Colorado Rockies injury news: Carlos Estevez “down for a few days”

Earlier today, MLB.com Colorado Rockies beat reporter Thomas Harding tweeted out that right-handed reliever Carlos Estevez will be “down for a few days.” This is due because pitching coach Steve Foster called a “tweak piece” in one of the midsection muscles on Estevez’s left side.

This comes as a bit of a surprise to the Rockies because Estevez had a solid outing on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched a scoreless inning while only giving up one hit in the Rockies’ 7-6 loss. It’s very wise of Foster and the Rockies to be cautious with the 25-year-old Estevez. As we have 40 days until opening day, it’s vital that Estevez stays healthy as he could be a crucial piece to the Rockies bullpen in 2018.

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Last season, Estevez put up good numbers out of the bullpen. He had five wins in his 35 games along with 31 strikeouts and only walking 14 batters in 32.1 innings. His ERA was a bit high last year at 5.57, but he was working on his mechanics for yet another season and some of the high ERA can be pinned on that. His numbers may have been a bit down from 2016, but Rockies executives expect Estevez will be able to work on his control and build a repertoire to stick it out for that MLB grind.

Baseball-Referenece’s projections prove that indeed 2018 will be an even better year for Estevez. The website has Estevez’s ERA dropping down to 4.79 (Rockies fans hope that it may turn out better) while putting in about 47 innings.

Next: Colorado's Gerardo Parra undergoes hand surgery

Final Thoughts

It’s smart to be optimistic about Carlos Estevez as well as the entire “super bullpen” with new additions, Bryan Shaw and Wade Davis. This is only a minor predicament on the way to a bigger payoff for Estevez and the Rockies organization as whole. It’s best to have Estevez rested and dealing with an injury during spring training. That way, when the season rolls around, he’s in top health and able to contribute to the team as needed.