The Rockies threw everyone a bit of a curveball Thursday when they optioned right-hander Jeff Hoffman to Triple-A Albuquerque, ending his run at the club’s 2017 major league camp. Having lost Chad Bettis from the rotation when his cancer returned, Hoffman was widely expected to grab the No. 5, or even the No. 4 spot in the Rockies’ rotation. Now, it appears that job will be going to someone else. Yesterday one of the candidates still vying for the rotation, Antonio Senzatela, had a shaky outing against the defending AL Champions, but his manager still took some positives from the start.

“I thought he pitched better than his line indicated,” Rockies manager Bud Black said postgame. “That was just me, and I think the pitching coaches felt the same way.”

Senzatela allowed six runs (four earned) on ten hits and a walk over 5.1 innings pitched. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Erik Gonzalez in the sixth inning. He allowed a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings; both runs in the fifth were unearned.

“You know, there were a couple at-bats that got away from him,” Black continued, “but I think overall I thought there was some good pitches thrown that resulted in some hits. We didn’t make a couple plays for him, I thought.”

Senzatela himself felt he was throwing the ball well and getting good results, although he did acknowledge he needs to work more in the bottom of the zone for better results.

The 21-year-old from Venezuela has been impressing the Rockies coaching staff, despite not seeing the results in the box scores. Through six appearances (three starts), Senzatela has posted an 0-3 record with a 4.87 ERA over 20.1 innings pitched. Over that time, though, he has 17 strikeouts to only two walks.

The buzz surrounding Senzatela has much to do with his potential and less to do with his full body of work. Senzatela has seen very limited action through his professional career, which began in the Dominican Summer League back in 2012. Including two DSL seasons, he has appeared in 88 games (87 starts). He started 26 games in both 2014 and 2015 at Ashville and Modesto, but shoulder problems limited him to just seven starts for Double-A Hartford in 2016.