Acquired in the Corbin Burnes trade, 'electric' DL Hall seeks to carve a new path with the Milwaukee Brewers as a starting pitcher

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- DL Hall was rather ho-hum after his first Cactus League start for the Milwaukee Brewers.

In two innings and 25 pitches, the left-hander walked a batter and struck out a batter in an eventual 10-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields.

"Just going at guys and trying to get the feel for going multiple innings," Hall said.

But down deep, he had to have been thrilled.

Because for the first time as a major-leaguer, Hall appears to be a shoo-in to win a spot in a starting rotation. And not only that, the 25-year-old is in prime position for a breakout season for a Brewers team that sent ace Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles with the belief that Hall can, in time, become his replacement.

"Super exciting," is how Hall described his new lease on life as pitchers and catchers first reported to camp, exactly two weeks after he and infielder Joey Ortiz officially joined the organization.

"To get the opportunity to just have a chance at breaking into the rotation, that's super exciting for me," Hall continued. "My first spring training competing for a spot in the starting rotation. It's all super-fun and exciting, and I'm ready to go."

DL Hall was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2017

Much has been expected of Hall ever since the Orioles drafted him 21st overall out of Valdosta (Ga.) High School in 2017, and for most of his first five seasons in the Baltimore organization he was brought along as a starter before breaking into the majors in 2022 as a reliever.

In 11 appearances (one start), Hall went 1-1 with a 5.93 earned run average and a WHIP of 1.68 with 19 strikeouts in 13 ⅔ innings.

Hall entered 2023 with high hopes only to quickly have them dashed in spring training due to a low-back injury that limited him to four innings over two appearances in the Grapefruit League.

He went on to make 11 starts at Class AAA Norfolk -- with one relief appearance for the Orioles mixed in -- but with results lacking and his back still bothering him, Hall was shut down in mid-June and sent back to Florida.

"I didn't have the time to get ready before the end of spring training. So I went to Norfolk to get on a program that allowed me to lift again, because I had taken time off from lifting with the back. It allowed me to get some strength back and get ready to be on the mound.

"But it was tough staying in games. So I ended up in Florida so that I could really focus on getting 100 percent health and 100 percent strength."

Hall's first appearance on the other side came in late July, and in eight overall outings he allowed a total of four hits and two runs (both in the same game).

It was back to Baltimore's bullpen from there, where Hall became a force to be reckoned with on an Orioles team that eventually won the American League East crown. He finished 3-0 with an ERA of 3.26, a WHIP of 1.19 and 23 strikeouts in 19 ⅓ innings over 18 appearances.

Hall appears set for Brewers starting rotation on opening-day roster

Despite Hall's performance, pitching-rich Baltimore didn't see starting in the cards for him. So, with spring training just around the corner, they made an overture for Burnes and the Brewers didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

And now Hall finds himself three or so weeks away from breaking camp as a member of the starting rotation on his first opening-day roster.

"It's just kind of a challenge to me. I enjoy challenges," said Hall. "I experienced the bullpen, and now I want to just meet the challenge."

Pitching coach Chris Hook has spent very little time with Hall, relatively speaking. But a few things have jumped out at him over that span.

"There's a gritty competitor in there," said Hook. "And it's that's great to see, because I think that at the crux of it, at the root of it, that's what you have to have. I mean, you're going to have to go out there and compete every night to win against the best hitters in baseball, and they're going to punch you in the face. And if you don't have the ability to come back and be gritty in those moments, we've got problems.

"So, he's starting off in a really good spot there. And we can hone that and make sure it's used in the right way. But gritty competitor would be (accurate)."

And then, of course, there's the stuff.

The 6-foot-2, 203-pounder throws a four-seam fastball from a three-quarters slot that averaged 95.6 mph last season (he topped out at 96.9 already on Sunday) along with a slider, changeup and an occasional curveball that actually was his best pitch coming out of high school and one that he hopes to utilize more frequently moving forward.

'Term that I think describes him best is electric'

"I mean, the term that I think describes him best is electric," Hook said. "It's just very natural. His body moves in a way that you can't teach. The thoughts are just make sure all the routines are in place for him to eventually be a 30-start guy for us.

"But he's just a natural mover. The ball comes out easy and it's a deceptive delivery as well. So, you put all those pieces together, it's going to be really, really good."

Hall's strikeout numbers will be there just based on his nastiness level. His extension is in the 92nd percentile in the majors and he generates ground balls more than half the time with batters failing to make solid contact more often than not.

"I think for me, it's more so about just hammering down some of the things that I did learn last year in the big leagues in the bullpen and just kind of learning how to translate those over to starting," Hall said. "The aggressive mindset and just going right after guys is huge for me."

The knock on Hall throughout his career, both in the minors and the majors, has been inconsistent command. Dialing that in is going to be crucial in taking the next step.

"Everybody has their different ways of saying it. But for me, it's about just going right after guys," Hall said. "I feel like sometimes people get caught up in it looking like command stuff. But it's more so me out there trying to be too perfect or trying to be picky and chase strikeouts.

"So for me, it's just staying aggressive and staying right after guys and trusting my stuff. And I think that that'll solve a lot of the command stuff."

Penciling Hall into the rotation is all well and good. But the fact remains that his career high for innings came in 2018 -- one year out of high school -- and was only 94 ⅓, leading one to believe that the Brewers are going to be monitoring his workload very closely moving forward considering how important Hall is to the team's future plans.

"It's a dance, right? We have to know the player really, really well," Hook said. "We've got to trust our staff and all the measurements and all the testing that they go through on a weekly basis throughout the season, and we've got to trust the player and make sure that he's communicating how he feels and we'll make those decisions as time goes on.

"We had same thing with Freddy (Peralta) in '21. I mean, we pushed his limits. We were redlining him. But we were all together in how we were going to do that. We're in touch step by step and we're together throughout this whole thing."

Donating his hair to Wigs & Wishes

Hall, whose DL moniker comes from his grandfather shortening his full name, Dayton Lane, has already been nicknamed "Billy Bob" by manager Pat Murphy. Hall's basketball prowess has also been a topic of discussion, as he reportedly owns a 40-inch vertical leap and can dunk a ball with ease.

Part of Hall's persona had also been derived from his flashy gold chains and long, flowing locks. But the chains have been kept under wraps to this point and the hair is long gone, having been shorn last year and donated to Wigs & Wishes, a non-profit organization that provides wigs to those battling cancer.

"I have a very close family friend in New Jersey that actually introduced me to the founder of it, and he explained to me how they do it and how their organization works," Hall explained. "They do it a lot for kids. So, it was obviously near and dear to my heart and just hearing the stories and things like that, it was awesome to get to do it."

Now, Hall will try to build off Sunday's outing. And then the one after that. And the one after that, with the hope he'll soon be taking the ball every five days and answering the challenge he's set for himself with his new team.

"I'm feeling really good," Hall said. "Ready to go."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How DL Hall is primed for a breakout season in first year with Brewers