SENZATELA IS BACK AFTER GRAY’S DEMOTION
The Antonio Senzatela hype train rolls into Coors Field for its 2018 debut Tuesday, with the right-hander projected to start against the Giants following Jon Gray’s demotion to Triple-A Albuquerque over the weekend.
Senzatela, who posted a 6.23 ERA in 10 early-season appearances out of the Colorado bullpen before being optioned May 3, made a couple of trips to the disabled list this year — and missed several scheduled starts for the Isotopes — because of a groin strain.
As he recuperated, he became the most waited-on arm in Denver. Whether to take the place of the team’s struggling would-be ace or to alleviate pressure off a hemorrhaging bullpen, “Senz” trended on Twitter every time a Rockies pitcher turned in a poor outing, with farm-aware fans calling for his promotion with ferocity.
That promotion will inevitably come Tuesday, as Senzatela was at Coors Field, but not on the roster, for Monday’s series opener against San Francisco. He’s coming off seven-plus shutout innings in his last start with the Isotopes, and said he’ll lean on last year’s major-league experience — 10-5 with a 4.68 in 36 games, and 20 starts — to settle
his nerves.
“I’ll be able to read the hitters better, and throw more within myself,” Senzatela said. “I have a lot of confidence right now. I feel that’s different.”
The 23-year-old’s overall confidence has been buoyed by increasing command of his offspeed pitches in the curve, slider and changeup.
“He’s willing to throw them in counts where before he was a little more uncomfortable to throw them in,” said catcher Tom Murphy, who caught Senzatela this year in Triple-A. “That’s given him a boatload of confidence, and it’s helped those pitches grow organically, rather than trying to force anything.”
Tony Wolters echoed Murphy’s assessment and added the mental toughness of the Venezuelan is also noticeable despite the up-and-down results he had for Colorado last season, with an ugly 7.39 ERA across June and July.
“He’s always been there in terms of being calm, cool and collected,” the catcher said. “He’s strong up there, and he’s a warrior. That’s going to show on Tuesday night.”
Manager Bud Black, who last week specifically mentioned Senzatela in his discussion of his long-term vision for the Rockies’ pitching staff this season, is confident a return to the team’s hitter-friendly home digs wouldn’t startle the right-hander.
“We’ve seen Senz on this stage before in the big leagues, and he’s performed by pitching well,” Black said. “He’s coming off a good stretch of games in Albuquerque. … We just like so much about him. He’s a competitor, he’s got good stuff, how he’s built inside.”
But Senzatela might not be the only one breaking into a Rockies rotation that, up to now, had been the only unit in the National League to use just five starters. A hot spot on the middle throwing finger of Chad Bettis, originally appearing in Los Angeles on May 22, flared up again against the Dodgers on Sunday and cut the righthander’s outing short at three innings.
“It felt like it kind of came out of nowhere in May, and throughout that game it continued to get worse,” Bettis said. “(Sunday), kind of the same thing. It flared up a little bit in my pregame bullpen, and then inningto-inning it just continued to get worse and affect all of my pitches at extension.”
Bettis described his status as day to day, while Black said “we’re concerned, for sure” about the extent of the injury and whether the right-hander will be back in time for his next projected start Saturday in Seattle.
That could very well mean a chance in the rotation for the other new arm on the Colorado roster if the team doesn’t again look to the Triple-A ranks. Called up on June 24, Yency Almonte has spent most of his career as a starter and said he would be ready to fill that role if called upon.
“We have a lot of good, young arms in this organization,” Almonte said. “I think we’re all going to be here for a while, so you have to stay ready and make your opportunity count.”