During his three years at Ohio State, Feltner started and relieved with mixed results, but he was practically unhittable as a closer in the Cape Cod League in 2017.
When the Rockies selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 Draft, it was because they believed he was ready for the major leagues.
The right-handed pitcher began the year in High-A and made his major league debut in September of 2021. Initially, his improvement on this front was sluggish.
The 6-foot-4 right-three-pitch-hander’s mix is sufficient to offer him the opportunity to start, but he must improve his command and execution to remain in that role.
While he can reach the mid-90s with his fastball in limited stretches, he is more likely to sit in the low-90s as a starter.
Even without elite velocity, he misses bats up in the zone, and the Rockies want him to be effective down as well so that his fastball is less predictable.
He can land his mid-80s slider for strikes and will also occasionally use a slower curve to get batters out. The Rockies would like to see him utilize his changeup more frequently.
In 2021, he repeated his delivery more effectively and had hints of being able to pitch to both sides of the plate as a result of modifications to shorten his arm motion in the rear.
Even though the fastball-slider combo would look very excellent out of the bullpen, there is still optimism that he may land a rotation spot.
Is Ryan Feltner Still Playing Baseball?
Yes. Ryan Feltner is still playing Baseball in the MLB. Ryan made his major league debut in 2021 and and gave up eight earned runs over 6.1 innings.