Tuesday afternoon, in the final game of the Cactus League at Salt River Fields, Colorado defeated the White Sox 2-1. Rockies right-handed reliever Carlos Estévez came out of research and development for a mixed inning.
Estévez, who struggled the previous year after taking a line drive to the pitching hand in August, allowed one run on one hit and two walks, one of which came after getting ahead in the count, 1-2, on four pitches.
Following a spring with a 12.38 ERA in eight appearances, he ended the fourth inning with a called third strike on Adam Eaton and skipped off the mound as if to acknowledge improvement.
Bud Black, the manager, stated a few days ago that Estévez was kept out of the game so he could work on “some strategic things that we think will help him this season that has maybe deviated a little bit from how we pitched in the past.”
Although the Cactus League statistics were disappointing, Estévez did him the honor of letting him make the adjustments rather than basing his standing on them.
Black added, “You rely on the person, you rely on some past. It can take some time throughout the regular season for it to express itself; it might not all come together in a Spring Training.
Is Carlos Estévez Injured?
As of June this year, Carlos Estévez is injury-free. Despite missing 21 games due to a right middle finger injury last year, Estévez made 64 appearances overall.