Senzatela ready to be pillar on back end of rotation
Antonio Senzatela is ready to flush last year’s rough season from his memory and be a stabilizer on the back end of the Rockies’ rotation.
The right-hander dropped about 15 pounds this offseason. Gone is the finger pain caused by throwing his changeup in 2019. And his repertoire has improved across the board, starting with his mid-90s fastball and extending to his offspeed pitches.
“The greatest offseason strides of all the guys (in the rotation) is Antonio
Senzatela,” pitching coach Steve Foster said. “It was the things done behind the scenes last year at the end of the season, that he stuck with through the offseason and came into spring training with. His velocity is up. His breaking pitches are sharper.”
The hype around Senzatela was also high heading into spring training in 2019, but that momentum was quickly derailed. He spent the first three weeks of the regular season on the injured list because of an infected blister on his right heel. When he did get healthy, inconsistencies caused him to spend over a month in Triple-A Albuquerque across July and August.
The 25-year-old finished with a 6.71 ERA in 25 starts, but Senzatela believes the strides made over his final four starts — of which he won three — can carry into 2020’s condensed season. He began incorporating his curve more in those final outings, with more success, and he felt like he got his changeup back.
“I went back to my first grip and I feel it good coming out of my hand,” Senzatela said. “I’m finding the good (arm slot) and making it look like my fastball.”
Senzatela said he’s becoming more mature as he continues to find himself as a big-leaguer. He threw five shutout innings in his big-league debut in 2016, and posted a 2.08 ERA through his first four starts that year.
But as MLB hitters adapted to him, he found the sailing not as smooth, with rough spots cropping up as they did last year when he bombed in consecutive starts. The Yankees roughed him up in New York on July 20 for six runs in one-plus innings, and he got sent to Albuquerque the next day. When Senzatela returned to the mound for the Rockies on Aug. 25, the results were equally as poor, as the Cardinals scored six runs in oneplus innings.
“Early in my career, I took a few steps forward in the first few months, and after that I got into some trouble,” he said. “But this is the big leagues, and you need to make adjustments. I think I probably took too long to make (certain) adjustments, but every season I’ve tried to come in better and help the team win. I believe this year is going to be good.”
Like Foster, others have taken notice of Senzatela’s edge during summer camp.
“He’s in great shape and he’s talking baseball all the time,” said right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez, who is competing for the rotation’s fifth spot. “I’m excited for him and I think everyone else is, too. We need to push each other. We need to follow each other’s paths, essentially, to success and to winning. I have no doubt in my mind that Antonio is going to have a great year and lead us that way.”