Juan Nicasio’s 96 mph heater came in at the knees, freezing Houston catcher Juan Castro for a second-inning strikeout.
It’s the kind of pitch the baseball gods bestow on very few. It’s what makes the 25-year-old right-hander so tantalizing. It’s why he has a real chance to become the best pitcher of the Rockies’ present and future.
And yet, like all of the Rockies’ young pitchers, Nicasio has been frustratingly inconsistent.
He was, again, Monday afternoon, nearly costing the Rockies’ Game 1 of their doubleheader against the Astros. They eventually won 9-7 on a two-run single by Jordan Pacheco in the eighth.
In the nightcap, Dexter Fowler’s triple scored Michael Cuddyer from first base in the 10th inning for a 7-6 victory and a Rockies sweep.
Nicasio gave up six runs (five earned) in six innings. Staked to a 5-2 lead after one inning, he couldn’t hold it.
The Astros rapped him for nine hits, including a first-inning, leadoff triple Jordan Schafer, followed by a homer by Jed Lowrie. The bit of good news: Nicasio walked just one.
The ragged start came on the heels of a five-inning outing in Miami in which Nicasio posted an almost identical line: five innings, six runs (five earned), nine hits and three walks.
“Juan was a little bit better today, but he can still be much better than what we saw,” manager Jim Tracy said.
To borrow a pet phrase from Tracy, it would behoove the Rockies and pitching coach Bob Apodaca to make Nicasio’s development their No. 1 priority.
After 10 starts, Nicasio has a 2-2 record with an unsightly 5.11 ERA. As Tracy noted, he can be better. He needs to be better.
“I am working so hard,” Nicasio said. “When I am throwing my fastball down at the knees, nobody can hit my fastball. I need to throw down, down, down.”
Nicasio’s an agreeable kid off the mound, but he’s a Bob Gibson-like competitor on it. He knows the score. He knows that when he pounds the lower portion of the strike zone, and when is able to mix in a sharp slider, he’s dynamic.
But when he leaves the ball up and his slider spins in the zone, he’s less than ordinary. Until he develops an effective secondary pitch, big-league hitters will sit on his fastball and feast on the pitches left up in the zone.
“The biggest thing were dealing with is that fastball command is still not as consistent as it needs to be,” Tracy said. “And you combine that with the breaking balls that aren’t quite there, and it shows he has work to do.”
As a rookie last season, Nicasio went 4-4 with a 4.14 ERA before a line drive on Aug. 5 caught him in the temple and knocked him out. The subsequent fall on the mound broke his neck.
His comeback from that horrifying split second has been remarkable and inspiring. But it’s time for the next chapter. Nobody understands that better than Nicasio.
“He showed you flashes today,” Tracy said. “But we have to give him a little benefit of the doubt, considering what he dealt with last summer. I think the more times he goes out there, the more he will get back in his comfort level. Then we will all see the guy we all know he’s capable of being.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1720 or psaunders@denverpost.com
