SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Looking for a dark horse to emerge from Rockies spring training? Right-handed reliever Zach Agnos is ready to cowboy up.
Agnos, 24, is a converted infielder from East Carolina, and he has a four-pitch mix and John Wayne mentality that manager Bud Black craves.
“He’s a cowboy,” Black said. “He just goes out and does it. We like those types of players. It’s a traditional, old-school, Little League, high school mentality. … You get loose, you go pitch. You get it done.”
That’s what Agnos did at East Carolina. One moment, he’d play shortstop for the Pirates; the next, coach Jason Dietrich would send him to the mound.
“Coach Dietrich (now at Cal-State Fullerton) would tell me to take an extra ball and throw to the third baseman to warm up,” Agnos said. “That was my bullpen. I threw maybe three real bullpens my entire time in college.”
As a junior, Agnos was a productive position player, hitting .330 with seven homers, nine stolen bases, and a .884 OPS. But he knew his ticket to professional baseball was as a pitcher.
“I had a pretty good idea that was how I needed to go,” Agnos said. “I had a couple of teams tell me they would (look at me) as a two-way (player), but a number of people advised me that my ceiling was going to be much higher on the bump than in the field.
“I didn’t hit a lot of home runs and didn’t steal a lot of bases. I played good defense. But people told me, ‘You’re a good college position player but that’s probably not going to get you drafted.”
The affable Agnos made the right choice.
He’s on a fast track to the majors. Last season, he posted a 1.38 ERA with 17 saves and 63 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings combined at High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford.
Agnos’ array of pitches, personality and competitiveness convinced the Rockies to select him in the 10th round of the 2022 draft.
He has a four-seam fastball in the mid to upper 90s, a cutter at 90-92 mph, a traditional slider at 84-85, and a split-finger changeup with a fastball motion that he slows down to 87 mph.
“The thing that’s impressed all of us in the organization when we’ve seen him for the first time is his assortment of quality pitches,” Black said. “It isn’t just a powerful fastball or a really hard slider.
“You’ve heard me talk about ‘pitchability?’ It looks like he has that. It’s sort of rare that you see a one- or two-inning reliever with a really solid mix of four pitches. Zach has the ability to truly pitch, to both sides of the plate, change speeds, read swings — all of the things you look for. He’s advanced.”
And Agnos has an attitude that Black loves.
“Ever since I was a kid, I was always told, ‘You just have to pound the strike zone with what you’ve got,’ ” Agnos said. “That’s turned into four pitches for me and I have four pitches that I can throw in any count. It’s nice having confidence in all of your pitches.”
The right-hander especially loves throwing his split-finger change.
“I have a lot of confidence in it and use it to both righties and lefties,” he said. “It’s a pitch I feel like I can go to when I need to.”
Right-handed starter Chase Dollander, who made his Cactus League debut against the Giants on Monday, is the marquee prospect in camp. Still, Agnos is being watched carefully and scrutinized daily.
“Dollander has the notoriety, but internally, the player development staff and the coaches have been really impressed with Agnos,” Black said. “So there is a high level of excitement about him, as well as Dollander.
“Of course, they have different roles. Dollander has the status of a No. 1 pick and he’s a starter, as opposed to a reliever and a converted shortstop. But the level of excitement and the potential of Agnos is very high.”
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