Zac Rosscup, LHP, Triple-a Albuquerque
While Rockies starter Chad Bettis is dealing with a blister on his finger that landed him on the disabled list at the major-league level, down at Triple-a Albuquerque, reliever Zac Rosscup is fully healed — and pitching with promise — coming off a left middlefinger wart that sidelined him for the first third of the season.
Since being reactivated June 13, the left-hander has posted a 1.42 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in eight appearances out of the Isotopes’ bullpen as he has regained the feel for his slider that the wart took away.
“The slider has really come around and has the effect that it used to, in terms of being that wipe-out pitch that he has in his back pocket,” Rockies farm director Zach Wilson said. “He’s back to the Rosscup that we acquired from the Cubs — an aggressive pitcher who attacks early with the fastball and gets to the slider to strike some people out and to create weak contact.”
Rosscup hasn’t thrown more than an inning in any of his rehab appearances, but Wilson said he’s capable of extending to one-plus or two innings if needed, and that the 30-year-old is fully healthy and ready to help the bigleague club if called upon.
Originally selected in the 28th round of the 2009 draft by the Rays, Rosscup was traded to Chicago, where he played parts of four big-league seasons before being traded to Colorado in June 2017.
And throughout the most recent stop in his career back down in the minors, Wilson noted Rosscup has maintained a positive mind-set despite the adversity.
“Whenever you have an injury like that — where it’s not even really an injury, but more like all of a sudden the body forming (a wart) and it’s bothersome when he pitches — I’m sure it’s frustrating, and the length of time was frustrating too,” Wilson said. “But he realized, what can you do but let the body heal and naturally work itself through that? He stayed patient with the process, and allowed that recovery to happen.”