Colorado Rockies: How Scott Oberg is staying involved with the team

Colorado Rockies reliever Scott Oberg has had the deck stacked against him in his career for a long time now and it has all been over one thing: blood clots in his throwing arm.

He missed the final six weeks or so of the 2016 season due to his first bout with it. It looked to be under control until 2019 when, at around the same point in the season, it flared up again and, therefore, he missed the rest of the season.

He was on his way back until the pandemic hit in 2020 and when Spring Training 2.0 resumed in July, he looked like he would make the team … and then it flared up for a third time. As a result, he missed all of 2020.

It looked like Oberg was down on his chances when it was announced but as he told the media, including Rox Pile, in spring training a few months ago, he said he considered retirement for “about five minutes.”

After having thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and procedures to alleviate the clots a third time, he was on his way back for a fourth time.

The Rockies eased him back into pitching in games as he didn’t make an appearance in a Cactus League game until March 12. After four scoreless outings and four scoreless innings where he only allowed two hits, the blood clots came back again and in the same spot: his pitching arm.

With each time that he has to have the surgery, it is putting his career and, potentially, his life in jeopardy.

As it currently stands, he may never be able to return to a major league mound again but he is trying to keep his hopes up and trying to be involved as he can with the team.

He was the first one who put this picture out on his Instagram story.

So how has Scott Oberg been trying to stay involved with the Rockies?

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We asked manager Bud Black about Oberg and how involved he has been with the team so far and Black indicated that while he obviously isn’t on the field, he has been around the team a lot and has helped them out in a lot of different ways.

"“He played catch the other day, in the outfield (and) it was good to see him play catch,” said Black. “He wants to be around the team. He’s there in the afternoon. He’s interacting with the guys. I’ve seen him watching video with the coaches and some guys out in the bullpen. He’s been in the training room with (head trainer) Keith (Dugger) doing a ton of homework and (learning) about his own particular situation.“I still think he is, potentially, holding out hope that he can pitch again. We’ll see how that goes. But that’s a little tricky, based on what he’s been through … This is, obviously, career-threatening stuff and, potentially, life stuff. But it’s good to see him around.“He’s still very active with our players, he’s still very active in head up our Player’s Association (as) he’s our representative so, as far as stuff has to go with the Union and, therefore, through the league’s offices, he’s very involved in that, which I think he enjoys, and I think the guys like him in that role. They’d love him as a pitcher to help our bullpen but right now, he’s a part of the team serving a lot of different purposes for us.”"

As MLB.com’s Thomas Harding noted when Oberg’s blood clots flaired up in March, the procedure “likely would end” Oberg’s career but for the sake of Oberg’s career and for the Rockies bullpen, it would be a great comeback story if Oberg is able to return to the Rockies bullpen … even if he cannot return in 2021.