Shortly after moving Antonio Senzatela to the bullpen, the Colorado Rockies have optioned him to Triple-A and called up recently acquired left-handed pitcher Zac Rosscup.
“I think that when we made that move to put [Senzatela] in the bullpen, that primarily was for a couple reasons,” manager Bud Black said. “We felt at that point that his velocity was down a tick, his command was suffering a little bit those last few starts. We felt that taking a step back and taking a little bit of the blow in the bullpen would be beneficial for him and for the team. He’s made a couple outings, has pitched well, but I think this little breather hopefully will freshen up the arm and also mend him a little bit. He’s been going hard since early February.”
In their efforts to give Senzatela a much-needed break, Black said that he and his staff are comfortable with their newest addition to their pitching staff, Rosscup, given his vast history of pitching professionally.
Rosscup, 29, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009 and was traded to the Chicago Cubs two years later, where he bounced around from the bigs to the minors. Just last week, the Rockies acquired him in exchange for Matt Carasiti, four days after Chicago designated him for assignment again.
“This guy’s pitched in the big leagues, and this guy’s got a good arm,” Black said. “He’s got good stuff and he’s got a little bit of deception. Our scouts like him. When this deal was made, I think, organizationally, we felt good about it. We’ll see. He’s part of our group, we like the depth that he provides moving forward. We’ll see how it plays out, whether he can be a contributor, which I think talent-wise he can be at some point.”
In his extremely short stint with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, Rosscup said he already likes what he sees from the Rockies organization, and is excited to start the next chapter of his career.
“It’s been great, honestly,” Rosscup said. “Everybody in Albuquerque was really welcoming, there’s a great group of guys down there. The coaching staff is amazing. It was really nice to get a change of scenery, kind of start fresh with the new organization.”
It couldn’t have happened at a better time for him both professionally and personally, given how the ball club has been performing this season and a more special reason that’ll take another month to come to full fruition.
“My wife is pregnant, she’s eight months,” Rosscup said. “It’s nice [getting the call-up now]. It’s kind of rolling into a series of events – getting called up, having a baby, all that stuff. And then we’re buying a house also this offseason, so it’s one thing after another. It’s just exciting and I’m all for it.
“I’m excited to help come compete, do what I can to help the ball club and win ballgames.”
Although his time with the Isotopes barely counted, Rosscup said he still enjoyed the experience.
“It wasn’t too bad going from Des Moines to Albuquerque, I mean Albuquerque’s kind of a smaller city,” Rosscup said. “It’s nice, games are a big deal over there. They get a lot of fans every night, so that was a lot of fun, coming into the stadium when we sell out and have a good crowd.”
Although he’s struggled a bit throughout his career with a 5.32 ERA and just 47.1 innings in 62 games, he believes he’s found his path to success down the road with his new team.
“This season I’ve been facing a lot of righties, so I’m used to it,” he said.” It’s definitely a good thing to work on. I haven’t had a lot of success in the big leagues as the numbers show, but I think I’m having better success now that I have an actual plan of attack.”
Although he’s not entirely sure what his role will be, he said he’s flexible with wherever they end up throwing him.
“I’m here to do what they want me to do and do whatever I can,” Rosscup said. “If they tell me to go in in the first inning or the ninth inning, I’m ready. I’m just here to try to do my job and compete and put myself in a position to have success with the club.”
As for Senzatela, Black said he’s not worried about the young right-hander’s progression from here on out, and thinks that the time off will end up being very beneficial for him in the long run.
“I think it will be a good break for Senza these next couple days, being a little light and having a couple days off during the All-Star,” Black said. “He’ll resume with Albuquerque here in the next week.”