Colorado Rockies roster news: Mychal Givens hits the 10-day IL

The Colorado Rockies announced today that they have placed right-handed reliever Mychael Givens on the 10-day injured list with a left lower back strain.

In a corresponding move, the club has recalled right-handed relief pitcher Justin Lawrence from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Givens, 31, has a 2-2 record in 2021 with an ERA of 2.78 in 24 relief appearances. He has an ERA+ of 167 but his FIP suggests that he has had a lot of good luck as his FIP is 4.97.

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He is allowing 1.6 home runs and 7.1 hits per nine innings while striking out 9.9 and walking 4.4 batters per nine innings.

The Rockies acquired the right-handed reliever at the trade deadline in 2020 in exchange for a player to be named later (who later became Mishael Deson), minor leaguer Terrin Vavra, and minor leaguer Tyler Nevin (who has since made his MLB debut with Baltimore).

Givens has been an item of recent trade discussions as Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry mentioned this morning.

For Justin Lawrence, he made his MLB debut earlier this year for the Rockies and he struggled in seven relief appearances. He pitched to an 8.44 ERA, allowing 15.2 hits and 6.8 walks per nine innings while striking out 10.1 batters per nine innings.

In Triple-A Albuquerque, Lawrence has pitched well as he has an ERA of 1.93 in nine relief appearances with a WHIP of 0.964. He has only allowed four hits in 9 1/3 innings and he has struck out ten.

The Rockies had some other injury updates as well

Utilityman Chris Owings is still on his rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque and he is doing well. However, the Rockies have not publicly announced their timetable for Owings’s return.

Right-handed starting pitcher Jon Gray will likely join Albuquerque this weekend for a rehab start. Depending on how he does in that start, the Rockies will lay out a timetable for his return but with being sent to Albuquerque, it is a good sign that he is close to returning.

The Rockies will take on the Milwaukee Brewers in the first of a four-game series at Coors Field tonight at 6:40 PM M.T. when Germán Márquez will take on Brandon Woodruff.