The Colorado Rockies have an elite reliever and he has an incredible story

The Colorado Rockies spent $100-plus million on their bullpen this offseason, so it makes sense that two of the game’s very best call Denver home.

Except none of the players the Colorado Rockies ponied up for ended up with the superb seasons that we’re talking about.

The first is Adam Ottavino, who has blown just about everyone in baseball away with his slider. That’s well documented.

The other is a fellow right-hander Scott Oberg. He’s gone largely unnoticed.

The 28-year-old has a 7-0 record with a 2.22 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 2018. His 2.3 rWAR is fifth-best amongst relievers in the National League and his 48 ERA- is sixth.

Put simply, Oberg has been one of the best and most reliable late-game pitchers in baseball. And frankly, it’s a bit surprising.

It’s surprising for plenty of reasons across the board … but here’s the one on-field reason that explains, not originates the unexpectedness: Oberg’s average fastball velocity is 96 mph, which is among the 20 best relievers in the National League.

It doesn’t take a major breakdown to tell you that more velocity is good and that it plays at the Major League level. But even in a league where it’s common to see several players in a game throw 95 mph-plus, Oberg is one of just 59 big leaguers in the past two years to break the 100 mph mark, topping at 101 last summer.

So the next questions are quite fascinating: Why has Oberg struggled so much and why is surprising that he’s become elite?

Let’s take a look…

In his first three seasons (142.2 innings pitched), Oberg had a 5.05 ERA, 1.542 WHIP and a walk rate per nine of 4.2. He was erratic and constantly conceding the big hit.

Even in 2018, he started out by allowing eight earned runs in his first 11 innings, including five of his 11 walks this year. Worse, he had inherited 13 runners … and 11 of them came around to score.

In late April, given that he looked like the same unstable guy he had been for the prior three seasons, he was sent down to Triple-A.

“There were a lot of things I had to go back to and rethink about when I was in Triple-A,” Oberg told Rox Pile. “Not go back to scratch but change my approach and mentality. I tried it down there then brought it up here and haven’t skipped a beat.”

This isn’t the story of a new mechanical tweak, added pitch or finding the secret sauce in the fountain of youth. This is the story about a middle of the road reliever who didn’t seem like he’d have a fruitful career who turned it around because of his brain.

“Adversity, for a lot of players, makes a player stronger if they fight through it,” Colorado manager Bud Black told Rox Pile. “A lot of guys fall through the wayside when there is adversity. But there are those people who fight through adversity, and hard times and get through it — and they’re talented. Scotty is one of those guys.”

A former Connecticut Huskie, Oberg is as smart as they come. But just as he’s meshed his own experiences with that of his star-studded ‘pen mates to reach the level he’s at now, he’s had to mesh his sense with an extreme amount of will.

In August of 2016, axillary artery thrombosis (blood clots) in his arm and shoulder ended his season. He underwent two surgeries to correct the problem and was prescribed blood-thinning medication. While that fixed his issue, the sutures applied on his right shoulder got infected.

Again, that’s his right shoulder. Where he makes his money using it to throw nearly 100 mph.

And his potential life-threatening condition doesn’t even scratch the surface.

“Right before I had to go to the hospital, I was telling one of the guys what was going on,” Oberg told the Hartford Courant in 2017, “and he asked, ‘Aren’t you scared?’ … Well, I said there’s not really anything to be scared of, just going through everything I had gone through medically, I’m like ‘all I’ve got to do is get to the hospital and I’ll be okay.'”

As a sophomore in college, his physical condition weakened. Oberg struggled to get to class and eventually had to get around Storrs, Conn., as psoriatic arthritis overcame his feet and legs. The now-28-year-old nearly a decade ago was using a cane to get around campus until the proper medication was found.

That was the toughest for Oberg because of the lack of timetable … but his bout with breakdowns was far from over.

The following year, his elbow failed him during practice, prompting Tommy John surgery in 2011 before being drafted by the Rockies in the 15th round.

“They’ve had my back since day one,” Oberg said about the Rockies organization. “When it came to draft day, I only got two phone calls and they picked me when they did. I always felt like if I kept my nose clean and worked my butt off, I’d have a chance in this organization.”

It took Oberg just 108 appearances over three years to be big league ready and completely hit his stride, but just as September call-ups rolled around in 2014, he needed arthroscopic surgery to clean up his right shoulder.

“He’s always had things,” Adam Ottavino told Rox Pile. “Getting Tommy John in college and shoulder surgery in the minors and then the blood clots and constantly getting sent down. At some point, he let go of a lot and focused on things he could control and it’s paid off.”

That it has, Oberg has taken over as the Rockies seventh inning guy in front of Ottavino and Wade Davis.

“I’m grateful for the opportunities,” Oberg entailed. “For them to be able to show the trust and faith, allowing me to come into my own, it’s definitely something I take pride in. I recognize that I’ve gotten some more opportunities than some other guys. When I’m out there, I’m trying to capitalize.”

Since getting another opportunity this year, Oberg has capitalize to the tune of a 1.08 ERA over 41.2 innings, including a sub-.200 batting average against with 38 strikeouts to just six walks.

“I’m fortunate I’ve been able to learn and evolve through my failures,” Oberg said as he described what’s changed. “Learning from mistakes and not getting guys out, it’s allowed me to experiment with the information I’ve gathered for the past four years and apply it to my game. I never stopped thinking about what I’m doing in those moments and learning from myself and my teammates.

“There’s a consistency in my thoughts, I truly believe that I can go out and, no matter the situation or who I’m facing, just believe I have the upper hand.”

Not only has Oberg overcome the personal physical struggles to excel at the big league level, he’s also made his way through a Rockies system which has struggled to develop relievers.

Since Oberg’s MLB debut at the start of 2015, less than a handful of players the Rockies originally signed or drafted have pitched 25 or more innings in relief. It might be the only position where GM Jeff Bridich has failed to acquire in-house talent.

There it is again … Oberg is the standout amongst so many.

“I knew it was going to happen eventually,” Ottavino said on Oberg’s success. “I’m happy it finally did for him. He’s pitched really good for a long time but bad luck and a couple of bad games, he got into a big amount of runs. Up close, he’s been throwing the ball well for a long time. It’s cool to see and he’s important for us too.”