Musgrave could be bullpen solution
As trade rumors swirl about whom the Rockies might acquire to bolster the bullpen before the trade deadline, a viable seventh-inning bridge might be a guy already on the roster — and one who nearly quit baseball as a freshman in college.
Harrison Musgrave, a lefthander who just returned Tuesday from a 10-day disabled list stint (right hip flexor strain), is healthy and “willing to do anything they tell me to do” as Colorado searches for a consistently dependable option ahead of setup man Adam Ottavino and closer Wade Davis.
Attempting to solidify himself as a major-league bullpen stalwart — at high altitude, no less — is a markedly different career path from the one the 26-yearold considered going down when he found out he needed Tommy John surgery to repair his ulnar collateral ligament in his first season at West Virginia.
“As a freshman in college, I didn’t really have any major aspirations to play baseball longterm. I never even thought about pro ball,” Musgrave said. “I went to school for the degree, and I didn’t know if I was going to do the surgery.”
The thought of hanging up the cleats and being a full-time student crossed Musgrave’s mind — “I would’ve become your typical small-state history teacher, coaching high school baseball somewhere,” he said — but his older brother, who had previously undergone Tommy John and rebounded well from it, convinced him otherwise.
Musgrave came back from the surgery and his subsequent rehabilitation as an improved pitcher.
“As a freshman, I was mid-80s — nothing impressive, and certainly not pro ball type-stuff,” Musgrave said said of his fastball velocity. “Then after surgery, it helped velocity-wise after all the rehab. … My first year back, I went from being 84 to 86 miles per hour to 89 to 94-ish as a redshirt sophomore.”
Scouts noticed after Musgrave was named the Big 12 pitcher of the year that season, earning him a 33rd-round selection by the Phillies. He passed and went back to school for one more year, after which he was picked up by the Rockies in the eighth round of the 2014 draft.
And while Musgrave is still very much establishing himself as a big-leaguer, Colorado manager Bud Black noted the Nutter Fort, W.Va., native has been rising toward an enhanced role for some time now — even in the wake of an injury-marred 2017 campaign.
“We felt that he was on the radar last year in spring training, and he was very close to making our team out of spring training last year,” Black said. “Then he went to Triple-A and got banged up a couple different ways. I wouldn’t say it was a lost season, but he had a season in Triple-A that we were hoping he wasn’t going to have.”
Thus, for around the first month following his majorleague debut April 23, Musgrave was in prove-it mode. He appeared intermittently and often in a mop-up role, yet steadied the Colorado bullpen with a 2.79 ERA in six appearances during May as his swagger grew.
“I think he’s more relaxed now, and he looks more confident than when he first came up,” catcher Chris Iannetta said. “He’s just focusing on executing pitches instead of managing the adrenaline of the moment.”
And now, with lefties Mike Dunn and Chris Rusin on the disabled list and veteran southpaw Bryan Shaw still trying to find his groove, Musgrave knows his moxie — and pure stuff — will probably be tested even more intensely, even if the Rockies do follow through with a trade to the Blue Jays for veteran right-hander Seung-hwan Oh, as reported by MLB.com’s Jon Morosi.
“Earlier in the season, if it was close after the sixth inning when everyone was healthy and doing well, I realistically wasn’t going to pitch,” Musgrave said. “Now I’m in a spot where if it’s not the eighth or ninth inning, I could end up pitching, so I’ve definitely been focused more on when the phone call is going to come down more so than I was in my
first month.”