Feltner's quest for 'the perfect inning' paying off

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DENVER – The study plan made sense. Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner queued video of the last time he faced the Diamondbacks – March 31, his first start of the year – to prepare to face them at Coors Field on Tuesday night.

Feltner came to an eye-opening conclusion: The most valuable information came not from the opposing hitters, but from himself.

“That was the first time that I could see a sizable difference,” Feltner said, after holding the D-backs to one run in 6 2/3 innings and earning the win in the 8-2 Rockies victory. “Here’s what I was doing, the quality of pitches that I was throwing, and then knowing how my second half has been. It’s definitely satisfying for me to see the game plan get honed in, and also see the execution of the pitches get a lot better.”

Feltner has a 4.73 ERA – solid considering he plays his home games in Denver. His 129 strikeouts lead the club, and his 0.78 ground ball to fly ball rate is tops among Rockies starters. There are elements of his 3-10 record beyond his control. A six-inning, 10-strikeout performance on April 6 against the Rays dissolved via the Rockies’ then-leaky bullpen. Before his win over Arizona on Tuesday, he went 1-3 over 11 starts, with three unearned runs and 2.86 average runs of support negating his 3.47 ERA.

On April 30, Feltner took a 5-0 lead into the ninth at Miami, only to give up two hits and a hit-by-pitch, then watch relievers Justin Lawrence and Jalen Beeks struggle to a 7-6 defeat. Poorly executed two-out pitches, like one that the Orioles’ Ryan O’Hearn drove for a two-run single that chased him in the fifth inning on Aug. 31, cropped up at inopportune times.

But in Feltner’s last three starts – a win at Milwaukee, a no-decision at Detroit, and a win against Arizona – he has posted a 1.96 ERA and stopped innings from becoming big.

On Tuesday, the leadoff hitter reached in each of his first four innings, with just one run scoring. Arizona’s Pavin Smith led off the fourth with a double, took third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a fielder’s-choice grounder, but there was no further damage.

“To me, that was the perfect inning,” pitching coach Darryl Scott said. “He controlled the inning. A one-run inning doesn’t hurt us. For him to give up the leadoff double and get out of that inning on a limited pitch count is mature.”

When Feltner departed the game, veteran catcher Jacob Stallings told manager Bud Black that Feltner had had a breakthrough. It was his first home win since Aug. 9, 2022 – a franchise-record 21-start run of near-misses and bad luck.

“I felt like that coming into the start, just with how he’s thrown coming off the IL, particularly the last two starts,” Stallings said, referring to the two weeks Feltner missed in August with right shoulder inflammation. “Those were both on the road. I really wanted to see if he could keep it up at Coors. He’s a cerebral guy, and solving that formula has been tough for us.”

Between some solid performances this year and pitchers returning from injury, the Rockies believe there is rare rotation depth. The quality of Feltner’s pitches has Colorado thinking he can be a mainstay.

Feltner, 28, who debuted in 2021 and missed much of last season with a fractured skull after being hit in the head with a line drive, has preferred the up-and-in, two-seam fastball – the pitch that quickened his route to the Majors after he was drafted out of Ohio State in the fourth round in 2018. But Feltner has figured out how to mix in a sinker that at a 94.2 mph average is close to his 94.6 average four-seamer, and he is locating both pitches on either side of the plate.

“It’s the velocity he’s had all year, but for whatever reason, his conviction the last month or so with the fastball makes the fastball better," Black said.

If only Feltner had a thought bubble, so fans could see the conviction.

“I talk to myself on almost every pitch, just in terms of whatever it is I want to do,” Feltner said. “It adds more intention. If it’s a sinker in to the righty, like, ‘Drive it in there.’ Or a breaking ball with two strikes, I say, ‘Bounce it on the plate. Be aggressive.’

“It’s helped me in the bigger scenarios because I do it on every pitch.”