Pitcher List Conversations are transcripts of interviews with professional baseball players — and sometimes, players discuss topics other than baseball. This has been lightly edited for clarity.
★ ★ ★
If there’s a certified pitching nerd elder, it’s surely Adam Ottavino, whose career has been defined by experimentation and reinvention.
Now 38, Ottavino recognizes that perhaps his days in the bullpen may soon be ending, and he was in a slightly reflective mood when the New York Mets visited Coors Field to play the Colorado Rockies August 6-8, 2024.
Also participating in this conversation were Kyle Newman (Denver Post) and Patrick Lyons (Just Baseball). I’ve not included all of the interview since some of the material was very Colorado-focused. However, it is worth noting that Ottavino told Newman, “To me, 2018 is definitely my best year — I pitched a lot and I pitched well.” (That’s the last season the Rockies went to the playoffs.)
Ottavino discussed his approach to pitch development and adjustment, his sweeper, and what might be next for him.
★ ★ ★
Renee Dechert: Throughout your career, you’ve evolved into a kind of a “pitching alchemist.” You always seem to be testing things, looking for new things. What is your approach to pitch development?
Adam Ottavino: Pitch development is more so like you’re trying to figure out in your current arsenal what’s missing and the puzzle of getting guys out. In my case, it’s mostly been getting lefties out, so I have to have a kitchen-sink approach to lefties. The more weapons that I have, generally, the better, but I still learn lessons along the way.
Last year, I tried to lean heavy cutter usage versus lefties and found out the hard way that maybe that was a mistake. So that’s the thing. It’s trial and error, and I guess that’s my approach: Develop as much stuff as you can, put it into play, see how it goes, and reevaluate constantly.
RD: How do you make adjustments during the season? You build this stuff in the offseason, and then you get into the games. How do you make those adjustments on the fly?
AO: I usually have a plan going on to every Spring Training of how I want to attack everybody that year, and I try to stick with it, at least through May. And once we come to the end of May, I feel like there’s enough information at that point where I can pivot if need be. I can either stick with it or pivot. I’ve had to pivot a lot of years, but I think that’s usually enough time where I feel like I’ve learned the lessons I need to learn and what direction to go into.
RD: In other words, you want to amass enough data before you start to make changes.
AO: Yeah, I don’t want to just make a change off one game or two games. But I feel like by the end of May, it’s not only my own data, but data from around the league starts coming in, and there’s a big sample size by that point. You can kind of see trends and different things that you can apply to your game. So for me, that’s usually the point where I either stick with it or diverge.
RD: It looks like you’ve come back to your sweeper. You didn’t use it as much last year, but now, it’s a big part of your arsenal. Can you talk about your relationship to that pitch?
AO: That’s my bread and butter.
It’s always been, but, again, it’s more of a righty-lefty thing. I’ve still been sticking with versus righties even last year. Last year versus lefties, I shied away from it a little bit, and that’s what drove my overall usage down.
Just trying something different. I’ve had some years where I’ve succeeded versus lefties, but, overall, I’ve struggled, and so just trying to figure out that right mix. Last year, I thought maybe going to other pitches was a good idea.
And this year, I’ve decided to kind of go back because a lot of my expected numbers are favorable for a sweeper, so I’m going to live off that and use my other pitches to complement that.
[Author’s note: There was some discussion here about Ottavino’s Harlem pitching “lab,” which he no longer has. Instead, it’s now a credit union.]
RD: It looks like you’ve sort of abandoned your changeup this year.
AO: Yeah.
RD: What’s happened with that?
AO: So last year, the changeup was my best pitch on Run Value, and I thought that I would just carry that into this year. But something in my release this year has been off. I’ve cut more changeups than I’d like and disturbed the consistency of it and just become a little bit unreliable.
It’s not gone forever, but in the moment, I’m going with other pitches. That’s part of the pivot that I’m talking about. I got to the end of May, and I looked at things and saw that my changeup was not getting the results desired, so I decided to go in a different direction.
RD: Merrill Kelly told me one time that grips leave him. Has that been your experience?
AO: Yeah, I mean, they do at times. Things don’t feel the same even on sweepers. Sometimes I have to move my fingers around a little bit and try to find the right spot.
But that’s just human nature to tinker, and sometimes you get away from something that’s maybe good by accident, and then you have to try to recapture that feeling. It can be tricky.
RD: Just two more from me. What’s your favorite pitch you’ve thrown this year?
AO: I got into a bases-loaded situation against Washington a couple of weeks ago. I was able to strike my way out of it — all lefties.
One of the big ones was I threw a front-door two-seamer to James Wood for strike three looking. It’s a pitch that I like to go to, but I knew I needed to execute it perfectly in that moment, or it’s gonna be bad news. And I threw a perfect pitch, so I was proud of that pitch.
RD: If you could steal somebody else’s pitch, whose would you take?
AO: I would say David Robertson’s fastball, his cutter.
RD: What do you like about it?
AO: It’s just unique. He and Kenley Jansen and maybe one other guy have that type of cutter — like the true fastball with a lot of vertical break to it, but it also cuts. It’s really hard for anybody to adjust to that because it’s so rare, and people don’t see it.
He’s had a better career than me and is a year older than me and a big, big inspiration to me. Since he was my teammate, too and I just saw it in action, and I wanted it, and I know I can’t throw it, so that’s why I want it.
★ ★ ★
Ottavino concluded by discussing his future, and the conversation is worth sharing in full.
Kyle Newman: You keep talking about “if you come back next year.” You’re free agent obviously next year. Is retirement on your mind? Do you think this is your swan song?
AO: This is the first year that I kind of had to face the fact that I’m probably a lot closer to the end than I realized. And I just think I still want to play, and I am definitely open to playing, but I’m not going into the offseason worrying about anything. If I play, that’d be awesome. If I’m in a good situation, I’ll definitely play, but if I’m not, then I’m okay not playing.
KN: Would coaching be in your future with the way you like to analyze the game?
AO: I have mind and my heart starting to dream a little bit on managing. I’d be unorthodox, but I think I could get unorthodox results.
I think most of the managerial moves nowadays are pitching moves — especially bullpen — and I feel like I’ve been doing that for 14 years out there [laughs].
And the second part is talking to media, which I know I can do.
The third part is having tough conversations, which is something I’d have to improve on, and some leadership stuff, but I have been dreaming about that a little bit, so that could be down the road. We’ll see.
KN: You could see yourself getting into that route and climbing the ladder?
AO: Oh, no, I’m not going to climb any ladder. I’m just gonna go right to the main thing.
[The group laughs, but Ottavino is serious.]
I’ll do something else until the main thing. We’ll figure it out that way.
PL: Are there any relievers who’ve ever managed before?
OA: Not that I know of.
RD: That’s intriguing!
OA: Like I said, it’s a little unorthodox.
PL: It is for a pitcher. Bud Black’s one of the few.
OA: Yep.
[Author’s note: Material about the Rockies 2018 season has been omitted.]
KN: So the manager thing, you’re serious about that?
AO: Uh huh.
RD: I’m intrigued.
AO: Dead serious.
RD: I think you’ve got it.
AO: We’ll see what happens. I mean, I might do media for a while, but again, I’m JJ Redick: direct move from one thing to the job.
KN: Okay, JJ Redick.
AO: No climbing the ladder for me.
PL: So you wouldn’t do Double-A or Triple-A?
AO: No.
PL: Pitching coach?
AO: No.
PL: Really?
AO: Yeah.
KN: Just straight for the skipper’s job.
AO: I’m just being honest.
RD: I like your attitude.
AO: I think I’ll be great.
KN: No to the other stuff, just because you want to hang out with your family?
AO: Well, yeah. I mean, I don’t know anything about minor-league baseball anymore. I only know Major League Baseball. So focus on that.
KN: Not even pitching coach?
AO: Eh, it’s alright. It doesn’t excite me that much.
RD: He wants to be the boss.
AO: I want to be in charge. I want to make the decisions.
[Pause]
I’m not afraid to say it.
★ ★ ★
Author’s note: I have to add that Ottavino was wearing a very cool t-shirt, so after I’d taken a photo of his sweeper grip, I asked if he’d mind posing for one more, and he said, “Sure.”
Adam Ottavino
Reader, I ordered it.