Roy Oswalt wants strong Major League return with Colorado Rockies – MLB news
Colorado Rockies' pitcher Roy Oswalt is back in the Majors as he made his debut for the Colorado ballclub against the Washington Nationals recording a loss. After a relatively rough going in two prior seasons, Roy is looking to be back to his best.
The 35-year-old pitcher is in his 13th season in the Majors and has only joined the Rockies after a successful stint with the Double-A Tulsa Driller, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. During his time with the Drillers, he was able to interact with a lot of the younger guys.
Roy himself admits that he feels rejuvenated after spending time with kids that were much younger than him and finding their feet in the professional baseball. He also said that he played wiffle ball for the first time in nearly two decades.
“It was a lot of fun,” Oswalt said. “You get around 22-, 23-year-old kids, you rejuvenate yourself because they've never experienced this up here. That's the baseball they know. I wanted to be part of the team, get on the bus, ride around, play cards. I actually played Wiffle ball in the backyard one day with the guys. That's the first time I played Wiffle ball since summer league, back when I was 15 or 16 years old.”
Oswalt is an accomplished starting pitcher with a 163-97 winning record in the Major League. He has a 3.29 career ERA which is certainly not bad what so ever. Roy has been a part of the Houston Astros for a decade when the team was going strong and Philadelphia Phillies for a single season and knows the pressure related with being a part of a team that is strong contender. He himself has been a apart of three All-Star lineups which speaks volumes of his talent.
Roy also feels that he never really got any pitcher friendly parks during his career such as those in San Diego or some of the other ballclubs. He generally had to deal with the balls flying far a lot.
“All my career, I've pitched in hitter-friendly parks. I haven't had Pittsburgh, San Francisco and San Diego. Everywhere I've pitched, the ball flew out.”
Things are not going to change in this regard at the Coors Field, the home ballpark of the Rockies. The high altitude allows the fly balls to travel farther and thus many of the fly outs in other ballparks are home-runs in Denver.
The Rockies too will be hoping that Roy can guide the pitching unit on how to handle pressure since he has been a part of all kinds of situations in his relatively long career. He can certainly guide some of the new guys which will certainly be great for the team that is looking strong for a post-season spot.
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