WASHINGTON -- The Rockies' No. 20 prospect, right-hander Mason Adams made the most of the pitches he was allowed to throw in his Major League debut on Tuesday night at Nationals Park.
Adams held the Nationals to three hits and one run while striking out five, throwing 75 pitches over four-plus innings of the Rockies’ 3-1 victory to end a seven-game losing streak.
Acquired in the Trade Deadline deal that sent center fielder Brenton Doyle to the White Sox, Adams represents part of the Rockies’ pitching future – with an emphasis on years to come. Adams made an impression on the White Sox last year in Spring Training, but sustained a right elbow injury that led to his April 2 Tommy John surgery and cost him the season.
The most pitches he had thrown in a game during a Minor League season that began with an injury rehab assignment was 80.
Manager Warren Schaeffer removed Adams after he yielded Jacob Young’s fifth-inning leadoff double. But the outing whetted the Rockies’ appetite for more when appropriate.
“It’s his first outing in the big leagues,” Schaeffer said. “With one of the best left-handed hitters in the league coming up [CJ Abrams], it wasn’t really a difficult decision, being that he’s only gone 80 pitches this year.
“We’ll see if we can extend him moving forward. But that was good for his first time out.”
Adams, 26, was calm around the clubhouse before the game and at all succeeding moments.
“I don’t think he could have done it any better,” Schaeffer said. “But the more than 40 folks who came up from Florida [he was born in Davenport, Iowa, but moved at a young age] could be heard above all others at Nationals Park.”
“They’re not a quiet bunch, so you can definitely hear them,” said Adams, who gave the game ball to his mother. “When you first get out there and look around … I really don’t know how to describe what that feels like. Then coming off the mound and hearing them all cheering for me was special.”
Adams posted a 2.08 ERA in three starts at Triple-A Albuquerque. He held Las Vegas to one run on three hits with four strikeouts and no walks in five innings in his most recent outing on Thursday -- a game that ended in a 10-7 Albuquerque loss.
Tuesday, the level of competition was different but Adams was not. Two fastballs – one with ride, the other with sink – and a put-away curveball worked just fine.
“I attacked with all my stuff,” Adams said. “I got to two strikes pretty quickly quite a few times, then they extended the at-bat. But I liked the game plan.”
In his return from surgery with the White Sox this year, Adams made 14 appearances -- the last nine (seven starts) with Triple-A Charlotte, where he posted a 4.25 ERA and struck out 36 against 17 walks in 36 innings.
“I definitely thought at some point last year I might get a shot, but that’s just how it goes,” said Adams, a 13th-round White Sox pick out of Jacksonville University in 2022. “It was a long road back, but it makes it sweet when you go through that recovery process and make it.”
The Rockies have quickly folded their upper-level Deadline acquisitions into the Major League squad. One of them, lefty Mark Manfredi, who came from the Brewers as part of the deal that sent away righty Antonio Senzatela, replaced Adams and went one inning for his first Major League win.
COMPLETE ROCKIES PROSPECT COVERAGE
On the 26-man roster, Adams replaced righty reliever Blake Adams (no relation), who was called up from Albuquerque on Monday and yielded five runs in one inning of a 13-3 loss to the Nationals before being optioned back on Tuesday.