This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rockies right-handed prospect Fidel Ulloa spoke the language of a pitcher learning to ignore fear.
Ulloa, 23, a seventh-round pick out of LSU in the 2024 MLB Draft, learned a changeup while pitching for Double-A Hartford during the Minor League season. Not until the final month did he feel confident using it in a game.
“It’s about surrendering the result – the outcome of the at-bat – and just feeling comfortable with where you’re releasing it, and trusting that the pitch is going to move the way you want,” Ulloa said before starting his Arizona Fall League assignment with the Salt River Rafters.
The test is to come back with a changeup after experiencing something bad. The problem is he never gives himself a mishap to overcome. That was the case when he began using the pitch.
“I was fortunate enough to get a strikeout the first or second time I threw it – it was against Somerset [the Yankees’ Eastern League affiliate],” Ulloa said. “I had a few similar pitches that I was trying to work with. Finally, I threw my changeup in a game and got what I wanted out of it. It was kind of a surreal feeling.”
Ulloa has stayed effective with the changeup – and everything else.
Ulloa was chosen to represent the Rockies at the AFL Fall Stars Game on Sunday at 6 p.m. MT (8 p.m. ET), which will be broadcast on MLB Network.
Ulloa has pitched scoreless ball through eight outings (8 2/3 innings) with the Rafters, with 11 strikeouts against four hits and three walks. On Wednesday, Ulloa entered a game against Scottsdale with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh inning, and struck out Brewers' No. 26 prospect Eric Bitoni – on a changeup. Results of other pitches and against prospects of all ilk have been similar.
“He had a good year in Hartford – a really good, above-average slider,” Rockies roving pitching coordinator Dan Meyer said. “It’s interesting to see what he can do against these really good hitters.”
Before his unreal AFL performance, Ulloa gained notice at Hartford (6-3, 3.72 ERA and seven saves). In 88 Minor League games, he is 13-7 with 15 saves in 113 2/3 innings with 136 strikeouts against 56 walks.
“Fidel was primarily a two-pitch guy,” said Jerry Sullivan, his pitching coach with Hartford and with the Rafters in the Fall League. “He’s developing a changeup and you’ll see a lot of that this fall. He’s an extremely good competitor who is on a command program.
“We want him to be able to attack in the zone, because all the numbers are in his favor when he’s in the zone. He’s had a tendency to be too fine, but that’s the competitor in him. With the changeup as his third pitch, that loosens the feeling that he has to be perfect on a specific pitch. We want him to pitch with the freedom to attack the zone.”
A hard-throwing pitcher and sometime infielder at Lodi High School in California, Ulloa spent two seasons developing pitching savvy -- as well as pitches other than a fastball -- at San Joaquin Delta College in nearby Stockton, Calif. One of Ulloa’s coaches contacted LSU head coach Jay Joinson, and Ulloa found himself at “one of my dream schools.”
Upon first arriving at LSU, the competitive nature that has always helped Ulloa worked against him when trying to make his mark in a culture of highly recruited players.
“At first, I let it consume me,” he said. “I felt like I wasn’t a part of it – coming from a small town, being a junior college guy, then LSU had all these ranked transfers from big schools.
“I was coming back from a little bit of injury in the fall and didn’t pitch a ton. But in the spring, I came back feeling good, feeling fresh and healthy. I got to face some of our best hitters – Tommy White [who debuted in ‘26 with the Athletics], Hayden Travinski and Paxton Clay – and had pretty good results against them. That gave me confidence.”
This fall, Ulloa’s constant success is increasing his confidence.
The overcoming failure part? He hasn’t let himself get around to that.