New Pitch Helps Rockies’ Alberto Pacheco Find Footing
A third pitch was necessary for a 21-year-old lefthander Alberto Pacheco and has been the key to his success this season.
Pacheco is very competitive. His slider made him less so, resulting in him rarely throwing the pitch last year.
Relying on his fastball and changeup, Pacheco recorded a 5.45 ERA for Low-A Fresno in 14 starts last year, while allowing 90 hits in 72.2 innings.
“He’d work in a few sliders, because that’s what he was told to do,” Rockies assistant farm director Jesse Stender said. “But, honestly, it hurt him more than it helped him because they weren’t effective.”
When he returned to the Dominican Republic last offseason, Pacheco’s mission was to work on his slider with Edison Lora, the Rockies’ Latin America pitching coordinator, and former Rockies pitcher Pedro Astacio, a special pitching coach in their Dominican program.
They made sure Pacheco was balanced over the rubber, which has helped him stay behind the ball, finish the pitch out front and stay on top of and through it.
Through 11 appearances for Fresno this year, Pacheco had a 2.72 ERA and had allowed 42 hits in 56.1 innings. He struck out 57 and walked 24. Stender said Pacheco’s slider is “definitely still a work in progress, but it’s come a long way, and it can be a sharp offering.”
Pacheco’s slider averages 83 mph and is a swing-and-miss pitch to lefthanded hitters. It doesn’t have that effect on righties but bores in on them and has enhanced his 91-97 mph fastball that sits 93 and mid-80s changeup.
Those offerings have armside run. But with a slider that Pacheco can now throw in on righties, batters can’t just look for the ball away.
“It’s been a game-changer for him,” Fresno manager Steve Soliz said of Pacheco’s slider. “It’s helping him reclaim the outer half of the plate with his fastball and changeup, which has always been his go-to (combination) versus a righty.”
ROCKY ROADS
- Having recovered from a left elbow sprain, lefthander Michael Prosecky made his 2024 debut on June 15 in the Arizona Complex League. After three starts there totaling 5.2 innings, he had a 3.18 ERA with no walks and 13 strikeouts. The Rockies drafted Prosecky in the sixth round in 2022 out of Louisville. He was named the organization’s pitcher of the year in 2023 when he went 11-7, 2.72 in 21 starts at Low-A Fresno while averaging 10.3 strikeouts and 3.4 walks per nine innings. Prosecky led the California League in ERA and strikeouts (125) and allowed just four home runs in 109 innings.
- The Rockies sent lefthander Sean Sullivan to their Scottsdale, Ariz., complex after he went 4-2, 2.50 ERA in 11 starts for High-A Spokane with 76 strikeouts and six walks in 68.1 innings. He is in his first full pro season after the Rockies drafted him in the second round in 2023 out of Wake Forest. By pausing Sullivan’s season, the Rockies will manage his innings and allow him to spend time in the team’s pitching lab in Scottsdale and with their strength and conditioning staff there before returning to Spokane to finish his season.
- Low-A Fresno pitching coach Rolando Garza resigned his position on June 18 to become associate head coach and pitching coach at Long Beach State. The Rockies were very happy with Garza, who was in first season in the Rockies’ organization. He came from the Rays, where he had been a pitching coordinator from 2020 to 2023. Before that he was pitching coach at Pepperdine from 2015 to 2019. Until Garza’s replacement is hired, the Rockies will fill the Fresno pitching coach role with a rotating cast, including minor league pitching coordinator Doug Linton, pitching strategist Flint Wallace and Ryan Kibler, one of two pitching coaches with the Arizona Complex League affiliate.
