Friday is Josh Grosz’s birthday. He has more than one reason to be smiling.
The former ECU baseball star has been playing better lately since he was part of the trade that sent Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies to the New York Yankees. He was one of the prospects from the Yankees who was sent over to Colorado.
The Rockies have already lost over 100 games this season and appear to be in another rebuilding mode. While Griffin Herring, another prospect the Yankees sent to the Rockies, has dominated in his minor league starts, Grosz has struggled to adjust from playing on the East Coast to the West Coast.
However, he appears to be turning the corner. He tied a career high with 12 strikeouts in a loss on Aug. 29. He gave up two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks in a loss on Thursday to Eugene.
Spokane will not qualify for the postseason, so Thursday was his last start of the season. He finished 5-14 with a 4.67 ERA in 22 starts over 125.1 innings. He struck out 135.
SI.com’s Jeremy Trottier writes about Grosz in part, “His (Aug. 29) start was a flash of the potential that Colorado really saw in him, and hopefully, just an indicator that he has finally turned the corner and can start tagging together some really good appearances back to back. But for now, it is great just to see some signs of life for the young pitcher.”