Earlier this week Rockies manager Walt Weiss announced that LaTroy Hawkins would get some time off from the closer role and now he’s named Adam Ottavino as the new closer.
Ottavino picked up his first save of the season Tuesday night, striking out all three batters he faced against the Giants. Rafael Betancourt, who was the Rockies’ closer before his elbow injury opened the door for Hawkins to claim the gig, served as Ottavino’s eighth-inning setup man.
Ottavino didn’t show much promise early in his career, but the right-hander used FanGraphs to find sabermetric ways to adjust his pitching style and it’s paid off in a huge way. He’s got a 2.97 ERA and 158 strikeouts in 149 innings since 2013, compared to a 5.42 ERA previously.
