DENVER – The Colorado Rockies announced today that they have placed reliever Mike Dunn on the 10-day disabled list with a left rhomboid (shoulder) strain. Dunn currently has a 0-0 record with a 9.00 ERA in 2018, recording 17 walks and 12 strikeouts over 23 games.
In his place, the Rockies have recalled Jeff Hoffman from Triple-A Albuquerque to pitch out of the bullpen if necessary. He started the season on the 10-day DL himself due to right shoulder inflammation and was reinstated and optioned to Triple-A on April 28. So far in 11 starts with the Isotopes, Hoffman has a 3-4 record and a 4.39 ERA, recording 25 walks and 63 strikeouts.
Hoffman said that being in Triple-A was both about making some changes in mechanics and about getting experience. “I had some work to do with my delivery, getting more consistent and growing with getting more experience,” he said. “I got some really meaningful innings down there and had a few quality starts in a row, and now I feel like my velocity is back where it needed to be and my shoulder feels healthy now so I’m excited to get going.”
Hoffman said the velocity took longer to get going than he wanted. There were 5-6 starts where it was hovering around 91-93 mph so he was pressing and wondering why it wasn’t there since his shoulder felt fine, but it just took him some time to get comfortable on the mound and in game situations again and to channel his adrenaline more effectively. Now he is able to throw all four of his pitches for strikes, which he said was very important.
“What’s been really big is that I have command of all three of my off-speed pitches, they’re all in the zone right now,” he said, “and it doesn’t matter if I’m ahead in the count or behind in the count, I can throw them whenever and I think that’s made pitching a lot easier for me. Obviously commanding the fastball is huge and you have to do that to be successful at the big league level, but to add those compliments to go along with the fastball, that’s big. If I can keep doing that, it takes a lot of pressure off myself.”
Hoffman also mentioned that he is happy to do whatever the team needs him to do in order for them to be successful, whether that’s “being a starter, reliever, closer, bench player - it doesn’t matter to me - pinch runner. Whatever I need to do to help the team win, that’s what I’ll do.”