Colorado Rockies: Injury updates on Chris Rusin and Jake McGee

Before yesterday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black spoke to the media, including Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry, and one of the topics he discussed was some updates on two Rockies relievers.

Chris Rusin has spent the entire season, thus far, on the injured list and fellow left-handed reliever Jake McGee has been on the injured list since the beginning of April in the second series of the season.

However, both of them are nearing their returns to the majors as Bud Black revealed on Tuesday afternoon in his presser with the media, including Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry.

Both Rusin and McGee will work an inning for Triple-A Albuquerque in rehab assignments and on Thursday’s game against the El Paso Chiahuahuas, the Padres Triple-A affiliate.

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Rusin made his first rehab appearance on Monday for the Isotopes against the Tacoma Rainiers (the Mariners affiliate) and he served as the team’s “opener.” He started the game and pitched well as he went an inning, striking out a batter and not allowing a baserunner on 11 pitches.

He has been out since late spring training with what has been described as “upper back discomfort.”

He struggled mightily last season for the Rockies after having strong 2016 and 2017 campaigns. In 2018, he pitched to a 6.09 ERA (4.64 FIP) in 49 appearances. He did allow a little more than a hit higher per nine innings in 2018 compared to 2018 but his main problem was walks. His walk rate more than doubled compared to 2017 as he walked 4.3 batters per nine innings compared to 2.0 in ’17.

McGee is on the injured list for a left knee sprain that he suffered in Tampa in his second appearance of the season. Like Rusin, he also struggled mightily in 2018 after a strong 2017 season. He pitched to a 6.49 ERA (4.91 FIP) in 61 appearances after a 3.61 ERA (2.93 FIP) on 2017 in 62 appearances. His main issue was allowing hits as he allowed 12 more hits in six less innings, which means his average hits allowed per nine innings spike from 7.4 to 10.3.

If all goes well for them with Albuquerque, they will likely see big league time in the near future.