You may not recognize the name Adam Ottavino, and I can’t really blame you. He’d go overlooked even if you are a hardcore Colorado Rockies fan, the team he pitches for. And even the biggest fantasy baseball nerd can’t be expected to know his name as he didn’t appear on any top 100 fantasy baseball pitcher lists.
Ottavino is a 6’5″ righty who takes the ball from one of the starters in Colorado’s experimental (click here if you want to read about the most fascinating pitching experiment I’ve come across in a while) 4-man rotation. Drafted 30th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006, Ottavino has always had a big K/9 rate largely due to his 95 mph fastball, which he throws over 50% of the time.
The Rockies claimed Ottavino off waivers after he had a disastrous 22 MLB innings with St. Louis. Scouts projected him as a middle of the rotation guy, but in Colorado’s new system he may have found a role that is tailor suited to him.
Outside his slider, he doesn’t have much secondary stuff, which means he’d get hit around on his second time through a lineup. But the Rockies are asking him to pitch 2-3 innings at a time, typically the 5-7th innings, which means he never works through a lineup twice.
The Rockies are also giving him the ball roughly every 2-3 days, which means he’s pitching at least six innings a week. Not quite starter numbers, but really good for a reliever.
Adam Ottavino is virtually unowned in fantasy baseball leagues, and that’s a shame. For the season, he’s siting at 60.1 innings with 9.1 strikeouts per 9 innings. His ERA is at 3.73, but the interesting thing to note is that the last 30 days has seen his usage go up but his numbers get better. Over the last 30 days he’s carrying a 2.70 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.
If you are looking to fill innings on your fantasy baseball team you might want to consider Ottavino or a middle reliever like him. He’ll give you 20+ innings between now and the end of the season, while providing you with Ks and ratio help.
Just plug him into a pitching slot and don’t take him out unless you have a starter going that day.
