Banter From The Bench: Carlos Estévez goes Super Saiyan on opposing hitters

The clubhouse that Carlos Estévez witnessed when he made his big league debut on April 23, 2016 is remarkably different than the one he sees in 2022.

Literally speaking, the locker room on the home side of Coors Field underwent renovations ahead of the 2019 season. Figuratively speaking, the only recognizable face still on the active roster from six years ago is the modern version of Mr. Rockie, Charlie Blackmon.

After enjoying a championship with the High-A Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League in 2014, Estévez spent 2015 traveling around the Double-A Eastern League with the New Britain Rock Cats, an affiliate that quickly morphed in the Hartford Yard Goats one year later. 

Following just five games in Triple-A, he debuted with Colorado at only 23 years old.

.@carlosestevez28 looked great in his @MLB debut last night.

2 IP, 0 H, 2 K: https://t.co/JXNOe13Tdt pic.twitter.com/1O75f7jTsG

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 24, 2016

The Dominican right-hander ended up appearing in 63 games that season and his 11 saves remain the most by a Colorado reliever in their debut season. (Only Mike DeJean in 1997 ever recorded at least two saves as a true greenhorn.)

Despite missing action with the Rockies in 2018 due to a series of injuries, he’s still managed to make 277 appearances with the club, 10th-most in franchise history.

Now in his sixth Major League season, he’s on the precipice of entering free agency for the first time in his career. 

Through 18 outings this season, Estévez has a 5.40 ERA (15.0 IP, 9 ER). A look at the last month isn’t much better (4.91 ERA since May 8), but a brief dive into pitching analytics suggests he’s actually been had some bad luck.

When reviewing Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), a stat that correlates incredibly well to earned run average and focuses on the three outcomes a pitcher can actually control – strikeouts, walks and home runs – that figure drops to 4.64 over his previous eight games, which doesn’t tell us much.

Jack Suwinski vs Carlos Estevez#LetsGoBucs

Home Run 💣

Exit velo: 98.8 mph
Launch angle: 28 deg
Proj. distance: 363 ft

This would have been a home run in 18/30 MLB ballparks

COL (5) @ PIT (5)
🔻 6th pic.twitter.com/fsa6FxLrq6

— Would it dong? (@would_it_dong) May 25, 2022

But examining Expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP), which factors in the league average for home runs per fly ball (in other words, how lucky or unlucky a pitcher may be with fly balls leaving the yard) then Estévez is at a much more favorable 2.44 for those last eight outings.

Patrick Lyons: It took you a while to get your first K of the season. (His first strikeout was on May 6 in his 10th appearance following 7.1 innings pitched. He’s struck out 10 in 7.2 innings since then.) Had you realized that you hadn’t gotten one in all of April?

Carlos Estévez: The guys started talking about when I had like seven or eight innings without one. I hadn’t been thinking about striking out people. I just felt like I was a little bit out of my zone.

Lyons: Everyone had to ramp up really quickly to get ready for the season.

Estévez: Exactly. I didn’t have that much command of my pitches coming out of the shortened Spring Training. And you know, I was just trying to get outs quickly and get out of the inning. I was going to get one eventually. I mean, I’m not gonna go 162 without striking out anyone. 

Lyons: Did it become a thing for you about not missing bats? Or was that secondary?

Estévez: They brought it out when I was pitching against the Reds (on May 1). I had an 0-2 pitch, slider, down and away outside the strike zone. I think it was Kyle Farmer and he almost flicked his bat out and hit a ground ball to first. I backed up the base and when I got the ball, I looked at the bullpen and they were just like, ‘Oh, man! He had it! He couldn’t strike him out, but he had it!’ So that was pretty funny.

And @tonytodd32 j still wondering who's #carlosestevez now?? Who can tell him?? #wildThings #carlosestevezx2 pic.twitter.com/VfLvcxhQSJ

— Carlos Estévez (@carlosestevez28) June 8, 2016

Lyons: I wouldn’t exactly call that a slump, but if you’ve ever gone through one before, is there something you’ve done differently to break out of it? 

Estévez: When you go through mechanics, you’ve got muscle memory. You’re gonna do it right. You’re gonna be fine. In terms of pitching, when you’re falling behind and throwing a lot of balls, it’s more like, go back to where you know you were really good commanding in the strike zone. For me, most of the time, it’s mechanics when I’m going through stuff like that. So I just check out whenever I was at my best and just try to replicate that. And once I’m doing it, playing catch, doing it everywhere, I’m gonna fall to where I was. 

Lyons: Do you ever do anything superstitious to break a slump, just to mix it up? Like take a different route to the ballpark? 

Estévez: No, no. I have heard some guys do that. I’m not really superstitious. I’m not a guy that uses the same cleats all the time or wears the same undershirt. Or I gotta eat a chicken sandwich before the game every day. I’m not that type of guy, but it’s funny to be around some of those. 

Lyons: Can you recall some of those teammates?

Estévez: In the minors, we had a few. I mean, we still have some here, maybe. (Looks around the clubhouse.) Yeah, yeah, I can see some here. But I’m not that type of guy.

Lyons: What’s the all-time weirdest superstition you encountered? You don’t have to give out their name. In fact, maybe it’s better you don’t. 

Estévez: The weirdest one? There’s one guy that had busted socks. His toes were out. And he was still playing with those socks for like 70 more games. I’m like, ‘Come on. How do you feel good with that? Your feet are gonna hurt. They’re gonna suffer from that.’ Also, I know a guy that used to bring dirt from the first stadium he ever played. So he keeps it around. I don’t know. That’s super weird. If he doesn’t have it close to him, he feels he won’t do well. But it is what it is.

Lyons: You said you’re not superstitious, but I have to call you out on that. You might be a little superstitious.

Estévez: With what? 

Lyons: Well, that. (Points to his locker) You bring your Dragon Ball Z figures on the road. 

Estévez: Ahh. I bring them everywhere.

Lyons: It’s good luck, right? But that’s still kind of a superstition. Nothing wrong with that.

Estévez: Well, maybe. For me, it’s more like all the lockers when we go on the road are just so tame. I need some color. I need something happening. Something to look different at my locker. So I bring them with me all the time.