Tyler Chatwood‘s splits in 2016 have been the subject of many conversations surrounding the Colorado Rockies. And it’s easy to understand why. He was the reincarnation of Cy Young on the road and the reincarnation of Rockies-era Jamie Moyer at home.
And while he still has a long way to go toward bucking that trend, he showed some great signs on Friday night, working through a game without his best stuff to earn a win over the San Francisco Giants, outlasting and bettering Johnny Cueto.
It was the second time in two starts Chatwood had pitched against the Giants. The first time, he threw a two-hit, complete game shutout, that was by Gamescore the second-best-pitched game in the history of the franchise.
Friday’s win was much more typical of any Coors Field affair; a 6-5 game with plenty of base runners. But after a second inning that looked a lot like last year — in which he gave up three runs — Chatwood made an adjustment that allowed him to go six full innings and give up just two more hits. (Though one of those hits was a monster home run to Brandon Belt.)
“I tried to go with the same game plan,” Chatwood said after the game about facing the Giants twice in a row. “They kinda got me in the second right there so I made some adjustments toward the end. I went more soft. They were getting my fastball in, so just using the separation of speed.”
It’s hard to tell if those kinds of adjustments are exactly what Chatwood wasn’t doing last season, but it certainly echoed something manager Bud Black told us just before the game.
“I don’t know that there’s a specific plan,” Black said of addressing the dramatic splits. “But I do think that Tyler is a year older and a year wiser. I think there are some pitch usage conversations that we had in the winter time and in the spring that we hope will turn that trend from last year.”
We’ll take the colloquialism at face value and assume Black doesn’t want Chatwood to start being great at home and not so good on the road. Of course, the biggest thing is seeing him perform better at home and while a four-run game isn’t overwhelming proof of much of anything, it’s encouraging given context.
Chatwood said after the game he really wasn’t his best self. When asked what was working for him, he responded, “No a whole lot. I kinda grinded through that one. Towards the end, my curveball felt good, I felt like I was dropping it in for a strike when I needed to. I think that was the big thing for me toward the end.”
It’s still far too early to draw any conclusions. The nature of Coors Field means he will almost always have better numbers on the road, but 27-year-old who his manager called “Old Graybeard” because his experience dramatically exceeds the rest of the starting rotation, is trending in the right direction.
