Before Sunday’s blown save by Seunghwan Oh, the Colorado Rockies bullpen has flown under the radar somewhat during the first month of the season with the starting rotation taking most the plaudits and the offense receiving much of the criticism before the recent swell in Atlanta.
Even after Donaldson’s three-run homer, the Rockies bullpen has the 5th best ERA in all of baseball and the 3rd best in the National League. Only 10.2% of flyballs have been home runs against the ‘pen, good for 4th best in baseball.
Though the relief corps has had a favorable BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play), they are also doing a great job of getting big outs with traffic on the bases as their LOB% (left-on-base percentage) is 78.3%, 5th best in the game.
One of the men contributing to the staff’s success is Bryan Shaw.
On Saturday night, Shaw delivered two scoreless innings to keep the Rockies in the ballgame. Courtesy of two big at-bats by Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story, they scored five runs in the top of the ninth to give Shaw his first win of the season.
He even returned on Sunday to pitch the sixth inning as soon as the Rockies pulled to a 6-5 lead.
Last season, back-to-back performances like this would have seemed more of a blessing than business as usual; but in 2019, Shaw is getting back to his winning ways.
Signed by the Rockies in December 2017 after seven excellent seasons with Arizona and Cleveland, his 3.13 career ERA with a 1.228 WHIP had been worth 6.3 WAR
In his first year with Colorado in 2018 though, Shaw saw his ERA balloon to 5.93 ERA with a 1.793 WHIP. He gave up homers twice as frequently last season and his walks grew by 50% when compared to his previous career numbers.
Shaw spoke with BSN Rockies as we attempted to find the reason for this difference as well as the change in 2019 that has him off to a great start.
“Last year, April was rough,” Shaw said. “May started off really well. I think threw nine scoreless to start the month. Then we started hitting some bumps. When we started hitting those bumps, we started making some tweaks and trying to make adjustments to figure out why we were hitting those bumps and it just culminated into what it was last year.”
The key numbers in 2019 have been promising so far: 1.06 ERA over 17.1 innings pitched and a 1.06 WHIP.
“(I’m) hitting spots a lot better than last year,” he shared. “Mechanics a lot better. Everything is in a better rhythm, better spot. The addition of a few extra pitches we added, everything culminating in doing well so far.”
One of the more interesting adjustments Shaw made during the offseason was a hesitation in his leg kick, one that has been observable in all 14 of his appearances.
“You can see it when I’m out there. It’s almost like Freeland, but not as drastic as Freeland. Leg kick and pause, but it’s a little bit of pause, enough to keep my weight back so I can stay over my back side and then get out front instead of rushing forward and drifting forward and kind of yanking some stuff.”
This was also something Jorge De La Rosa famously employed, so it was smart for Shaw to follow in the footsteps of the two pitchers who have found the most success at Coors Field.
This slight alteration has allowed Shaw to stay tall and stay back, mechanics that had previously made him successful in Cleveland.
Manager Bud Black has noticed the improvements Shaw has made to become so successful this year.
“A little bit of an adjustment in his delivery,” Black said. “He’s worked a bit on staying over the rubber. You notice that little hesitation that keeps him back a bit. He’s keeping the ball down and down and away to right handed hitters. He’s moving the ball in and out.”
That being said, Black has noticed there is still the potential for more growth as there is more than meets the eye with some peripheral numbers.
“The walk totals are a little bit high for the innings pitched,” Black added. “But, it seems so far (Shaw) is making the pitch when he needs to. To get either back from the count or get an out. So, the results have been there because of a little movement on the cutter. He’s throwing a few more sliders. He’s around the zone more.”
With a WHIP of 1.06, it appears Shaw is not allowing a lot of action on the bases, but with a walk-per-9 at 3.7 and a strikeout-per-9 at just 3.2, Shaw has given up more free bases than he’d like at the moment.
When you consider the BABIP against him is just .189, Shaw has benefitted from both the Rockies defense, inducing a fair amount of weak contact, and some old fashioned good luck.
But the best line for Shaw so far has been home runs allowed. After more than doubling his career home run rate last year, Shaw has kept the ball down and given up just one long ball during his 17.1 innings, on par with his previous track record.
Shaw may still be finding himself in Colorado. And it’s definitely with the Rockies best interest that he figures it out completely as a 2021 vesting option for $9MM could be a strong possibility so long as he stays healthy.
The option would be vested if Shaw makes 60 appearances or finishes 40 games in 2020. While the Rockies could potentially guard against this through their usage of Shaw next season, a more likelier option exists: 110 appearances between 2019-20 combined.
So, with the potential for more Bryan Shaw, it’s been a positive for Colorado to see him display more promise through the first four weeks and get back to his successful ways of old but with a new twist.
