Noah Davis Makes A Big Impression

Righthander Noah Davis made a big impression on the Rockies in a small window of time.

He joined the organization until July 28, arriving from the Reds with righthander Case Williams in a trade for reliever Mychal Givens, and joined Colorado’s 40-man roster at the Nov. 19 reserve roster deadline.

The 24-year-old Davis recorded a 3.60 ERA in 13 starts for High-A Dayton and the same mark in six starts for High-A Spokane after the trade. While his strikeout rate dipped from 10.7 per nine innings at Dayton to 7.5, his walk rate also decreased from 4.9 to 2.1.

The likely reason is at the urging of Spokane pitching coach Ryan Kibler and pitching coordinator Doug Linton, who suggested he begin featuring his 93-94 mph fastball more often than his mid-80s slider, which is now used as more of a finisher.

His slider is Davis’ out pitch. It’s a solid offering that will be a plus pitch and one he goes to when he needs a strike. Rockies assistant player development director Jesse Stender said that “he’s got a pretty good feel to throw it, and he knows how to put it where he wants to put it.”

Davis throws a firm changeup that averages 85 mph and fades to his arm side. It’s already an average pitch. He also throws a fringy curveball.

Davis, an 11th-round pick in 2018 out of UC Santa Barbara, didn’t know anyone when he joined Spokane but quickly made an impression with how serious he is about his craft, how determined he is to use coaching, analytics and everything at his disposal to get better and to prepare.

“He had a plan for every day,” Rockies farm director Chris Forbes said. “It was really pretty impressive for a young guy to truly have developed a routine of that magnitude. It’s just an intriguing process to have a guy in A-ball who already kind of got that, because that’s something we’re working on constantly with young pitchers.”

 

ROCKY ROADS

— In addition to Noah Davis, the Rockies added lefthander Ryan Rolison and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar to their 40-man roster at the Nov. 19 reserve roster deadline. 

— Jordan Pacheco returned to the Rockies’ organization and will be the Triple-A Albuquerque hitting coach. An Albuquerque native, Pacheco went to college there at New Mexico before the Rockies drafted him in the seventh round in 2007. Pacheco played 270 games for the Rockies from 2011 to 2014 and hit .281/.317/.379.

Pacheco, 35, played two months last season for Lexington in the MLB partner Atlantic League before he began coaching for Grand Junction in the MLB partner Pioneer League. There Pacheco worked with manager Jimmy Johnson and hitting coach Joe Mikulik, both former longtime members of the Rockies’ minor league staff who know Pacheco well.

— The Rockies added Tim McDonnell to their amateur scouting staff. He had been an area scout with the Marlins and will split Southern California with Matt Hattabaugh. Jon Lukens, an area scout in SoCal, left the Rockies after the 2019 season to become an international crosschecker with the D-backs. The Rockies did not replace Lukens in 2020 but had assistant director in scouting operations Sterling Monfort help Hattabaugh in SoCal.

In McDonnell, the Rockies have added a veteran scout with extensive knowledge of the territory. “It’ll be a really nice fit for us,” Rockies senior director of scouting operations Marc Gustafson said.

— The Rockies hired Emily Glass in the role of scout/scouting operations administrator. Glass, 29, had been working for the Marlins for four years as their education coordinator and then their major league education coordinator before they did away with that position. The Rockies hired her soon after she went to scout school in October. Glass will work in the office with Gustafson, scout Colorado and Wyoming and travel with various area scouts as well. “She’s got a bright future,” Gustafson said. “Who knows where it may end? But for now, I’m super pleased.”