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Chris Rusin. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

It might be a difficult concept to grasp, but Chris Rusin has become a better pitcher since joining the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies picked up Rusin in September after the Cubs waived him. The fourth-round pick out of Kentucky, where he was All-SEC as a junior, threw for Chicago over three seasons. But he spent most of his time in Triple-A last year (he threw a no-hitter for the Iowa Cubs in May).

Now with the Rockies — often baseball’s dead-end on the road to pitching success — Rusin’s strikeouts are up and his walks are down. He’s forcing more ground balls and pitching more innings. His ERA is down and his expected fielder-independent pitching (xFIP) is at a career low.

He’s done this all while holding his WHIP steady, basically at his career average — 1.61 this season, which is too high and maybe a foreshadow of a turn-down. (Sidenote: The Rockies’ best WHIP among starters? Yohan Flande at 1.22.)

“I have to be crafty,” “I’m not a power pitcher and I have to get weak contact to be successful.”

Rusin was called up in May out of necessity. But he’s stuck with the Rockies since then behind his smarts. He seems to have half the stuff that Eddie Butler does, but with twice the head. He has the best xFIP among the Rockies’ regular rotation.

“He knows how to pitch and bear down when he needs to,” manager Walt Weiss said.

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