Miguel Batista ready to take “abuse role” if Colorado Rockies call him up to Majors - MLB News
Miguel Batista kicked off his Major League career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992 with a single game in that season. Ever since, he has been a part of 13 different ballclub’s and has been offering various kinds of services that most starting pitchers
will not like.
He is all set to join his 14th team, the Colorado Rockies should he get a call up from the team. Currently he has been given a Minor League deal by the Colorado ballclub.
The soon to turn 42-year-old is pretty clear as to what his role will be. Some call it taking abuse by the pitcher as he will be pitching a few pitches every now and again and will not be having a clearly defined role in the line-up.
"This is what they told me," a smiling Batista said. "I'm supposed to be the middle guy who eats up a lot of innings. They have a young pitching staff. They actually told me they needed somebody to take the abuse of throwing two innings today, one inning
tomorrow, rest a day, two the next day. They know I've been doing this for many years."
Primarily a starting pitcher, the Dominican has never been able to pitch as a starting pitcher in all his games during even a single season. He has been a bit of a floater who has been working in different roles and has gotten used to it.
Last season he played for the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets and posted a combined 1-3 record with a 4.61 ERA in 35 games.
His best season so far has been in 2007 when he posted a 16-11 record with the Seattle Mariners in 2007, posting a 4.29 ERA in 33 games, 32 of them as a starting pitcher.
His career numbers are not all that great but somewhat decent as he has a 102-115 win-loss record with 4.48 career ERA. He also has 41 saves to his name.
Batista himself acknowledges that many people ask about him having this unusual and generally disliked role. He says that he cannot figure out how he does it though experts tell him that he is the best in the business when it comes to the numbers.
"It's something a lot of people ask me, but I can't even tell you how I do it," Batista said. "I know a guy who keeps the numbers who tells me I'm probably the best they've ever seen do that."
One hopes that the right-handed pitcher will have a good season and will get a call up from the Rockies. Although he probably will have to carry on his unusual role, he will be an asset for the young Colorado Rockies’ pitching unit that can learn much from
his vast Major League experience.
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