Juan Nicasio

Juan Ramon Nicasio…signed by Rockies scout Rolando Fernandez.

2019

In a return to Philadelphia, spent the entire season in the Phillies bullpen and ranked among staff leaders in games (3rd, 47), holds (3rd, 10), games finished (3rd, 10), relief SO (T3rd, 45), and relief innings (4th, 47.1)…allowed just 4 HR all season, and his 0.76 HR/9 ranked 17th among N.L. pitchers with 45+ innings…missed time on injured list with a left groin strain (7/4- 15) and right shoulder tendinitis (8/24-9/23)…had 1.648 WHIP figure that was highest of his career, and 8.6 SO/9 was almost 3 fewer than career-best 11.4 SO/9 with SEA in 2018…opposing batters hit .298/.370/.440/.810…had 3.57 ERA (9 ER/22.2 IP) with 1.456 WHIP in 21 G at home, and 5.84 ERA (16 ER/24.2 IP) with 1.824 WHIP over 26 G on the road...went 1-for-2 in save tries, allowed 3 of 10 inherited runners to score, and 1st batters hit .341 (14-41).

SUMMARY:

Allowed multiple runs in 3 of 1st 7 outings to sit at 6.75 ERA (8 ER/10.2 IP) through 4/19…did not allow an ER over 10 G/11.0 IP from 4/22-5/20, dropping ERA to 3.32, then permitted runs in 3 straight (6 ER/3.1 IP) to end May for a 5.04 ERA…had 8.2 SHO IP in 1st 10 app. in June to drop to 3.74, then gave up multiple runs in 3 of 4 from 6/29-7/17 spanning IL stint to sit at 5.50…beginning 7/19, had just 13 outings the rest of the season, posting a 2.38 ERA (3 ER/11.1 IP) to finish at 4.75.

2018

Led all AL relievers and was 2nd in the majors in SO/BB ratio (10.60, 53 SO, 5 BB), trailing only SD's Robbie Erlin (11.00)... Was one of just four relievers since 2016 to pitch at least 40.0 innings and walk five or fewer batters...Walked only one batter in his first 19.0 IP... Posted a 3.48 ERA (16 ER, 41.1 IP) in 43 of his 46 games (allowed 12 ER over 0.2 IP in the other three)... Was on the DL, 6/7-17, with right knee effusion and 8/3-end of season with right knee inflammation (transferred to 60-day DL on 8/29).

2017

The Totals - Combined to go 5-5 record with 6 saves and a 2.61 ERA (21 ER, 72.1 IP) in 76 appearances with Pittsburgh (65 games), Philadelphia (2) and St. Louis (9)... Leader - Overall, he tied for National League lead with career-high 76 appearances and was T9th in NL in holds (21), 12th among relievers in WHIP (1.08) and 14th in ERA (2.61)... Moving - Acquired by St. Louis from Philadelphia on Sept. 6 for minor league infielder Eliezer Alvarez…claimed off waivers by Philadelphia from Pittsburgh on Aug. 31... Birdie - With St. Louis was 2-0 with 4 saves and 1.64 ERA (2 ER, 11.0 IP) in 9 relief games... Steel City - With Pittsburgh, was 2-5 with 2 saves and a 2.85 ERA (19 ER, 60.0 IP) with 60 strikeouts in 65 relief appearances... Short Stay - Appeared in just two games with Philadelphia before trade to St. Louis... Workhorse - Pitched on consecutive days 19 times, and made 10 appearances of 4+ outs... Save It - Saves in back-to-back appearances for first time in career Sept. 8-9 vs. Pittsburgh.

2016

Went 5-5 with a 5.05 ERA in 12 starts and 5-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 40 relief appearances in his first season with the Pirates...Led team in wins and strikeouts while also setting career highs in each category...Struck out at least one batter in relief in a club-record 33 straight games between 7/2 and 9/25; the third-longest streak in MLB history behind Bruce Sutter (39 in 1977) and Aroldis Chapman (37 in 2014)...Ranked fifth among National League relief pitchers in strikeouts/per 9.0ip ratio (12.13)...Shared the Grapefruit League lead in strikeouts (24) during spring training...Began regular season in the starting rotation and won his season debut on 4/6 (6.0ip/1er/7so)... Became the first Pirates pitcher in club history to go 3-0 with 21 or more strikeouts in his first three home starts during his tenure with Pittsburgh (he went 3-0 with 21 K's in 19.0ip)...Tossed a season-high 7.0 scoreless innings in a 4-1 win vs. Cincinnati on 4/29...Knocked in a run on 5/17 vs. Atlanta; his first RBI since 6/10/14...Was placed on the Restricted List on 6/18; was reinstated on 6/24...Began pitching exclusively in relief on 6/26...Threw 45 pitches and 3.0 scoreless innings on 6/27 vs. Los Angeles (NL)...Struck out the side on nine pitches in the eighth inning on 7/4 at St. Louis; just the third Pittsburgh pitcher ever to have an "immaculate inning", joining Jeff Robinson (9/7/87) and Ross Ohlendorf (9/5/09)...Struck out a career-high five batters as a reliever while working 2.0 scoreless innings on 7/31 at Milwaukee...Tied career high with five strikeouts in relief while tossing 3.0 scoreless innings (48 pitches) on 8/27 at Milwaukee...Also had five K's on 9/12 at Philadelphia... Was scored upon just twice in his final 12 games; gave up two unearned runs on 9/27 vs. Chicago and three runs in his last outing on 10/2 at St. Louis.

2015

Spent entire season with Los Angeles (NL)...Set career high in appearances, while spending first season pitching almost exclusively in relief...Averaged 10.03 strikeouts per 9.0 innings...Allowed just one home run (Philadelphia's Jeff Francoeur on 7/7) in his 58.1 innings of work...Pitched a career-high 3.0 innings of relief and picked up his lone win on 5/2 vs. Arizona...Earned first Major League save on 5/15; struck out the final two batters to preserve a 6-4 win over the Rockies at Dodger Stadium...Made his only start in the first game of a doubleheader on 6/2 at Colorado (2.0ip/1er)... Posted a 1.78 ERA (30.1ip/6er) in his first 24 appearances thru 6/24...Was on the 15-day disabled list from 8/14-25 with a left abdominal strain...Posted a 5.73 ERA (11.0ip/7er) in 14 games after being reinstated. 

2014

Appeared in 33 games, including 14 starts and making the first 19 relief appearances of his career...Opened the season on the Rockies' Opening Day roster and made all of his 14 starts before being sent down to Triple-A Colorado Springs on June 16...as a starter he went 5-5 with a 5.92 ERA (48 ER/73.0 IP)...At Triple-A started four more games before converting to the bullpen...in all, he made 10 appearances (four starts) and went 3-2 and a save with a 4.54 ERA (18 ER/35.2 IP)...Rejoined the Rockies roster for the rest of the season on Aug. 7, where he made his bullpen debut vs. the Cubs, allowing two runs in 2.0 innings...For the remainder of the season he appeared as a reliever, going 1-1 with a 3.48 ERA (8 ER/20.2 IP) and a hold...14 of his 19 appearances were scoreless.

2013

Began the year on the Rockies Opening Day Roster and made 16 starts before being optioned to Triple-A...in those 16 starts he went 4-4 with a 5.31 ERA (81.1 ip, 48 er)...after returning to the big league club on 7/12, Juan tossed 7.0 scoreless innings in the win at LAD and started 14 more games to finish the season going 5-5 with a 4.95 ERA (76.1 ip, 42 er) in the 15 starts post-recall... Was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs on 6/28...in his time with the Sky Sox he made two starts and went 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA over 11.0 innings with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts...in his most recent start on 7/5 vs. Reno, he tossed 8.0 scoreless innings allowing 5 hits and striking out 6... Most of Nicasio's success came within the division as he went 5-1 with a 3.09 ERA (67.0 ip, 23 er) in 13 starts...five of those were quality starts...three of his five scoreless outings in 2013 came against the NL West including his final start on 9/28 at LAD (5.1 ip, 3 h, 0 r)...for his career, he's 8-4 with a 3.89 ERA (125.0 ip, 54 er) in 24 starts against division opponents... Earned his first career road victory in his first start of the year on 4/3 at MIL...he went 6.0 innings and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits...for the year on the road, Juan added four more wins going 5-5 with a 4.62 ERA (87.2 ip, 45 er) in 17 starts...he limited opponents to three or fewer runs in 11 of those starts...in those 11 games, he went 5-0 while the Rockies were 7-4... Of his 55 career starts reaching 6.0 innings, he has reached 6.0 innings in 23 of them with 20 quality starts...in those 23 starts, he's 11-2 with a 2.16 ERA (150.0 ip, 36 er)...he was 5-1 with a 2.14 ERA (63.0 ip, 15 er) when he reached that plateau in 2013... On 8/31 vs. CIN, Nicasio became just the fifth Rockie to begin their career starting all of their first 50 games...the last Rockies to do so was fellow teammate Jeff Francis...Juan's 4.74 ERA (266.0 ip, 140 er) over his first 50 starts is the lowest among those five (Jeff Francis, John Thompson, Jason Jennings, Shawn Chacon).

2012

Nicasio made his first appearance on an Opening Day roster in 2012, his second season in the Majors...Nicasio made 11 starts for Colorado and now has 24 career starts with the Rockies since 2011. In his first action since returning from a fractured C-1 vertebrae he suffered after being hit in the head by a batted ball 8/5/11, Nicasio went 2-3 with a 5.28 ERA (58.0 ip, 34 er) in 2012...Juan suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for the remainder on 6/2/12. Through 24 career Major League starts, Nicasio owns a 2.80 strikeout to walk ratio with 112 strikeouts compared to just 40 walks...Nicasio has walked more than three batters in just two of his 24 career starts and has at least four strikeouts in all but four career starts, not including his two starts in which he left with injuries...Nicasio had at least four punchouts in nine of his 11 starts in 2012. Nicasio has a career record of 6-3 with a 4.30 ERA (73.1 ip, 35 er), 58 strikeouts and 24 walks in 14 starts at Coors Field...the Rockies are 10-4 in his 14 career starts at the club's home park...he has held hitters to a .277 average (79- for-285)...his 4.30 ERA at Coors Field in his career is the 4th-best mark in Rockies history (min. 10 starts). Nicasio has a career ERA of 4.65 (129.2 ip, 67 er) through his first 24 starts as a Rockie...the 4.65 ERA ranks seventh in the Rockies franchise among pitchers with at least 20 starts...Nicasio trails Ubaldo Jimenez (3.66), Jhoulys Chacin (3.68), Jason Marquis (4.04) Jorge De La Rosa (4.48), Aaron Cook (4.53) and Jason Hammel (4.63). Nicasio struckout a season-high nine batters 5/12 vs. LAD, one shy of his career-high 10 that he set on 7/31/11 at SD...the nine punch-outs were the most by a Rockies starter at that point in 2012 and were the most since Jhoulys Chacin struckout nine 8/11/11 at CIN. With his start 4/8 at HOU, Nicasio made his first start since suffering a fractured C-1 vertebrae in his neck on 8/5/11 vs. WAS after being struck in the head by a batted ball.

2011

Made his Major League debut on 5/28 vs. STL in a 7.0 inning win after being called up straight from Double-A Tulsa...the right-hander made 13 appearances/starts for the Rockies before having his season ended when he was struck by a line drive in his start 8/5 vs. WAS...it was later announced that Nicasio had broken his C-1 vertebrae in his neck ending his season...Juan had surgery to repair the vertebrae in his neck and was placed on the 60-day disabled list on 8/6...Began the 2011 season with Double-A Tulsa after finishing the 2010 season with High-A Modesto...Nicasio went 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA (56.2 ip, 14 er) in 9 starts for the Drillers before getting the call to the big leagues...the one loss for Nicasio came when he allowed just one run, unearned, in 5.0 innings...after joining the Rockies, he earned a win in his first start, allowing just one run, unearned, on six hits over 7.0 innings 5/28 vs. STL at Coors Field...Was named a Mid-season Texas League All-Star, the Texas League Pitcher of the Week for 4/25-5/1 and the Rockies organizational Pitcher of the Month for April prior to his Major League call up...Would toss a quality outing in seven of his 12 starts before the final start of his season...on 8/5 vs. WAS, Nicasio was struck in the head in the second inning by a batted ball and would leave the game...Owned a 3.22 strikeout to walk ratio with 58 strikeouts compared to just 18 walks...the 3.22 K/BB rate was the fourthlowest among NL rookie starters...he did not walk more than three batters in any of his starts...the rookie had at least four strikeouts in all but four of his starts this season, including in six of his final seven starts (all but final start)...Finished among the MLB rookie pitching leaders in several categories this season...among MLB rookie pitchers with at least 13 starts in 2011 Nicasio ranked: fourth in strikeout to walk rate (3.22), second in walks per 9.0 innings (2.26) and fifth in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (7.28), WHIP (1.27) and home runs per 9.0 innings (1.00)...Started seven games at Coors Field, and the Rockies went 6-1 over those seven games, losing only the final start in which he left with an injury after 1.0 inning...finished 2011 at Coors Field with a personal record of 4-1 with a 1.98 ERA (41.0 ip, 9 er)...Struckout 6.1 per 9.0 innings at home (28 K, 7 BB) and held opponents to a .229 (35-for-153) batting average...among Rockies rookies to start in at least 7 games at Coors Field in their rookie season, Nicasio ranks second with his .229 opponent batting average at home behind only Denny Stark (.210 - 2002)...Only one other Colorado rookie that has had a start of at least 7.0 innings, no runs or walks and no more than four hits allowed: Jason Jennings on June 11, 2002 at Fenway Park (7 IP, 3 H)...Collected 10 strikeouts in his start 7/31 at SD...it was the most strikeouts by a single player in a single-game by Rockies pitcher in 2011, and it was the most strikeouts since Ubaldo Jimenez also had 10 strikeouts on 10/2/10 at STL...Sat fourth in all of Double-A ball with 63 strikeouts before being recalled...those 63 strikeouts were nine more than any other pitcher in the Texas League...his 2.22 ERA was ninth-lowest in all of Double-A...his ERA also sat second in the Texas League...his 56.2 innings pitched tied second in the Texas League...Among all Rockies starters this season, Nicasio finished with the second-highest run support average, collecting a RSA of 6.53...that mark finished only behind Kevin Millwood's 7.29 run support average...Became the eighth player to make an appearance on the Major League roster in 2011 that was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent...he joined Ubaldo Jimenez, Jonathan Herrera, Franklin Morales, Esmil Rogers, Jhoulys Chacin, Matt Daley and Alan Johnson as the players who were non-drafted free agent signees by the Rockies

2010

Spent his first season at High-A Modesto, where he spent the entire season, as one of the club's starters...posted career highs and led the California League in wins (12), starts (28), innings pitched (177.1) and strikeouts (171)...his 171 strikeouts and 177.1 innings pitched were the most in the Rockies organization...Won seven games in a stretch of 10 starts from 5/18-7/5...in those 10 games went 7-1, 2.20 (65.1 ip, 16 er)...the sole loss in the streak was a complete game where he allowed just one run, unearned, on 3 hits, 4 walks and 8 strikeouts...the complete game was the second of his career...Struckout 171 hitters in 177.1 innings for the third-best strikeout per 9.0 innings pitched in the California League at 8.68 K/9.0 innings...also allowed just 31 walks for a 1.57 BB/9.0 innings, good for third-best in the Cal League...Finished the season tossing quality outings in five of his last six starts going 4-1, 2.30 (43.0 ip, 11 er).

2009

Did not join Asheville until the end of May, but immediately had success with the Tourists in 2009...went 9-3 with a 2.41 ERA (112.0 ip, 30 er) with 115 strikeouts in 18 starts...his 2.41 ERA led the South Atlantic League...he is the first Rockies farm-hand to lead the South Atlantic League in ERA since Mike Kusiewicz led the SAL in ERA in 1995...he allowed opponents to hit just .252 (110-for-436) against him on the season...he also owned a low 1.85 BB/9.0 ip ratio (23 BB, 112.0 ip) for the season...with 115 strikeouts and just 23 walks, he held a 5.0 strikeout to walk ratio...he went 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA (29.0 ip, 6 er) in 5 starts prior to the All-Star break, and went 8-2 with a 2.60 ERA (83.0 ip, 24 er) after the break...following the season was named as the 16th best prospect in the Rockies system by Baseball America.

2008

Spent the season with Tri-City as one of the club's starters...his 54.0 innings pitched were 4th most on the club...tied for 1st on the club with 61 strikeouts...opponents hit just .229 (46-for-201) with lefties at .222 (18-for-81) and righties at .233 (28-for-120).

2007

Started the season in Casper's starting rotation, but by season's end was pitching out of the bullpen...went 0-2, 4.50 (38.0 ip, 19 er) in 8 starts and 0-1, 3.38 (5.1 ip, 2 er) in 5 relief appearances.

2006

Spent first professional season pitching for the Rockies DSL team...went 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA (28.0 ip, 9 er) in 8 games/5 starts.