Ryan Rolison
Injury Notes: Acuña, Clevinger, Rockies
By Drew Silva | January 22, 2023 at 12:13pm CDT
Ronald Acuña Jr. had a relatively disappointing showing at the plate in 2022, coming off his season-ending right ACL tear in July 2021, but the dynamic three-time All-Star believes he will be back at full strength leading into 2023. "I'm feeling 100 percent and I'm ready to go back to normal, and I definitely don't want to play DH anymore," Acuña told Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.
Acuña delivered a combined .925 OPS in his first 1,764 major league plate appearances between 2018-2021 before sinking to a .764 OPS in 533 plate appearances last year. He made 27 starts at DH for the Braves in 2022, after logging — or requiring? — only one total DH start across his entire four previous MLB seasons. In general, he's averaged 38 home runs and 34 stolen bases for every 162 games played as a big leaguer. Last year: 15 homers, 29 steals in 119 games. As he moves further and further away from that knee injury, the reigning NL East champs should become all the more dangerous.
Acuña is going to DH in the Venezuelan Winter League finals, per Toscano, and he has also stated a desire to represent his native country in the Winter Baseball Classic. But the 25-year-old outfielder noted to David O'Brien of The Athletic that the Braves' medical staff is unlikely to clear him to play in the upcoming WBC because it is more of a time and physical commitment than Winter League. Essentially, they just really want him to stay in camp.
Mike Clevinger signed a one-year, $12MM contract with the White Sox earlier this winter. Soon after, he received a platelet-rich plasma injection to aid in the healing of a knee injury that hampered him down the stretch with the Padres last season and led to a disappointing overall 4.33 ERA. With his knee on the mend, and his November 2020 Tommy John surgery fully in the rearview, the White Sox believe the 32-year-old right-hander can get back to being his old top-of-the-rotation self. "We broke down some biomechanics stuff after we signed him to kind of show him the differences," pitching coach Ethan Katz told James Fegan of The Athletic. "Where he was different in all aspects of his delivery, which was probably in correlation to the knee … Now that he is healthy, he is working on it. His bullpens and the videos that I have seen, there's been no kind of restrictions or anything that's slowed him down from being able to be aggressive on that back leg."
Ryan Rolison, the Rockies' top selection in the 2018 MLB Draft and perhaps a big rotation piece for their future, is said to be 100 percent recovered from the left shoulder surgery that knocked his pro career off track last season. He did not pitch in MLB-affiliated ball at all in 2022 and ultimately went under the knife in June. "We are better than we were a year ago," Rockies GM Bill Schmidt said to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post in a recent chat, making note of Rolison's rebounded health. "We have created some competition for some guys," Schmidt added. "And, overall, our organizational depth is better." Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, and José Ureña would seem to be locked into the top three rotation spots for Colorado. Rolison could perhaps battle with Austin Gomber and Connor Seabold at the back end. Peter Lambert (elbow) is also expected to be healthy heading into camp and might get another look for MLB starts at some point in 2023.
Atlanta Braves Chicago White Sox Colorado Rockies Notes Mike Clevinger Peter Lambert Ronald Acuna Ryan Rolison
Rockies' Ryan Rolison, Colton Welker Expected To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
By Anthony Franco | June 3, 2022 at 6:27pm CDT
The Rockies will lose two players — left-hander Ryan Rolison and third baseman Colton Welker — to shoulder surgery, reports Nick Groke of the Athletic. According to Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette (Twitter link), both players will be out for the rest of the season.
Rolison may be the more well-known of the duo, even though he's yet to make his major league debut. Colorado selected him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he's been one of the more highly-regarded arms in the organization for the past few years. The Ole Miss product's stock has dipped a bit recently, however, as he's not had a ton of reps since the end of the 2019 campaign.
After the pandemic resulted in the cancelation of the 2020 minor league season, Rolison was limited to 14 starts last year. He underwent an appendix procedure and missed two months between June and August. Even when healthy, Rolison struggled to a 5.91 ERA through ten Triple-A starts — albeit in a very hitter-friendly environment in Albuquerque. Baseball America nevertheless ranked him the #4 prospect in the system over the offseason, writing that he could be a back-end starter, but he'll now lose a full season of reps.
Colorado added Rolison to the 40-man roster over the winter, but he's spent the entire season on the 60-day injured list. He'll collect a full year of MLB service time and a $700K salary while rehabbing.
Welker is also on the 40-man, counting against the roster while on the minor league injured list. Colorado could recall him and put him on the MLB 60-day IL to free a spot, although they'd have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time on that list.
The 24-year-old infielder appeared in ten games with the Isotopes, hitting .324/.422/.514. He'll lose virtually all of the season, his third straight limited campaign. After the 2020 season cancelation, Welker missed most of last year serving an 80-game suspension following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance. He made his big league debut last September, appearing in 19 games.
Colorado Rockies Colton Welker Ryan Rolison
Rockies Select Ty Blach
By Anthony Franco | April 4, 2022 at 6:32pm CDT
The Rockies announced this afternoon they've selected left-hander Ty Blach. The Denver native returns to the majors for the first time in three years, doing so with his hometown club. To create space on the 40-man roster, Colorado placed southpaw Ryan Rolison on the 60-day injured list.
Blach pitched in the majors each season from 2016-19. He spent the majority of that time in the NL West, suiting up with the Giants. Blach soaked up 163 2/3 innings for San Francisco in 2017, posting a 4.78 ERA. He never missed many bats, but the Creighton product filled up the strike zone and posted better than average ground-ball numbers.
After a capable first few seasons in the majors, Blach had a rough showing in 2019. He served up ten runs in his first 6 1/3 frames as a Giant that year, leading the club to designate him for assignment. Baltimore claimed him off waivers, and he made five starts for the Orioles down the stretch. Blach's results weren't any better there either, as he served up an 11.32 ERA. The O's designated him that September, and he cleared waivers.
Blach returned to the Orioles as a non-roster invitee to 2020 Summer Camp, but he suffered an elbow injury that necessitated Tommy John surgery. He returned late in 2021 to toss 15 Low-A innings on a rehab assignment, but for all intents and purposes, the procedure cost him the last two seasons.
After qualifying for minor league free agency, Blach signed a minors deal with the Rox. He'll break camp with the big league team, presumably in a long relief capacity. While he has experience as a starter, Colorado is set to open the year with a rotation of Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Austin Gomber and Chad Kuhl. The depth behind that group is pretty thin, however, meaning Blach could get a look in the event of an injury to any of the starting five.
Rolison was among the depth options, but he'll miss at least the first two months of the season with what the team is calling a shoulder strain. Thomas Harding of MLB.com reported this afternoon (Twitter link) that he'll be shut down for two weeks after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection. He'll need a fair bit of time thereafter to gradually ramp back up, so it's not a huge surprise the club is ruling him out until at least early June.
A former first-round pick, Rolison has yet to make his big league debut. He made ten starts with Triple-A Albuquerque last season, pitching to a disappointing 5.91 ERA in 45 2/3 innings. Despite those struggles, Baseball America slotted him fourth in the Rockies farm system this winter. According to BA, his plus curveball and command could give Rolison a chance to emerge as a back-of-the-rotation option, but he'll first need to get healthy.
Colorado Rockies Transactions Ryan Rolison Ty Blach
Rockies Select Three Players
By Steve Adams | November 19, 2021 at 2:12pm CDT
The Rockies on Friday announced three players have been selected to the 40-man roster: lefty Ryan Rolison, righty Noah Davis and infielder Ezequiel Tovar. All three are now protected from this offseason's Rule 5 Draft. Colorado's 40-man roster is up to a total of 39 players.
Rolison, 24, had a rough season in Triple-A this year but is still regarded as one of the better pitching prospects in a thin Rockies system. The 2018 first-rounder was clobbered for a 5.91 ERA in 45 2/3 frames with the Rockies' top affiliate. An appendectomy operation interrupted his 2021 season and kept him on the shelf for a notable chunk of the summer, but the lefty pitched well prior to that surgery. He's generally regarded as a potential big league starter with a full four-pitch mix — the type of prospect the Rockies are lacking in the upper minors.
Davis, an 11th-round pick by the Reds in 2018, came to the Rockies in their deadline Mychal Givens swap. He's yet to advance to the Double-A level but did notch a 3.60 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate in 106 innings at Class-A Advanced between the two organizations. Ranked 18th among Rockies prospects at MLB.com, he's seen as a potential fifth starter.
Tovar, a slick-fielding shortstop, split the 2021 season between the Rockies' two Class-A levels and posted a .287/.322/.475 batting line. Most of his damage came in Low-A, and scouting reports on Tovar question how much he'll ever hit against more advanced pitching. Tovar's 2021 numbers were sound, however, and if he can continue to defy expectations at the plate he could factor into the big league equation by the 2023 season.
Colorado Rockies Transactions Ezequiel Tovar Noah Davis Ryan Rolison
Rockies Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Ryan Rolison
The Rockies have agreed to terms with first-round pick Ryan Rolison, reports Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). The left-hander out of Ole Miss will receive the full slot value of $2,912,300 for his No. 22 overall selection. He was advised by and is now a client of CAA Baseball.
Rolison entered the 2018 draft as one of the top-ranked college arms in the class. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo ranked him the most aggressively, placing him 17th among his draft-eligible peers. Baseball America, meanwhile, ranked Rolison 21st in the class, while Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs tabbed him 30th and ESPN's Keith Law listed him 33rd.
A draft-eligible sophomore, the 20-year-old Rolison tossed 97 1/3 innings for the Rebels in 2018, posting a 3.70 ERA with 120 strikeouts against 45 walks in that time. Scouting reports peg his fastball in the 91-94 mph range and note that it can top out 96 mph, and Rolison is also said to have one of the draft's best curveballs and the potential for an average changeup. Law and BA note that he began throwing across his body during his sophomore season, resulting in diminished control, though that wasn't an issue in a stronger freshman season or this past summer in the Cape Cod League. If he can get back to his old mechanics, most reports agree he has mid-rotation upside.
2018 Amateur Draft 2018 Amateur Draft Signings Colorado Rockies Ryan Rolison