Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, September 2nd, 2024
From needing Tommy John surgery early in his college career with the University of Missouri to a fractured elbow that needed surgery in 2022 and a transfer to the University of Tennessee the year after, you would never know that big-bodied righty Seth Halvorsen’s meteoric rise hasn’t always been easy. However, for the reliever described by Rockies development staff as “confrontationally matter-of-fact and very confident,” his meteoric journey from Rocky Top to the Rocky Mountains for his big league debut has been business as usual.
“No, I don’t think so,” Halvorsen told Purple Row when asked if his rapid rise through the farm system had led to any increased pressure. “I’m just taking it day by day and pitch by pitch, and I’m just grateful to be out here.”
Halvorsen was drafted in the seventh round out of the University of Tennessee in the 2023 draft. In the three months following his selection he was already as high as Double-A Hartford. A little over a year later, he’s made it to the show.
Halvorsen turned heads early in his professional career with the Rockies organization. After being drafted he made two appearances with the Arizona Complex League Rockies and struck out three batters over 2 1⁄3 innings before being moved up.
He skipped Low-A entirely and went straight to the High-A Spokane Indians, where in five outings and five innings he struck out five batters with just one walk. He was then quickly moved up yet again to the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats. With Hartford he tallied another five strikeouts, this time in six appearances and six total innings.
Halvorsen was already tantalizingly close to Major League Baseball by the end of the 2023 minor league season with a 2.70 ERA and he had thrown just 197 total pitches.
His 2024 season has been a bit more “normal,” spending most of the year with Double-A Hartford and posting a 4.84 ERA over 35 1⁄3 innings with 41 strikeouts. After being promoted to Triple-A at the beginning of August is where he really showed the Rockies he was ready for the show.
In the Pacific Coast League—notorious for being a challenging environment for pitchers—Halvorsen rung up 15 batters in just nine innings of work. He tallied multiple strikeouts in seven of his nine outings and gave up just three earned runs—one of which was in his Triple-A debut.
The Rockies, ever in need of bullpen reinforcements, made the call.
When Halvorsen was called out of the bullpen in the top of the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles with two outs and runners on the bases to make his big league debut, he was ready to execute. If he was nervous, he certainly didn’t show it.
“Yeah, you know, it’s a big routine thing,” Halvorsen said. “Just going out there and getting prepared to go, to go into the game. And so that’s what I was focused on. Just focus on the next pitch.”
He threw just one pitch: a four-seam fastball clocked easily at 100 MPH against MVP candidate and Orioles superstar Gunnar Henderson. Easy groundout to third baseman Ryan McMahon. Inning over.
Halvorsen got more of an opportunity to showcase his quality the next night when he was called upon to pitch a full inning in the top of the seventh against three key members of Baltimore’s young core.
Dialing up a four seam fastball at 100 MPH for his first pitch, Halvorsen then threw three straight changeups to earn his first big league strikeout against Jackson Holliday. He threw three more changeups against Gunnar Henderson to force a groundout, and against All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman he brought the firepower.
Halvorsen threw five fastballs during his six-pitch battle with Rutschman, four of which were clocked at over 100 MPH. He easily hit both 101 and 102 MPH during the at-bat before finishing him off with a changeup for a flyout.
When asked how it felt to be able to throw more than one pitch in his second appearance, Halvorsen was once again business as usual.
“Yeah, it was great. Just grateful for the opportunity, the opportunity to play with this team and go out there and throw some pitches.”
However, you shouldn’t take Seth Halvorsen’s matter-of-factness as arrogance or ungratefulness. The gravity of being the 23,330th person to make their big league debut is not lost on him.
“Just after that first outing, I remember just saying ‘thank you Lord for the opportunity,’ and yeah, just every day I’m really just thankful.”
Halvorsen is also not without a sense of humor. When asked if his former Tennessee teammate Jordan Beck had given him any useful advice, he dryly cracked “well, yesterday, when I got here, he helped me get to the field. So that was helpful,”
In addition to Beck, Halvorsen has also been reunited with his former battery-mate in young catcher Drew Romo, who also just recently made his MLB debut.
“It’s great to have the familiarity there with him,” Halvorsen said of Romo. “Last year in double A and then obviously this year in AAA and here in Denver. So it’s been great. He’s great catcher, and I love the way he plays.”
Halvorsen is a grateful part of a Colorado Rockies youth movement that includes Beck and Romo. Key pieces of a young core that will hopefully push the team out of a rebuild and into contention over the next few seasons.
“Everybody here is a great player, and so I’m just excited to play with everybody here. It’s been amazing. It’s been an amazing experience, an amazing journey, playing baseball. And yeah, just… just grateful to be able to play for the Rockies.”
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On the Farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 7, Reno Aces 2
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 4, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 2
High-A: Spokane Indians 1, Tri-City Dust Devils 0
Low-A: Visalia Rawhide 2, Fresno Grizzlies 1
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After a strong 2023 season in which he was one of the most used relievers in baseball, right-handed pitcher Jake Bird has largely struggled in 2024. Now reaching the end of the season, Bird is back with the Rockies and rounding into form as he and the other members of the Rockies bullpen aim to be a much stronger unit in 2025.
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