Resilient right-hander Oberg now called on to close
Scott Oberg keeps a grimy home plate stashed in his locker at Coors Field.
The edges of the plate are marked with black tape, the exact width of a baseball. It’s a visual reminder to “paint the black.” In the center of the plate, Oberg has written the words: “Danger Zone! Do Not Throw Here!”
The idea of the learning prop came from Glenallen Hill, the manager at Triple-a Albuquerque, who also helped convince the Rockies relief pitcher to ditch his sinking, two-seam fastball and concentrate on his mid90s four-seam fastball, an 85-87 mph slider, and an occasional changeup.
“I really had to hone in on my glove-side command with my four-seamer, that was key,” Oberg said. “That had always been a weakness for me. Glenallen told me, ‘Hey, it might not be a bad idea to get a plate and work on it. So I went to the local Dick’s Sporting Goods in Albuquerque and taped it up.
“I still use the plate every now and again. And I bring it on the road, just in case. It’s a little bit of a reminder.”
That “little reminder” has helped transform the 28-year-old right-hander into one of baseball’s best relievers, and on Friday he replaced struggling veteran Wade Davis as Colorado’s closer. For a player drafted out of the University of Connecticut in the 15th round in 2012, and for someone who’s had overcome a string of physical setbacks, it’s been a remarkable turnaround.
“He should have made the allstar team, he deserved it,” veteran catcher Chris Iannetta said.
While Davis and most of the other Rockies relievers have struggled mightily this season pitching at Coors Field — Davis is 0-5 with an 11.29 ERA — Oberg has tamed the beast, leading to promotion from his role as an eighth-inning set-up man to closer.
“The changes Scott has made, and the ability to repeat his delivery, has made him more dependable,” manager Bud Black said. “He’s around the zone much more consistently and the ball is down, much more consistently. When
that happens, you are going to have success. His walks have come down, too.”
Oberg ranked second among National League relievers with a 1.62 ERA and ninth with a .173 opponents’ batting average against heading into the weekend. More remarkable has been his success at Coors Field. During a summer when the mile-high ballpark is playing like a pinball machine, he has a 4-0 record with a 1.69 ERA, while limiting opponents to a .167 batting average. And, entering the weekend, he had allowed no home runs at Coors in 22 appearances.
“Scotty has a really good routine, and I think that’s part of his growth,” Davis said. “Right now, his delivery is in a good place and you can tell everything is tunneling really well out of his hand.
“He’s not overthrowing and he’s processing things out there. He’s not out there just trying to throw as hard as he can. It’s cool to see him mature into someone who is really comfortable in his own skin out there.”
Said Oberg: “My confidence is pretty solid right now. I look back at video of 2015, ’16 and ’17 and my mechanics were all over the place. I’m a much more consistent pitcher now. My delivery is much more repeatable.”
The portable home plate is not the only reminder Oberg uses as motivation.
He’s also hung onto the cane he used back in his college days when he could hardly walk. He keeps the cane back home in Sewell, N.J., where he lives during the off-season with wife, Diana, and Charlotte, their nearly 1-yearold daughter.
At age 20, during his sophomore year at Uconn in 2010, Oberg needed that cane just to get out of bed and to hobble around campus. He was in constant pain. His toes “had swelled up like little sausages.”
“I was freaked out, absolutely,” he recalled. “It would take, like an hour, until my joints got loose enough to where I could pull on my socks and shoes.”
After a series of tests, doctors discovered he had psoriatic arthritis. Thankfully, medication relieved his symptoms within about two weeks.
Then came another blow to Oberg’s fledgling baseball career. In late February of 2011, he felt a twinge in his right elbow during a scrimmage game. That led to Tommy John surgery two months later.
Still, area scout Mike Garlatti pushed hard for the Rockies to draft Oberg, who was being pursued by only one other team, the Cardinals. After 467 other players were selected in front of him, the Rockies finally called and Oberg signed for $85,000.
His rise through the minors was steady and he made his big-league debut on April 14, 2015 at San Francisco. But his 2016 season ended in late August when blood clots were discovered in his right arm. He underwent two surgeries. Oberg’s next setback arrived in 2018. He pitched so poorly through his first 10 appearances, posting a 6.44 ERA, that he was optioned to Triple-a. That’s when the black-taped home plate came into play.
His 2018 season also was hampered by a back strain that landed him on the injured list for 17 days. But since coming off the IL on June 27 of last year, he’s posted a 1.68 ERA across 83 games. That ranks first among National League relievers during that span (minimum 50 games pitched).
It’s logical that becoming a closer would be the next step for Oberg.
“Having closing experience in the minor leagues gave me a sense of it,” he said. “And in my case, I was a reliever all through college and I was drafted as a reliever. So the back end of the bullpen has always been on my mind.
“Get to the seventh-inning spot, where I got to last year. Get to the eighth-inning spot, which I got to this year. Those were steps. Hopefully, I can continue down that road where I can get the opportunity to be a closer on a consistent basis.”
He now has that opportunity. “It’s different at the end of the game, but I would try to treat it like any other outing and pitch my game,” he said. “The key is that you have to get ahead, especially here at Coors. That’s key. And you can’t walk guys. I’ve run into that situation before here where it’s walks and homers, and then you’re dead meat.”
Davis, who has 137 career saves, including a franchise-record 43 with Colorado last season, thinks Oberg has the right stuff to slam the door.
“A lot of it’s about emotion in the ninth inning,” Davis said. “Because there is more emotion at that time; if you want there to be. But it’s also understanding the role that you’re in.
“The goal is to win the game, it’s not to necessarily be flashy or fancy. It’s about understanding the batters you’re facing and knowing the situation. Scott’s definitely done a good job of that. He’s been unbelievable this year. I’m sure he could handle closing.”