According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, the Colorado Rockies have agreed to a three-year extension worth $10.4 million with reliever Adam Ottavino on Saturday.
Ottavino appeared in just 10 games before Tommy John surgery derailed his season back in May. It's a straight deal with no options for the 30-year-old, whose one-year, $1.3 million contract expired at the end of the 2015 season, via Spotrac.com.
He pitched just 10.1 innings last season but was dominant in that short time. Ottavino didn't allow a single run and gave up just three hits while saving three games, finishing five games in total. Just five baserunners got on while he was on the mound, and he struck out 13 of the 32 batters he faced. That's an 11.3 strikeouts-per-nine-innings mark.
Ottavino's presence was sorely missed in a Rockies bullpen that ranked 24th in saves and dead last in the MLB with a 4.70 ERA.
He showed flashes of why he can be Colorado's man out of the bullpen for years to come, which is why Colorado was probably willing to extend his deal three years. His fastball increased almost three mph from 2014 to 2015, jumping from 97 to 100 mph.
Pair that with some nasty breaking stuff, like this one to get Nori Aoki of the San Francisco Giants, and Ottavino will be one tough man to get a hit against when he comes back healthy:
The problem is, Rockies fans will have to wait a while to see him take the mound in 2016. Per Heyman, he's expected to be back with the team by the middle of the summer, though he is recovering well from the torn UCL.
With the Rockies adding Chad Qualls and Jason Motte this offseason, the team does have options for late-inning situations until Ottavino returns. If he is able to regain his form from 2015, Colorado could have an improved combination coming out of its bullpen.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com
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