Right-hander Peter Lambert is looking for a breakout performance this season.
To understand what the Rockies hope right-hander Peter Lambert can become in his second season, take a look at the growth Kyle Freeland made between Year 1 and Year 2.
As a rookie in 2017, Freeland flashed potential with a 4.10 ERA in 33 games (28 starts). He fizzled at the end of that season, eventually being sent to the bullpen. Then, Freeland dominated in 2018 with a franchiserecord 2.85 ERA, finishing fourth in the Cy Young Award voting and delivering one of the most memorable pitching performances in club history in a wild-card playoff victory.
Seeing Lambert’s name on the 2020 Cy Young ballot is a stretch, but Colorado does believe the 22-year-old is capable of breaking out.
“He learned a lot last year, because it was baptism under fire for a young pitcher thrust in there in the middle of the season,” manager Bud Black said. “He realizes that he can pitch in the big leagues. He’s got the stuff and the weapons. Now it’s just a matter of finetuning his game to get bigleague hitters out.”
After Lambert started last season with Triple-A Albuquerque, Colorado’s rotational disarray led to his majorleague debut June 6 in Chicago. Lambert dazzled at Wrigley Field, with seven innings of one-run ball in what Black dubbed “a classic pitcher’s performance.”
But as in Freeland’s debut season, the rookie Lambert faded down the stretch, going 1-7 with a 7.54 ERA in the second half before being scratched for his final September start. That started Lambert’s offseason program early as he finished 3-7 with a 7.25 ERA in 19 starts.
“Most important, there were some changes that needed to be made, and we felt that it would have been better to do that in non-game situations,” Lambert said. “We also wanted to create a plan going into the offseason to be ready for this year.”
Lambert’s focus while back home in Southern California this winter was mostly on subtle tweaks to his delivery.
“I’m staying on my legs a little bit more and trying to become less of a rotational pitcher,” Lambert said. “And there’s a few arm path changes, too.”
The 2015 second-round draft pick still has the same fourpitch mix (low-90s fastball, change, curve, slider), but fellow right-hander Jon Gray has observed an uptick in Lambert’s pitching IQ through the start of camp.
“Last season, he threw some really good pitches that weren’t in the right spot or weren’t sequenced correctly,” Gray said. “He has a better idea of how to set up his stuff now, because he knows his fastball plays up, his change plays down and away and that he can bury the curveball. It all comes out of the same plane, but he has a better understanding of how to use that combination now.”
While Lambert’s place in the opening-day rotation is far from secure — he is competing for one of two spots with Antonio Senzatela, Jeff Hoffman, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Wes Parsons and Ubaldo Jimenez — Gray, like Black, believes the young right-hander has continued to stay ahead of the curve.
“He’s so smart and so mature for his age, he’s going to be a guy that improves a lot,” Gray said. “He’s not going to be a guy who takes steps backward or regresses. He’s only going to get better and better.”