Denver – Jorge De La Rosa has struggled in 2016. He knows it, opposing hitters know it, and the Colorado Rockies know it. The numbers are ugly. De La Rosa has a 3-4 record with a 7.61 ERA, .296 batting average against and 1.691 WHIP in 36.2 innings. It’s tough to find a silver lining when you look at a line like that.
But it appears the notoriously slow starting pitcher might be turning a corner. On Tuesday, against the New York Yankees, the lefty threw five scoreless innings while surrendering just three hits and two walks. Even though De La Rosa threw 90 pitches, he showed that he may have turned a corner in 2016.
“I got tired a little bit. They made me work. There [were] 3-2 counts a lot and I got a little bit tired,” De La Rosa said of his effort against the Bronx Bombers. “They were on base almost every inning. They made me work.”
Though a bit rocky at times, De La Rosa’s effort wasn’t just a one-time success. Since the Rockies moved him to the bullpen for three appearances at the end of May and early June including four perfect innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a makeup game, his goal was always to work his way back into the rotation.
When he returned from the disabled list in May, it was evident that De La Rosa and Rockies pitching coach Darren Holmes had worked closely to remove the lefty’s trademark pause in the middle of his windup. With his velocity dwindling in the last year of his contract, something needed to change.
“I was working with Holmes and we eliminated the pause. It feels much better; a little bit stronger,” De La Rosa said. “[Holmes and I] were talking a lot. We’re good friends now.”
De La Rosa cited his pitch mix as another reason for his early season struggles:
“I was working with Holmes to mix my pitches better. I think it started when I was in the bullpen and that’s why I’m getting better results right now,” he said. “I’m mixing my pitches much better. Before I was just using fastball-changeup and right now I’m trying to use everything. That’s worked for me so far.”
De La Rosa has a devastating changeup when he’s throwing it well, but because it’s such a reliable pitch for him, it can be easy to rely too heavily on it. When he’s relying solely on his fastball and changeup, hitters can sit on either pitch and have a lot of success.
Essentially, the 35-year-old was broken and needed to be fixed. Most pitchers build their strategy on the foundation set by an effective fastball. Without a good fastball, a pitcher is without his most effective weapon. In previous years, when he had a lot of success, De La Rosa’s fastball sat in the low 90s and routinely touched the mid-90s.
Before his stint on the disabled list, his fastball sat in the upper 80s while rarely touching the low 90s. Without his fastball, De La Rosa often went to his change-up, but had little success.
Upon his return from the DL, armed with a more fluid windup sans pause, the fastball velocity returned and so did the success. Even Rockies manager Walt Weiss liked what he saw on Tuesday against the Yankees.
“Some of it was vintage Jorge in the way that he got a little traffic but he was able to navigate it and not only minimize it but not give up any damage,” Weiss said after his starter’s scoreless start. “You couldn’t ask for much better than that.”
If the Rockies are going to do the improbable and make a run at the playoffs, they are going to need Jorge De La Rosa to be at his vintage best. While there is a lot of baseball left to be played this year, his last nine innings of scoreless baseball provide an excellent foundation to build on.
The statistics aren’t pretty right now, but if the recent trend continues, De La Rosa will once again be a productive part of a surprisingly good Rockies rotation. Only time will tell, but even in what might be the twilight of his career, Jorge De La Rosa is showing signs that he can once again bounce back from a tough start to a season.
