Zach

Agnos

Agnos rejoins Colorado’s bullpen mix after missing nearly two months recovering from a flexor strain in his right elbow. The 25-year-old righty has struggled to an inflated 6.98 ERA across 29 2/3 innings over 28 appearances this season in his first taste of the majors.

There’s still no word on the severity of the injury. Agnos exited Saturday’s relief outing against the Orioles with an apparent right arm issue and was later diagnosed with a flexor strain. That type of injury can sometimes be a precursor to UCL trouble, so his status will be worth monitoring closely in the coming weeks as the Rockies determine next steps.

Agnos was seen shaking his arm, and then looked to be in a good deal of pain/frustration as he walked off the mound. The right-hander will all but assuredly need to undergo testing before the Rockies know the specifics of the injury.

Agnos spent a little over three weeks in the minors after his relatively surprising demotion from the MLB club. The 24-year-old could see high-leverage work with Colorado, and yes, there is such thing as high-leverage work with the Rockies, how dare you.

This qualifies as a surprise. There haven’t been a ton of save chances for the Rockies this season, but Agnos has become a key component of Colorado’s high-leverage mix during his rookie campaign, notching four saves across 20 appearances. The 24-year-old was hit extremely hard during his last two appearances against the division-rival Giants, allowing seven runs over 1 1/3 innings. His sudden demotion seemingly opens the door for Seth Halvorsen, and possibly even lights-out setup specialist Jake Bird, to handle the bulk of the save opportunities.

Agnos took the mound in the top of the ninth with a three-run lead over the Giants for the save opportunity. He served up a solo homer to Casey Schmitt to start the inning, then issued three walks before Victor Vodnik took over. Vodnick would give up a sacrifice fly and two hits to surrender the lead and was officially charged for the blown save.

The 24-year-old right-hander had been away from the team since Tuesday. He’s the most likely candidate to get the ball in the ninth inning should the Rockies find a way to have a lead late in the game at some point over the weekend. Agnos has converted each of his first four save chances on the season.

Agnos has been closing for the Rockies, picking up four saves in four chances. Seth Halvorsen is probably the leading candidate to step in for him these next few days.

There haven’t been a ton of save chances for Colorado in recent weeks, but Agnos remains in the mix along with Seth Halvorsen, who worked a scoreless eighth inning in this one. The 24-year-old righty got the call to protect a two-run lead in the final frame and managed to work around a leadoff single from Jesús Sánchez by getting Agustín Ramírez to fly out before coaxing a game-ending double play from Kyle Stowers. There’s some appeal here for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues.

It’s just the third save of the season for Agnos, and the first since May 2. The 24-year-old been very effective with a 1.29 ERA on the season, but the Rockies don’t have an assigned closer, and don’t win enough baseball games to recommend a reliever on the team, anyway. He’s someone to keep an eye on for the future.