Colorado Rockies: Ryan Castellani making impact known quickly

Ryan Castellani is wasting no time in making an immediate impact with the Colorado Rockies.

After the Colorado Rockies recalled on August 7th from the team’s alternate training site after Chi Chi Gonzalez was placed on the 10-day injured list with right biceps tendinitis, Ryan Castellani was inserted immediately into the starting pitching rotation and has certainly made his presence known in his first two performances.

In his Major League debut on August 8th in Seattle, the young right-hander hurled four hitless innings and combined with Jeff Hoffman, Yency Almonte, and Phillip Diehl on a one-hitter in the Rockies’ 5-0 win.

He became the second Colorado Rockies pitcher all-time to retire the first 12 batters he faced in his Major League debut (Tyler Matzek is the other) while becoming the first pitcher in franchise history to not permit a hit in his inaugural outing.

Castellani, a second-round pick (48th selection overall) by the Rockies in the 2014 draft, followed up his sterling debut with another gem Friday night—this one at home—against the Texas Rangers.

In his first time on the mound at Coors Field, the native of Philadelphia was not intimidated as he allowed just two hits and his first career run with two walks and seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings in the Rox 3-2 loss to the Rangers.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, while striking out the side in the first inning, he became the first Colorado pitcher to do so in the Coors Field debut.

Here is what Rockies shortstop Trevor Story had to say about Castellani’s performance in his first two big-league starts:

“He has looked good,” said Story. “It looks like he is throwing the ball with confidence. He is a competitor, and he is out there showing it. He is definitely not scared. I don’t think that the moment is too big for him. He is going out there and just letting it heat. It’s been fun watching him do that and play behind him.”

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Castellani, who been to spring training with the Rockies four times, was pleased with his performance against the Rangers.

“I felt me and Tony, we used all four pitches really well,” he said. “We had our plan; we executed it. Breaking balls in the zone were great—slider and curveball. We used the changeup when we needed to. Got a little bit behind with the fast ball a little early on but we were able to push some guys.”

The only run that Castellani surrendered against Texas win his 88-pitch, 57-strike performance was a fifth-inning solo home run to Nick Solak. His earned run average after his initial two performances that have covered 8.2 innings: 1.04.

Did Castellani ever imagine he would begin his MLB career with two quality starts?

“I always believed in myself and my abilities…definitely,” he said. “The way things have turned out have been great. I am not trying to get too far ahead of myself at all. I just want to try to go one pitch at a time. That’s all I am trying to do…or executing pitches. Both Drew (Butera) and Tony (Wolters) have been awesome calling these games.“Like I said that’s the biggest thing for me is just trying not to get too ahead of myself with results, wins, numbers, statistics. I am just trying to keep things extremely simple. It’s working out so far. That’s just the approach I plan to take moving forward.”

Those are words spoken from someone who plans to have an impact on Rockies baseball for a long time to come.