BSN Exclusive: Adam Ottavino explains the small change that made a huge difference

DENVER – How good is your good?

Some professional athletes find longevity by remaining steady in an industry where millions of dollars are spent in an effort to figure you out. Others manage to weather the ebbs-and-flows that come from making and re-making adjustments. For these athletes, their highs tend to outweigh their lows, but the latter can be awfully frustrating.

Of course, there is the final category. We know these people by name. Sometimes just one name. Trout. Lebron. Brady. Kershaw.

Colorado Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino, when he is at his best, looks an awful lot like one of those guys. The problem is that his career has been disjointed by Tommy John surgery and a bout with his command in 2017 that saw his walk rate double and his dominant-self disappear like a distant memory.

So, he decided to give us all a refresher course.

Way back in April 2015, Otto became the Rockies closer after an injury to Latroy Hawkins. He picked up 10.1 innings, striking out 13 batters, walking just two, and did not allow a single run before succumbing to the dreaded elbow injury.

He would not see the field again until the final stretch of 2016 when the Rockies were out of contention. But he picked up right where he left off, tossing 27 innings with 35 strikeouts and seven walks. He gave up eight earned runs for an ERA of 2.67.

With an offseason and spring training to get back to full strength, Ottavino was still rightly seen as a potential closer for Colorado entering last season, despite the club’s acquisition of Greg Holland. He settled into a set-up role and things went well at first as he led the National League in holds through the first month of the season.

But astute observers could see he wasn’t the same. The command wasn’t as sharp. The free passes were starting to rise. Eventually, hitters stopped flailing at the slider and forced Otto to prove he could consistently throw his pitches for strikes. He couldn’t do it, especially with his two-seam fastball that seemed to either miss wildly outside the zone or float right back over the heart of the plate.

His 6.58 BB/9 ratio led directly to a 5.06 ERA, Ottavino telling BSN Denver that it was just a few small things but he couldn’t get himself right.

“It’s the same mechanics I’ve always had, it’s just that last year they were messed up. This is the way I’ve always thrown. My direction is a little better, my timing is good, that’s it.”

Sounds so simple, I say.

“It sounds simple,” he replies. “But things take practice. I couldn’t fix it last year. Tried, tried-tried-tired; couldn’t fix it. I was able to get it to happen in the offseason, practice it throughout spring, and I feel good with [my delivery] right now. Gotta try to stay in that groove and not get in any bad habits for the next five-and-a-half months. At the moment, it feels comfortable.”

Perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this has been the return of that tailing fastball as a legitimate and frightening weapon in his arsenal.

“I’m throwing a lot of them, so you can tell [it’s working] by the pitch-mix numbers,” he says, fighting back a smile. “I felt like it was a good pitch for me years ago. Last year, I was uncomfortable with it and suffered for it. So, I made that a priority and I’ve just been trusting it. I’ve always wanted to throw it a lot because I think just intuitively I know that if one pitch goes one way and one goes the other, it’s probably a good thing.”

For video evidence of just how silly guys have looked against the pitch this season, check out this Rockies Film Room.

For any pitcher, though, mechanics, trusting your pitches and having a nearly unhittable slider all amount to very little if your head isn’t on straight. And Ottavino is determined to play the long game in 2018.

“[I’m] definitely confident,” he says. “But aware that things can change in a hurry. There’s so much baseball to play. I’m just trying to focus on one day at a time and not get ahead of myself.”

We saw in 2015 and 2016 just how good Adam Ottavino’s good can be. And we saw in 2017 what can happen with even the slightest wrench in the system. Now in 2018, he aims to do something he never has; be at, or at least near, his best from spring to fall.

With seven scoreless innings pitched featuring 14 strikeouts and just one walk… he’s off to a pretty good start.