The Colorado Rockies are looking to make the postseason for the first time in a decade. Backed by a healthy mix of young, up-and-coming and established veteran players, Colorado has worked their way to a 72-63 record in the 2017 season.
The Rockies are currently penciled in as the second Wild Card in the National League; however, the team has struggled recently and have seen their Wild Card lead slip to just 1.5 games on the Milwaukee Brewers.
With a few clubs in hot pursuit of the Rockies, it’s essential that they sharpen up as the schedule narrows and pressure ramps up.
With the roster expanding from 25 to 40 players on September 1st, the Rockies called up a slew of young players they feel can help this club win ballgames, both now and in the future.
One of those September call-ups was 24-year-old Carlos Estevez.
Estevez served as the Rockies’ closer for a portion of last season and has bounced around between Triple-A and the bigs throughout 2017.
Now a member of a big-league roster, Estevez is primed and ready to be a contributor out of the bullpen for Colorado.
“Yeah, it feels very good knowing they called you up, because probably they need you to be here to help them get to [the] playoffs.” Estevez told Aniello Piro of ‘The Morning Blitz’.
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The Rockies still have some heavy lifting to do if they want to reach the postseason this year, but Estevez is hopeful and confident that the club has what it takes to make it to the big dance in 2017.
“It’s been a while,” Estevez said. “I haven’t been in the playoffs since low-A. It will be great to get to the playoffs here in the big league. It’s going to be the best experience ever.”
Rockies skipper Bud Black was not a part of the organization last season, so he was unable to get a first-hand look at just how good Estevez was in spurts. Using his pitcher’s eye, Black and the Rockies decided to keep Estevez in Triple-A Albuquerque for a majority of the season so he could fine-tune his game for the professional level.
Now back with the club, Black is excited to see what Estevez can do.
“He’s going to be used. We like him,” Black said. “His performance earlier in the year was a little varied, but he’s thrown the ball better the last month than he has the entire season, so that’s a great sign for us. I’m sure that he’ll be used this month, and hopefully, he throws the ball like he’s capable, because he’s very capable of throwing well. He’s got a big arm. I like his stuff. I like how he goes about it.”
Estevez owns an ERA of 1.34 in his 33.2 innings pitched down in Triple-A.
Listen to the full interview with Estevez, as well as some thoughts on the Rockies moving forward this season, in the podcast below.
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Catch Ronnie K and Aniello Piro on The Morning Blitz every Sunday morning from 8 am -10 am on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
