. “It’s definitely a fun experience getting integrated with the guys. Building those relationships that hopefully will go on throughout my playing career.”
Senior Reporter Steve Gilbert has covered the D-backs for MLB.com since 2001.