DENVER — The Colorado Rockies placed reliever Scott Oberg on the 10-day disabled list with a back strain and promoted Jerry Vasto from Triple-A Albuquerque, the team announced Sunday.
Vasto, a 26-year-old lefty, posted strong numbers with the Isotopes with a 1.71 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 19 appearances, walking eight and striking out 26 in 21 innings.
“It was crazy (getting the call up), just wasn’t expecting it at all,” Vasto said.
Rockies manager Bud Black said he liked what he saw from Vasto in spring training and that he had gotten good reports on him from Albuquerque.
“Jerry’s got a good arm,” Black said. “He’s got some velocity to the fastball, some life in the hitting zone on the four-seam fastball, the slider when thrown correctly is a legit big league slider.”
Meanwhile, Oberg finds himself on the disabled list with a back strain after a strong performance since his return from Albuquerque. In six games since his promotion he had allowed just one unearned run on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 6 2⁄3 innings.
“We felt the last couple days he wasn’t getting any better and it looked as if this was probably going to linger for a few more days,” Black said.