Garden City's Matt Daley Back with Rockies

Garden City's Matt Daley goes north with the Rockies.

After a winter that saw Daley spend significant training time in town, he made the trek to Arizona for the Colorado Rockies Cactus League camp earlier this year.

Daley was coming off his first major league season, one in which he overcame several hurdles, but a season that turned out better than he could ever have imagined. 

For those that remember, Daley didn't get the call to the big leagues until late April after he threw several very good sessions in the minors. Upon coming up he then had the misfortune to experience one of the strangest injuries a baseball fan would see – he stepped on a bat tossed by the umpire as he was backing up home. Well, the ensuing sprained ankle put him on the Disabled List for 15 days. He had to battle back for his spot in the bullpen. 

Well, for the rest of the season and through the Rockies playoff run Daley became a key part of the Rox bullpen, pitching in 57 games. Not bad for an undrafted kid from Garden City.

So jumping to this spring Daley was back working in the bullpen during the preseason in Arizona. He had several early outings that were less than stellar, however Daley didn't seem to be having an issue. And that's attributable to his higher level of confidence after last season's performance and the fact that he was actually working on a new pitch – something usually only the veteran pitchers on a staff go for.

After talking with the coaching staff, he abandoned the new splitter and concentrated on his current repertoire of four solid pitches - a moving fastball, terrific changeup, sweeping curve and a biting slider. Add those pitches to his quirky delivery and you have a reliever that can throw strikes and get outs.  Oh, and if you add in the new beard he is starting to look like a dominating reliever from seasons past.

Monday was Opening Day for the Rockies as they traveled to Milwaukee to open their season – a season in which many baseball experts are saying should be a great one for Colorado. And Daley was on the flight scanning his notes on Brewers hitters and making sure he was fully prepared. Good thing because he got the call in the seventh inning of a one-run game.

With the bases loaded, Daley strolled to the mound and confidently took the ball from manager Jim Tracey to face Casey McGehee, a career .297 hitter. Daley looked to have struck him out but didn't get the call on a good 0-2 pitch. On the next pitch, he got McGehee to pop out to short and end the Brewer rally with his first hold of the season.

Daley also got the call in the Rockies' second game and kept his ERA at o.oo with a solid scoreless inning of relief. With two games played, two games pitched and a perfect ERA, Daley is off to a great start. 

Try to catch Daley next week when the Rockies play the visiting Mets in Colorado for two night games and a Thursday afternoon getaway game.