Young pitchers making waves in Rox spring training

Baseball is a paradox; A phenomenally complicated game that you can spend a lifetime trying to better understand, it also remains remarkably simple in its execution.

You have to run, you have to hit, you have to catch, you have to throw… and most importantly, you have to pitch.

The Colorado Rockies have discovered over their 25-year history that they can stack the team with big bats all day long and if they can’t get it going on the mound, it won’t matter.

So, a dramatic philosophy change took place while almost no one was looking after the 2013 season when the club brought in Mark Wiley to oversee the development of their young pitchers.

It took a few years before we would see the first fruits of this labor, beginning inauspiciously with a mostly-failed debut from Eddie Butler. But shortly thereafter, the likes of Jon Gray, Tyler Anderson, Kyle Freeland, and German Marquez came along and ushered in a whole new era of Rockies’ baseball.

It’s an era in which they have suddenly made the postseason in back-to-back years, looking for a third.

Now in spring training with the most talent and depth at starting pitcher they have ever had, manager Bud Black finds himself looking toward the nuances of the game as the next wave of impact pitching gets ready to splash onto the shores of MLB.

And it can be a bit of a rollercoaster ride.

“I’ll be the first to tell you I’ve seen pitchers make six Spring Training starts, get to their pitch count, be awful, statistically awful and you’re worried about them,” Black said. “Then all of a sudden, the first game they go out and deal. The second game, they deal. Third game, they deal. You just never know.”

That’s why, especially early on and as difficult and counterintuitive as it can feel, results are less important than refinement. “That is always the aim,” Black continued. “That is always the goal, for guys to refind their game. For me, I want, in simple terms, for pitchers, delivery first, the physical part of their delivery first.”

Even positive production in spring can be fools gold.

“I’ve seen it the other way. Where guys have a great spring. This guy’s ready. He’s going to have a great year. And first time out, they get bombed.”

That’s why you’ve got to get into the nitty-gritty the way Black did after Ryan Castellani got knocked around a little bit. “If you critically watch the game,” he says, “He threw the ball pretty well. His pitches were pretty good… The quality of (Castellani’s) stuff was good… if he keeps throwing like this, he’s going to be fine. But you look at the line… and it doesn’t look great.”

As always, context is king, and Black and his group of coaches have had their eye on this young man for quite some time. “He’s always been one of the younger players in the league he’s played in,” Black said. “That is something that we keep in mind. Organizationally, we’ve pushed him a little bit because of the talent and because we think he can handle it. I’m looking forward to continuing to watch his development.”

Black says that the next step for the 22-year-old righty ranked at No. 10 in the Rockies system by MLB pipeline is to polish his command.

“He threw a lot of strikes, his breaking pitch was outstanding as well. I was impressed by Ryan. That’s was really good to see.”

In a similar boat, the No. 3 prospect, Peter Lambert, is likely to start the year in Triple-A because of the number of quality starters in front of him on the depth chart, but he absolutely has his eyes on making himself known in 2019.

“He has a feel to pitch, he’s not a thrower like you see with a lot of young players with good arms,” says Black. “He truly has a plan. I think he knows himself and knows his stuff. And that’s really great for a guy his age.”

And it’s not like he uses only his mind to get hitters out. “His arsenal is solid,” Black added.

In Castellani and Lambert, the Rockies have another pair of pitchers looking to join the ranks of Freeland, Marquez, Gray, and Anderson. They are on the cusp now and showing the manager and front office (and fans) what they can do against the best competition in the world.

No, neither is blowing the doors down and demanding a dramatic boost to their arrival in the bigs. Both need a bit more seasoning. But, in the bigger picture, they represent the very reason why Colorado has become consistent contenders to make the postseason or even win the division.

They got next.