Colorado Rockies news and links for Friday, September 13, 2024
Ryan Feltner is quietly putting up a heck of a season. This is all the more impressive considering what the 28-year-old starter has been through in his young career.
Not counting the 6 1/3 innings he pitched in 2021, the Rockies 2018 fourth-round MLB Draft pick is in his third year in the majors. In his rookie season in 2022, he Yo-Yoed back and forth from the Rockies and Isotopes and spent one stint on the 15-day IL. Feltner ended up with 20 appearances (19 starts), a 4-9 record and a 5.83 ERA in 97 1/3 innings.
In 2023, Feltner went 2-3 in his first eight starts (when the Rockies went 5-3) with a 5.86 ERA. It wasn’t great, but Feltner was still just in starts 22-29 in his MLB career. Then came the line drive and the skull fracture.
Just 129 days later, Feltner returned to the mound for the Rockies. Despite also battling elbow inflammation, he made two more starts in 2023 and showed courage and tenacity in rehabbing and pitching again. He finished with 10 starts, a 2-4 record and a 5.82 ERA in 43 1/3 innings.
This season, Feltner is putting up better numbers in more innings than he’s ever pitched in the Majors. In 27 starts, he’s posted a career-best 4.89 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate. Ten of his starts have been quality starts.
Coming into the season, Feltner had totaled 147 innings. After Thursday’s win over Detroit, when he gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings in his 15th no-decision of the season, Feltner now stands at 143 2/3 innings. With just 2 2⁄3 more innings, he’ll surpass his career total entering 2024. That’s sure to happen as Feltner will get two or three more starts over the final 15 games of the 2024 season.
However, despite more starts and better numbers, Feltner only has two wins this season. That’s the same as he had in 10 starts in 2023 and half as many as he had in 20 appearances in 2022. Feltner has eight career wins and he deserves more. Wins aren’t the most important thing, but Feltner still deserves better. He’s only getting 4.6 runs scored per game from his offense when he starts. He’s also been relieved by a bullpen that isn’t the most steady. On another team, Feltner would have at least 10 wins. He could be leading the Rockies in wins (the current leader Cal Quantrill at eight).
On the bright side, after so many missed games in his first two MLB seasons, Feltner has been very healthy this year. Feltner made his first start of the season on March 31 and made 23 starts before the injury bug hit. He went on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder strain on August 8, rehabbed with the Isotopes and returned to the Rockies rotation on August 26. Feltner has revealed stamina and grit, proving what he’s capable of this season. He’s earned a spot in the Rockies future rotation.
Thursday’s game was a great example of how effective Feltner can be. After being owned by the Tigers in the first two games, losing 11-0 on Tuesday and going down 6-0 in the first inning on the way to a 7-4 defeat on Wednesday, Feltner helped the Rockies end a nine-game road trip on a winning note.
Feltner attacked the zone early, firing first-pitch strikes to the first 13 Tigers he faced. He started with three scoreless innings, only giving up one hit. A single, a walk and a double resulted in two runs in the fourth. Feltner allowed a walk in his final inning and a third, but no hits and no more runs.
He also struck out six Tigers: three on fastballs ranging from 95.5-96.5 mph, two on changeups and one on a sweeper. He has a variety of weapons in his arsenal, he is improving at mixing them up and crafting game plans.
In his last two games, Feltner has a 2.31 ERA and has only given up three runs on five hits, with five walks and 12 strikeouts. After Thursday’s game, Feltner showed his maturity in crediting Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings for calling the right pitches, while he took blame for the three runs he’s given up in his last two outings.
“I would like to point out that the only times I’ve given up runs the past two games have been pitches that I’ve shaken [off of],” Feltner told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. “In Milwaukee, it was a slider to a righty, down the first-base line. Today, it was the [Spencer] Torkleson curveball [a two-run double in the fourth].”
Feltner is having a breakout season and, hopefully, building a solid foundation for years to come.
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More to come from Stallings in ‘25 after his strong ‘24? | MLB.com
Thomas Harding dives into the success catcher Jacob Stallings is having calling games behind the plate and for how he’s swinging the bat this season for the Rockies. It could be enough for Stallings and the Rockies to agree to his $1.5 million mutual option for the 2025 season.
Here’s how Arraez has gone on his historic no-strikeout streak | MLB.com
As Purple Row’s Skyler Timmins wrote about earlier this week, the Rockies have a ridiculous strikeout problem. San Diego’s Luis Arraez has played in 28 games with 124 plate appearances without a strikeout. The Rockies should take notes.
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On the farm
Triple-A: Las Vegas Aviators 8, Albuquerque Isotopes 6
Greg Jones homered, AJ Lewis hit an RBI double, and Grant Levigne hit a run-scoring single to help Albuquerque jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but it wasn’t enough as Las Vegas rallied back with a three-run second inning and added four more in the fourth to claim the win. Karl Kauffmann took the loss, giving up three homers, eight other hits, two walks and seven earned runs in four innings. Levigne went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Jimmy Herron added a hit, two walks and scored three runs and Lewis finished with two RBI.
Double-A: Akron Rubber Ducks 5, Hartford Yard Goats 1
Hartford was held to three hits and the Rubber Ducks took advantage of a four-hit, one-error first inning to score four runs on Akron’s way to a win Thursday night. Warming Bernabel hit an RBI single for the Yard Goats lone run, scoring Juan Guerrero, who had walked, in the first inning. Nic Kent and Bladimir Restituyo each added singles for Hartford’s other two hits. Blake Adams (2-2) took the loss, but despite giving up six hits in six innings, only one of the four runs were earned, he walked none and struck out six. The playoff-bound Yard Goats have three more games remaining in the regular season before the three-game postseason division series starts on Sept. 17.
High-A: Northwest League Championship Series: Vancouver Canadians 1, Spokane Indians 1
After splitting the first two games of the Northwest League Championship Series in Vancouver, the Canadians and Indians were off on Thursday. They will resume the best-of-five series on Friday and Saturday (and Sunday if needed) in Spokane. Victor Juarez (4-7, 4.30 ERA) will start for the Indians.
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