Friday, December 05

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Right-hander Jordy Vargas is the latest and last of the Rockies’ pitchers to see light at the end of a Tommy John tunnel that cast the team into darkness in 2023.

That year, right-hander McCade Brown underwent surgery early in the season. Later on, the Rockies saw five right-handed pitchers -- Major Leaguers Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela, 2022 first-round MLB Draft pick Gabriel Hughes, ’22 second-rounder Jackson Cox and Vargas, an international program signee who had made his mark -- undergo surgeries. Dr. Keith Meister performed four over four days -- Vargas on July 25, Senzatela and Cox the next day, and Hughes on July 28.

Márquez and Senzatela pitched minimally until this season, with some notable struggles along the way. Brown pitched well enough at Double-A Hartford to be promoted to the Rockies for a seven-game trial at season’s end. Hughes battled through some expected pains but made 24 starts this season and reached Triple-A. Cox, who was drafted out of high school, made 23 starts at Single-A Fresno this year at age 21.

Vargas, who turns 22 on Thursday and is the youngest of the patients, has had the longest road.

“Talking about journeys, I understand that everybody’s body is different, and everybody’s process is different,” said Vargas, whose father, Yorkis Pérez, pitched for six Major League teams in nine seasons in the 1990s.

In 2022, Vargas went a combined 4-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 13 games (11 starts) in the Arizona Complex League and at Fresno -- with 64 strikeouts in 51 1/3  innings. He sustained the injury after 13 starts at Fresno in ’23.

In 10 closely monitored starts at High-A Spokane, Vargas struggled to a 7.84 ERA. To help him find his form and confidence, the club sent him to the ACL -- where he pitched to a 5.91 ERA over four starts, with four innings being his longest. The Rockies pulled him out of competition.

It turns out, that’s when improvement began.

Vargas threw in the club’s performance lab in Scottsdale under supervision of the Rockies’ ACL pitching coach, Helmis Rodriguez, and lab coordinator Emilio Martinez, as well as mental skills coordinator Jerry Amador and athletic trainer Armando Gomez, a close friend. Vargas also said he has traded ideas with Hughes, who is a few years older and speaks fluent Spanish.

Vargas returned to the mound in instructional ball, sporting a solid fastball, curveball and changeup, as well as a developing slider. Next will be a trip later this month to the Rockies’ Dominican instructional program.

“The elbow feels good,” Vargas said last month in Scottsdale, with Rodriguez interpreting. “I feel like I came back with the elbow really good -- healthy. But the feeling on the mound, the feeling of my stuff, even mentally … my body and my pitching mechanics weren’t syncing up. That got into my mind.

“Around June or July, it became all mental, so I took a break and worked on the things I needed to work on -- like syncing up my delivery, and working on the mental side.”

The Rockies must decide by the Nov. 20 deadline for setting the 40-man Major League roster for the winter whether to include Vargas, or else risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft. The roster figures to be one of the first major duties for the yet-to-be-hired new leader of the baseball operation.

Vargas’ pre-surgery success and his encouraging if brief instructional performance are arguments in his favor.

For all the mechanical and mental attention, Vargas’ 6-foot-5 frame may hold the key to his future success. When signed out of Moca, Dominican Republic, Vargas was 6-foot-3 and 153 pounds. The belief is the strength he is gaining through simple growth and maturity will help him stay healthy.

“From what my eyes can see, he was a very clean-delivery guy before T.J.,” Rodriguez said. “I think with his arm speed, there weren’t enough pounds to support almost 100 mph and that arm speed. 

“I’ve seen his Minor League career, and he’s a hard worker. The explanation is that his body wasn’t prepared, even though he was working hard.”

The nature of baseball’s development process puts the highest, richest picks from the Draft in low-level Minor League clubhouses with prospects of all ilk -- draftees, international signees (some for big money) and undrafted players. It’s not like football or basketball, where the rookies carry big reputations and big paychecks into the top level.

But every now and then there is a reminder of a player’s status. Such was the case with infielder Ethan Holliday, drafted third overall and signed to a $9 million bonus that was a record for a high school player. Holliday jumped right in with the draftees and other young prospects in the Arizona Bridge Camp and at Fresno.

Then came the June 26 posting in Men’s Health magazine. Holliday was chosen to represent baseball for what the magazine termed the “Men's Health 25, a celebration of the top athletes in the high school class of 2025.”

Such status can lead to good-natured ribbing, which can grow into a problem if not handled correctly. 

Holliday, 18, handles most everything well, and with a smile.

“It was really cool -- an opportunity to share a little bit of my personality and show the world who I am,” Holliday said. “It was really cool. But it’s one of those things that’s external. 

“The guys didn’t really give me a hard time. I kept my clothes on. If I would have taken my shirt off, I think they would have gotten on me.”

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