Rockies Briefs CLOSER OTTAVINO WORKING TO IMPROVE CUTTER VS. LEFT-HANDERS

Adam Ottavino is the Rockies’ closer of the present and likely the future.

Returning from Tommy John surgery, the right-hander has had a mostly successful comeback season. He had posted a 2.42 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP and had seven saves in 33 appearances heading into Saturday night’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

But Ottavino also has five blown saves, and left-handers are hitting .256 against him. That’s not terrible, but it pales in comparison to the .127 average average righthanders have put up against him.

So Ottavino is doing something about it. He throws an excellent fastball and a wipe-out slider, but he needed another pitch. So more and more, he’s using his cut fastball against lefties. The pitch remains a work in progress, but he’s convinced it will make him a more complete closer.

“I had the pitch in college, but I put it away for a long time,” he said. “I picked it up at the start of last season and I thought I was in a good place with it.”

But he got hurt in late April of 2015. When he returned from Tommy John surgery this year, Ottavino said the cutter “was a pitch I just didn’t have a good feel for.”

Lately, he’s been throwing it more effectively.

“For me, it’s huge, because I have a hard time commanding my four-seamer up and in vs. lefties,” he said. “The movement of my four-seamer kind of comes back toward the middle of the plate. … So I figured the cutter is a pitch that would work for me because I can throw it in the middle and then it moves up and inside on lefties.”

Ottavino said his problem against left-handers was an inability to keep them honest, which led to them cheating over the plate and slapping balls on the outside for base hits.

“They were too comfortable against me, so the cutter is a pitch to combat that,” he said.

Manager Walt Weiss remains convinced Ottavino has the right mentality to be a closer.

“He’s a very smart guy and he has a great feel for making adjustments,” Weiss said. “That’s what makes me feel that he can be a closer for a long time. He’s got the right mentality and he wants to be out there in crunch time.

“Plus, he’s got a major wipeout pitch with that slider. It’s a great pitch. So he’s got all it takes to be a closer.”

Shortstop Trevor Story is still wearing a brace on his injured left hand, but he’s making steady progress in his rehab.

“I have been doing a lot of mobility stuff and we have just started trying to get the strength back in my hand,” he said. “Hopefully in early November or mid-November I can start swinging a bat again.”

Story was a top contender for National League rookie of the year until he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on July 30, ending his season. He finished with a .272 average, 27 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .909 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage).