Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, November 26th, 2024
The 2024 season did not go as planned for 26-year-old left-handed reliever John Evan Justice.
After making his major league debut in 2023, it seemed like the 6’4’’ lefty could bolster a weak Colorado Rockies bullpen in need of reinforcements for 2024. Instead, Justice faced just two big league batters at the very end of the season.
After nine spring training appearances with seven strikeouts, six walks, and a 5.63 ERA, Justice was assigned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes to start the season. In his first seven outings with the Isotopes he posted a 12.60 before a lower back injury sidelined him for the better part of three months.
Justice still struggled when he returned to the Isotopes in mid-June in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. However, his wounds were much more self-inflicted. While Justice didn’t give up a single home run over his next 20 appearances and 15 innings, he walked 21 batters during that period compared to 13 strikeouts and held a 9.00 ERA over 15 innings.
Justice looked sharper after his brief 1⁄3 inning big league appearance in September. When he returned to the Isotopes to wrap up the season he made five appearances with five walks and five strikeouts while posting a 3.86 ERA over 4 2⁄3 innings. He finished the Triple-A season with an 11.68 ERA over 32 outings.
Evan Justice is no stranger to adversity. The Virginia native and 2021 fifth round pick has faced his fare share during his baseball life. His NC State Wolfpack was eliminated from the College World Series in 2021 after an outbreak of COVID-19 on the team, and after being drafted he missed the entire 2022 season with a lingering shoulder injury.
“Going through something like this, especially when playing baseball is now my job, has made me grow as a person and become more resilient,” Justice told Collegiate School Virginia after his lost 2022 season. “It’s another situation where I’ve had to deal with adversity, but I feel like I’ve been able to learn from it and make the most out of it even though it’s not what I would have chosen. Going through adversity in the moment is difficult, but I feel like I’ve always tried to take difficult situations and learn something from them because adversity is inevitable. I’d like to be prepared the best I can when it comes.”
The Rockies chose to send Justice to the Arizona Fall League in 2024 as a member of the Salt River Rafters. He was the only member of their delegation—coaches included—that had any MLB experience.
Once he arrived back at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, something clicked. Justice walked just one batter during primary Arizona Fall League action after struggling with walks during the regular season.
Not only did Justice not walk batters, he kept them off the bases entirely. Over nine appearances and 8 2⁄3 innings with the Rafters, Justice allowed just two baserunners: one on a walk and one via a hit batter. He struck out 11 batters while giving up zero hits on his way to a perfect 0.00 ERA and a 0.12 WHIP.
However, the Fall League was not without adversity of it’s own.
Justice was named to the Arizona Fall League’s “Fall-Stars” All-Star game along with teammate Skyler Messinger. The game did not go well for him, and old problems reared their heads.
Coming into the game in the second inning, Justice struggled with his command. He walked two batters to start the frame, both of whom scored on a double by New York Yankees prospect Caleb Durbin. After another walk followed by a home run off the bat of former Rockies prospect Adrian Pinto had Justice finish the inning having yielded five earned runs.
However, Justice showed his resiliency. In his next appearance after the Fall-Stars Game he spun a scoreless ninth inning against the Peoria Javelinas with one strikeout for his third save of the Fall League.
When the Salt River Rafters found themselves in the Arizona Fall League Championship game, Justice took the mound with the Rafters up 3-2 against the Surprise Saguaros in the bottom of the ninth.
It wasn’t a perfect inning and Justice struggled somewhat with his command. After a lineout to start the inning he hit the following batter. Justice kept his cool and induced a force out at second base for the second out.
Justice walked the following batter—on a call that was upheld after challenge—but again was resilient. He needed just one more pitch.
5-3 groundout. Ballgame. The Salt River Rafters are 2024 Arizona Fall League champions.
Photo by Norm Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Earning the save, Evan Justice had made history as the first Arizona Fall League pitcher with a hitless campaign.
Evan Justice’s overall dominant performance at the Arizona Fall League provided the embattled lefty with a positive ending to a difficult 2024 season. It also provided him with his next goal: sticking with the Rockies’ big league bullpen.
“The thing for me now is just getting back up there and then being able to stick. That’s the hardest thing to do when you get called up is to stick around,” Justice said. “Just continuing to improve and knowing what it’s gonna take for me to take my game to the next level is the biggest thing and what the Fall League has provided is an opportunity to work on those things.”
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