Rockies right-hander Yency Almonte was a center fielder during his junior year in high school. He made such a strong throw to home plate that scouts and coaches convinced him to be a pitcher.

He became one good enough to be drafted a year later.

The tutelage of his dad, Miami-area baseball instructor Ramon Almonte, helped him with a pitcher’s attitude.

“Telling myself that I was the best guy on the field at that time with the ball in my hand and I can get anybody out,” Almonte said.

But it took three organizations -- Angels, White Sox and Rockies -- and yo-yoing between the Rockies and Triple-A Albuquerque the last two years for Almonte, 26, to bring that confidence to the big league mound. Having earned innings later in games, Almonte is on a roll -- five straight scoreless outings covering six innings, with five strikeouts.

Of the last 20 batters he has faced, three have reached -- a single and two hit batsman. Almonte earned the decision in both Rockies wins at Dodger Stadium last weekend by throwing a scoreless inning in each -- with a strikeout, each on 11 pitches.

This year’s growing responsibility comes after two seasons of development -- a 1.84 ERA in 14 appearances over three callups in 2018, and a 5.56 in 28 appearances in five stints last season.

Out of Minor League options going into this year, Almonte showed up not only with his slider -- his best pitch -- but with command of the fastball and an important changeup, a pitch he honed during the COVID-19 shutdown during catch sessions with Rockies pitchers Jairo Díaz and Germán Márquez.

“I saw a different Yency in Spring Training,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It looked from a delivery standpoint that he was under control and he was repeating it. You could tell by the pitches that he was making, even in side sessions, batting practice and exhibition games, they weren’t scattered pitches. There weren’t big pitches from pitch to pitch, which we saw in prior years from Yency.”

Almonte was traded not because failure but because he was coveted -- from the Angels to the White Sox for infielder Gordon Beckham and from the White Sox to the Rockies for reliever Tommy Kahnle. The Rockies converted him to the bullpen in 2017, and he credits more-experienced Scott Oberg and Carlos Estévez with helping him carry his confidence to the Major League mound.

“Things started in Triple-A last year toward the end of the season, before I got called back up,” Almonte said. “I started to trust what I had and pitch with confidence. I felt up here I was shying away from hitters, pitching to try to miss barrels instead of pitching to contact.”

Estévez’s sudden struggles
Estévez had not given up a run on the road all season before he gave up three home runs over two appearances in Los Angeles. He had never yielded an earned run at Petco until Monday, when he didn’t throw his changeup low enough and Jurickson Profar delivered the game-winning RBI double.

“That’s where you’ve got to talk to him: ‘One pitch, it defined the game, but it shouldn’t define you moving forward as long as you learn from it,’” Black said. “[Pitching coach] Steve Foster caught up with him again this afternoon on a couple things.”

Minors awards
The Rockies named infielder Ryan Vilade the 2019 Doug Million Minor League Player of the Year. Vilade hit .303 with 12 home runs at Class A Advanced Lancaster. Vilade led the California League with 237 total bases.

The Rockies also named Andy Stover, assistant rehabilitation coordinator and manager of Scottsdale operations, winner of the P.J. Carey Player Development Award.

Injury updates
• Righty Wade Davis (right rotator cuff strain) is healthier and throwing at the alternate training site with intensity but needs to be able to throw with the frequency necessary in a big league bullpen.

• Outfielder David Dahl (lower back) has been doing all pregame activity with the squad but has yet to be activated.

• Righty starter Jon Gray (right shoulder inflammation) continues to undergo treatment.