C’s Chat – 2024 Vancouver Canadians RHP #10 Juaron Watts-Brown – C's Plus Baseball

The latest C’s Chat is with 2024 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Juaron Watts-Brown.

The Visalia, California native excelled on the court, the gridiron and the diamond at Hanford High School, winning the West Yosemite League Player of the Year in basketball, football and baseball during his high school career. His athleticism was evident early on in his formative years as he was a catcher in the Babe Ruth Instructional League. Watts-Brown drew the attention of Dalton Silva, a graduate assistant at Lubbock Christian. After seeing Watts-Brown throw out a runner trying to steal second base, Silva liked his arm action and recommended that the young backstop turn his attention to pitching.

Watts-Brown signed a letter of intent to pitch for Texas Tech before his junior season in 2019. He won three of his four decisions with Hartford and posted a 1.88 earned run average in 44 2/3 innings while striking out 55 batters and holding hitters to a .172 batting average.

In football, Watts-Brown put up over 4,000 passing yards with 39 touchdowns but he suffered a shoulder injury late in his senior campaign. That resulted in the Red Raiders pulling his offer but he was able to go to Long Beach State where he had to redshirt his 2021 freshman season.

A teammate of 2022-2023 Vancouver Canadians pitcher Devereaux Harrison, Watts-Brown made 12 starts with the Dirtbags in 2022 and earned a place in Long Beach lore by throwing a no-hitter against UC Riverside on Mother’s Day May 8. With his Mom in attendance, he struck out 16 batters and issued just one walk which led to Pitcher of the Week and Pitcher of the Month honours in May from the National College Baseball Writers Association. Watts-Brown split eight decisions with a 3.88 ERA and struck out 111 batters against 29 walks in 73-1/3 innings.

Watts-Brown’s success at Long Beach State was foreshadowed by a summer college ball stint with the Brockton Rox of the Futures League in 2021. He won five games and lost just one with a save, piling up 50 strikeouts against 22 walks in 36-1/3 innings.

It was back to the summer college circuit in 2022 for Watts-Brown, this time in the Cape Cod League. He worked exclusively as a reliever as he logged 18-1/3 innings with the Falmouth Commodores, where he won his lone decision and fanned 15 batters with nine walks.

In 2023, the Freshman All-American and Big West Conference Honourable Mention transferred to Oklahoma State. With the Cowboys, Watts-Brown won six of 11 decisions with a 5.05 ERA and put up a Big 12 Conference-best 124 strikeouts against 48 walks in 82-1/3 innings.

The upside Watts-Brown showed in 2023 was recognized by Baseball America who rated him the 46th-best prospect in the 2023 MLB Draft.

“He’s a good mover on the mound with a clean, fast arm, a bit of length in the back of his arm path and a three-quarter slot. Watts-Brown averaged 92 mph and touched 95 with a fastball that had around 19 inches of induced vertical break. He used that pitch less than half the time however, thanks to a high-usage, mid-80s slider that flashes plus with hard, tight spin and looks like a real out pitch. He generated whiffs at a 53% rate with the slider, with 40% usage, and often shows better feel to land it for strikes than either his fastball, his low-80s 12-6 curveball or his mid-80s changeup. Watts-Brown has fringy control and needs to improve his fastball command to make the most of a solid four-pitch mix.”

The Toronto Blue Jays selected Watts-Brown in the third round with the 89th pick and signed him to a $1,002,785 bonus on the recommendation of scout Max Semler. The Jays decided to delay his professional debut until 2024 due to his workload in college.

That debut was a successful one as Watts-Brown pitched five innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts to earn the win for the Dunedin Blue Jays at Tampa on April 10. He struck out nine batters over four shutout innings against Jupiter on May 15 to highlight a month in which he whiffed 37 batters in 22-2/3 innings while posting a 3.18 ERA. In June, Watts-Brown won back-to-back starts against Bradenton on June 12 (5IP, 1R, 5K) and Daytona on June 19 (6IP, 2R, 9K). A 2.91 ERA in June led to his promotion to Vancouver on June 30.

Transitioning to the Northwest League has been a challenge at times but Watts-Brown has shown signs of putting it together. He allowed two runs and struck out eight in five innings at Hillsboro on July 24 and enjoyed his best start with the C’s by surrendering just one run over six innings and racking up eight Ks at Spokane on August 14. Watts-Brown turned in another stellar effort by limiting Everett to two solo homers with seven strikes against one walk at The Nat on August 21.

Baseball America rates Watts-Brown as the 17th best prospect in the Toronto Blue Jays system while MLB Pipeline ranks him 20th.

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C’s Plus Baseball caught up with the 22-year-old Brown during the team’s homestand against Eugene. This interview has been edited for clarity.

C’s Plus Baseball – You get picked by the Blue Jays. What was your draft day experience like?

Juaron Watts-Brown – Draft day experience was kind of crazy. They always say don’t believe what you hear before or almost kind of during. And I kind of experienced that, you know? I was supposed to kind of go with somebody else but the Blue Jays picked me and I’m glad they did. Obviously, it was God’s plan for them to have me here so definitely a crazy day. It was one to remember but yeah, I enjoyed all of it.

CPB – Did you have an inkling that the Blue Jays were interested in before?

JWB – I had thought that they were interested just from meetings before the draft. I didn’t know they were going to pick me until I saw my name on the draft. I had got a text, ‘Congratulations.’ I was like, ‘For what?’ Because I didn’t know I was going to be drafted. And then my name popped up. So, yeah, I guess they were pretty interested to pick me like that.

CPB – Who called you to say you got drafted?

JWB – Yeah, it’s the agent. My agent calls me, kind of talk to him about that, and then we were going through negotiations afterwards so I didn’t really talk to anybody with the Blue Jays until I got into Florida at the PDC and then signed.

CPB – Were you at home?

JWB – Yeah, I was back in California, hanging out with my girlfriend and my family and just waiting to get things going.

CPB – It’s a whirlwind process. You find out you get selected, next thing you know you’ve got to make arrangements to go to Dunedin. Take us throught what it was like when you first found out you were going to Toronto.

JWB – I guess growing up, you don’t think you’re going to get drafted by a team that’s not in the States being from the States. So I guess that was never like, ‘Oh, yeah, maybe I’ll get drafted by the Blue Jays.’ But I was excited, I was excited to finally get going, especially after the negotiations, we were talking for a little bit. So I got out there and they had shut me down when I first got there. So I couldn’t really get into it right away, but it was cool being in a pro-style environment with all the nice necessities that they got over there. It was definitely what you dream of. And now I’m actually playing so it’s been everything that I’ve hoped for so far. I hope to keep going with that.

CPB – As you say, you were shut down but you still went through the draft camp so what was that process like getting used to being in a professional organization?.

JWB – Draft camp was cool because it was kind of just like them getting us accustomed to kind of what like schedules would be, what kind of the programs you use, like lifting, eating and all that. I think that as far as learning everything, it was not too much just because I didn’t go straight to a team. I didn’t go to Dunedin. It was them kind of getting us ready for what lay ahead. It wasn’t too hard to get used to and I don’t think moving over to an affiliate, it’s been that hard. I enjoy it much more than college, in my opinion. It’s just games every day, there are no practices. The practices kind of got to be a lot, especially having the fall and then spring in college so it’s been a nice transition for sure.

CPB – I know some guys from the draft class did get to pitch. You’re a competitor, you want to be out there on the mound but maybe you understood the rationalization that you’ve got so many innings on your arm. Did you watch Dunedin games while you were there?

JWB – No, actually we watched FCL games. There were some other guys that got sent to Dunedin. We went and watched a couple of Dunedin games but the games that we would watch, we were assigned to the FCL team but we weren’t doing anything so we’d watch those games. But it definitely sucked to not being able to be one of the guys that didn’t get to go out but obviously, there were reasons for that and why we did that so I wasn’t gonna go against what they’re doing obviously. They’ve been doing this for a long time so I trusted what they were doing.

CPB – The Player Development Complex with all the bells and whistles. What stood out to you the most about that about that place?

JWB – I would say probably the gym. I mean, they have machines that I had never seen before. They have everything in there that you’ll need because of the workouts that they create for us. Even if you go off the workouts you did at home, you can still do the things that you need to do in there. It makes going home a little bit harder because we don’t have everything that we have at the PDC so it’s definitely nice being there and having everything. The training rooms are really nice. They have trainers everywhere and then the coaching. There’s a lot of staff around, a lot of people to ask questions to, a lot of people that will give you insight. It’s nice being there for sure because of all the resources that you have.

CPB – I don’t know if you’re a big analytics guy but was there maybe anything you learned about yourself using the technology, how your pitches work, that sort of thing?

JWB – The stuff about my pitches I had kind of known previous from college. I guess what I didn’t know was more about my body and how it moves down the mound because they have stuff there to assess that. So I think that was one thing that stood out because they tell you where your weaknesses are in your delivery, and that might not be something that you pay attention to all the time. It’s even little things like keeping your foot on the rubber and being quad-dominant, stuff like that. So it was cool to learn about myself physically rather than all the pitches, what everybody always talks about.

CPB – Speaking of your pitches. I hear you have four pitches?

JWB – Four-seam fastball, slider curveball and changeup. Curveball 12-6, the slider is kind of just like a bullet slider, a gyro slider and then just a traditional changeup. I’ve had those four pitches since the beginning of college. They didn’t add or take anything away, which has been nice. It’s just making sure I can put all of them in the zone.

CPB – The slider, from what I’ve read, is considered your best pitch. Do you agree with that?

JWB – Yeah, I agree with that for sure. It’s the pitch I land at the highest clip. It’s a good pitch for me. I get swings and misses. I get weak contact on it as well. Hoping the fastball becomes that best pitch for me soon. I think that’s going to come with getting a little bit more command with it. The slider is definitely there.

CPB – Did anyone teach you the slider or did you just figure it out yourself?

JWB – I played with it with a guy I played with summer ball my freshman year in Brockton, Massachusetts. I had the curve ball, had the changeup and the fastball, but I was trying to learn the slider. We were playing with the grips and kind of started out as just kind of a distant pitch, I kind of would throw it every now and then. And then that year, my sophomore year of college, it became my pitch.

CPB – If you had to give a scouting report on yourself, how would you describe yourself as a pitcher?

JWB – I’m a competitor on the mound. I’m going to come at you. I have good energy, I think I’m pretty electric. I wish I could watch myself sometimes just because when I am locked in, it is pretty fun to pitch. And I think that as far as myself as a pitcher to other people, I’m going to work my butt off no matter what. I’m always going to compete even if I’m struggling, no matter what. I’m always going to compete even if I’m struggling. I’m going to get it figured out for sure.

CPB – What is your philosophy on pitching? Obviously, it depends on scouting reports but do you have a general philosophy?

JWB – I would say just get ahead. That’s been the biggest key. If I get ahead, I have pitches I can get them out with. That’s been the approach, you know, whether it’s the curveball, the slider or the fastball. If I get ahead, I’ll be in a good spot.

CPB – Now that you’re getting your first full season under your belt, you started off with Dunedin. What was that experience like getting the pitch of the Florida State League and trying to get some pro experience under your belt?

JWB – It was cool, you know, just getting my feet wet because obviously you always want to play pro ball. And you learn what pro ball is about really quickly. There’s good hitters in every organization, especially throughout the affiliates. So you learn yourself as a pitcher and that’s what I’ve had. I’ve learned this year, with the walks, they hurt me. When I’m walking guys, that’s when I get into trouble. When I eliminate those, that’s when I’m usually pitching pretty well. Dunedin was great. The coaching staff, Mayo (manager José Mayorga, Yoel (bullpen coach Yoel Hernández), and (pitching coach Cory Riordan, they were great to me as far as building me up as a player and how I need to carry myself in pro ball and what things I need to work on. Then shipping me out here it’s been a great time here. ABD (pitching coach Austin Bibens-Dirkx), Brent (manager Brent Lavallee) and CP (bullpen coach Carson Phillips), they get you right and they’ve helped me a lot.

CPB – Pitching in Florida and dealing with the humidity, what was that like pitching and having to deal with that?

JWB – I had been to Massachusetts before so I was kind of used to some humidity but it was definitely different in Florida, especially when we would play day games or 12 o’clock games on Sundays. I had pitched a couple of 11 o’clock games during the week and you could feel it. There was one start in particular that I had actually cramped up in my calf. I had to come out. It wasn’t hot, it was just super humid like the clouds were out but it was like 95 humidity. It was pretty ridiculous but coming over here, it’s been nice to get away from that and have a little bit of nice weather. A little warm but you know at night it’s cool. You got a little breeze and you don’t have to worry about the humidity so yeah, definitely a nice change.

CPB – How did you find out about getting called up to Vancouver. Was there a funny story with that? I know sometimes the coaching staff like to have fun with that.

JWB – Yeah, Mayo called me in and usually when you get called in, you kind of know something’s up. But when he called me in my previous start, I was really frustrated after I had walked a couple of guys. He had said like, ‘Yeah, the organization saw you’re frustrated and like, we’re going to have to make a few changes because that’s just not how you’re supposed to carry yourself.’ But he said, ‘But we’re sending you to Vancouver.’ So it was pretty funny. He kind of stopped my heart for a second. But it was definitely, it was like, ‘Oh, this is not going how I thought it was supposed to.’ But it was a good story. And, yeah, I was really excited to get out here.

CPB – We didn’t get to see you pitch here in Vancouver until recently but how have you found it being here in front of thousands of fans?

JWB – It’s been nice. It’s like I’m pitching in college again. We’d get a good amount of fans at Oklahoma State and it’s been nice to be able to pitch in front of a crowd cheering for you. Especially if you’re struggling and you kind of get back into it, they’re here for you so it’s been nice. They’re nice here, they all love you. They cheer for you no matter what so it’s been nice to pitch here and be with the home crowd again.

CPB – You mentioned college where you were with Oklahoma State University, home of Barry Sanders and before that, Long Beach State. What were your college experiences like?

JWB – Long Beach was good. Being close to home, I was only three-and-a-half hours away so it was easy to get home whenever I needed to. Mom could come down and watch the games and stuff like that. And then leaving California, I was ready. I was at the age where I had been to Massachusetts already for summer ball. I was ready to be on my own for a little bit and I enjoyed Oklahoma State. Long Beach doesn’t have a football team so going to Oklahoma State, it was nice to watch a football game. They get good crowds and they play good opponents for basketball as well and it’s diehard over there for all their sports, you know? It’s a college town so it was definitely different from Long Beach being more a commuter school and Oklahoma State being more of a college school. It was nice, it was cool to get a taste of both worlds honestly.

CPB – You were a multiple sport athlete in high school. What made you decide to go with baseball in the end?

JWB – That was kind of what I had my biggest opportunity in. There was some talks of football. Basketball was just a third sport and I enjoyed playing that a lot. I mean, I wish I could still play. Basketball is really fun, but yeah, the opportunity was there for baseball so that’s what we ran with and obviously I’m here so it’s worked out a little bit.

CPB – Your favourite major league team growing up?

JWB – I grew up a Dodgers fan, so I’m looking forward to playing against them one day.

CPB – Nice. Did you have a favourite player or pitcher growing up?

JWB – My favourite player, I had a couple of favourite players, Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp. Matt Kemp came first but those were my two favorites to watch. I would say on the pitching side, probably deGrom (Jacob DeGrom) or Max Scherzer.

CPB – Final question. The Canadians have five different uniforms—white, red, black, blue and gray—do you have a favourite?

JWB – I would say probably the blacks. The blacks are clean, I enjoy wearing those. We had blue in Dunedin so I try to stay away from the blue. I enjoy the red, red’s my favourite colour but the blacks, they look nice. They go good together.

Juaron Watts-Brown File

Born – February 23, 2002 in Visalia, California
Height/Weight – 6-foot-3, 190 pounds
Bats/Throws – Right/Right
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 23 with Long Beach State in 2022. Wore number 23 with Oklahoma State in 2023. Wore number 10 with Dunedin in 2024.
Mound Music – “When It Rains It Pours” by 50 Cent.
Twitter – @JuaronWatts
Instagram – juaron_
The More You Know – Watts-Brown is the 15th Oklahome State Cowboy drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The More You Know, Part 2 – Watts-Brown is the first pitch with the last name of Watts with the C’s since pitcher Justin Watts in 2018. Outfielders Dasan Brown (2022-2024), Devonte Brown (2023) and pitcher Eric Brown (2011-2013) proceeded Juaron with the Canadians.