Proper-hander Geoff Hartlieb cleared waivers after being designated for task by the Rockies, per a membership announcement. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque. As a participant who’d beforehand been outrighted in his profession, Hartlieb had the fitting to reject the task in favor of free company, however a supply tells MLBTR he’ll settle for the outright and return to Triple-A.
The 30-year-old Hartlieb pitched 9 innings out of the Colorado bullpen and was tagged for 9 runs throughout his brief time with the membership. He fanned seven batters, walked 4 and stored the ball on the bottom at a 40.6% clip. Whereas the uncooked run-prevention numbers clearly weren’t encouraging, Hartlieb sported a career-high 97.1 mph on his heater, per Statcast — a notable uptick from the profession 95.9 mph mark he carried into the season. His sinker (95.7 mph vs. 94.3 mph profession common) and slider (87 mph vs. 84 mph) additionally had pronounced velocity will increase. Moreover, Hartlieb launched a brand new cutter that sat at 92.8 mph.
For now, Hartlieb will head again to the Isotopes to proceed engaged on his new-look arsenal. He’s pitched to a 5.61 ERA in a hitter-friendly setting there however carries a stable general monitor document on the Triple-A stage, together with a pleasant exhibiting with the Marlins’ affiliate final yr (3.63 ERA in 44 2/3 frames). In 205 1/3 innings of Triple-A piece, Hartlieb has a 4.21 earned run common whereas fanning 24.8% of his opponents in opposition to a ten% stroll charge.
Given the final state of the Rockies’ bullpen (collective 5.73 ERA and 4.52 SIERA — each final in MLB) and the potential for some trades of relievers (impending free agent Jalen Beeks, particularly), there’s an honest likelihood that Hartlieb may get one other huge league look later this summer time. In components of 5 MLB seasons between the Pirates, Mets, Marlins and Rockies, the previous Twenty ninth-round choose carries a 7.37 ERA with a 20% strikeout charge, a 14.4% stroll charge and a 47.9% ground-ball charge.
