For a pitcher whose signature is plus command, a few broken pitchbacks provide an illuminating backstory.
Rockies rookie right-hander doesn’t jump off the charts with his size or his velocity. The 13th-round pick has never been a pitcher defined by hype or overwhelming advanced metrics. But as his junior college coach explained — and as evidenced by three tattered pitchbacks over the course of a single summer at 11 years old — Adams’ journey to the bigs was “built in simple consistency.”
“A lot of guys you see in the majors made big jumps at some point in their career, but Mason never made a big jump,” said , who coached Adams at Florida SouthWestern State College. “Mason, slowly and surely, built himself physically, built himself mentally. He didn’t gain a bunch of weight all of a sudden. He didn’t gain a ton of curveball command all of a sudden.
“At the start of his first year (at Florida SouthWestern), he barely made the team. He was one of the last guys we put on the roster. And even when he went on to Jacksonville (University), I never had anybody call me and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, Mason Adams is suddenly this amazing dominant pitcher.’ He just made consistent jumps, and that’s why he is where he is now.”
That consistency can be traced back to Adams’ upbringing in the rural Florida Heartland, where he first developed the command that led him to fast-track through the minors. Colorado hopes that Adams, who debuted on Aug. 25 at Nationals Park, can help shore up the rotation in 2027 and beyond after the club acquired him in a deadline trade that sent center fielder Brenton Doyle to the White Sox.
The summer that Adams wore out three pitchbacks, Adams’ dad, Todd Adams, would come home from work to a broken pitchback again, sigh, and simply ask his son, “Another one?”
“The net would get frayed, the springs would get stretched out,” Todd Adams recalled with a laugh. “He would stand quite a ways back, all the way in the neighbor’s yard, and throw against it. … We spent a lot of time when he was young on his windup, working on his fastball. I sat on a bucket a lot and he threw and threw and threw. When I wasn’t there, he was constantly out there with the pitchback.”
‘An awesome opportunity’ ahead
Now with the Rockies — a team Adams rooted for and wore the apparel of growing up, because his dad had family who lived in Colorado and they would sometimes vacation to Denver — Adams is getting his shot to prove his worth in the club’s thinned rotation.
in April 2025, costing him all of that season, but returned to the mound in ’26 with a gust of momentum. The White Sox started him out slow, with rehab assignments in rookie ball and then High-A, before Adams was sent to Triple-A Charlotte on June 11.
There, he posted a 4.25 ERA in nine games (seven starts) before being dealt to Colorado on Aug. 3 in a trade that also brought 16-year-old Venezuelan infield prospect Carlos Vielma to the organization. Adams had a 2.08 ERA in three starts for Triple-A Albuquerque before getting called up to take the rotational spot of southpaw Kyle Freeland, who is on the injured list with a pinched nerve in his neck.
“I was building some steam and feeling really good (going into the 2025 season), and then to get hurt at the end of spring training sucked,” Adams said. “Sitting in Arizona all year, that taught me a lot. Then this year, I knew it was a good thing that I was getting traded, even though I wasn’t sure what the whole situation (with the Rockies’ rotation) was or anything like that at the time.
“But now, I know it’s an awesome opportunity ahead of me.”
Heading into his Coors Field debut on Saturday night against the Cardinals, Adams looked solid in his first two big-league starts.
That included four innings of one-run ball in his debut against the Nationals to help Colorado snap a season-worst seven-game losing streak. In his next outing, Adams allowed two runs over five innings in an extra-inning loss in Atlanta. Adams had five strikeouts in both games, and Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer has been impressed by Adams’ poise so far.
“That’s not normal for a young guy to come up and do that his first two starts, especially on the road in hostile environments,” Schaeffer said. “Also (impressive) is his ability to know what he does well on the mound and stick to it. He’s shown the ability to make in-game adjustments already. Obviously, the physical stuff has been really good too — his ability to spin the ball, his ability to throw his heater where he wants to.”
Considering Adams’ average fastball velocity ranks in the bottom quarter of baseball at 92.7 miles per hour, Adams’ success relies on finesse.
In addition to his fastball, Adams primarily uses a sinker, curveball and cutter, and throws from a lower arm slot that allows him to create east-west movement on his pitches. And if his minor-league homer and walk rates translate to the majors — 0.7 HR/9 and 2.4 walks/9, respectively — the Rockies could have a future rotational pillar on their hands.
, Adams’ pitching coach at Jacksonville, says Adams’ effectiveness in filling up the zone hasn’t changed since his Division I days when he entered the Dolphins’ program as a bullpen arm before emerging as
“The art of throwing strikes has been lost a little bit on us these days because we’re so caught up in the metrics, everybody trying to throw 100, the induced vertical break on pitches and all that type of stuff,” Edwards said. “What’s been lost in all that is guys that can truly pitch. And Mason is a pitcher. He’s always been a pitcher.
“So as you’re younger and you have the ability to throw strikes like Mason has always done, then your stuff develops, it makes you a much better pitcher than the guys who develop a little bit faster and throw hard but never really are consistently in the zone.”
Rotation projection for 2027
Adams is one of several young starters the Rockies hope can help fill out their rotation as the club tries to become competitive again.
Colorado’s offense has made dramatic improvement this year, but the Rockies still rank last in baseball with a 6.05 starting ERA, a year after their historic 119-loss team set a modern record with a 6.65 starting ERA. (There’s still plenty of work to do in the bullpen, too, where Rockies relievers rank 26th with a 4.69 ERA.)
Alongside Adams, fellow rookie Gabriel Hughes (who debuted July 3) and third-year big-leaguer Tanner Gordon (who took the rotational spot of Michael Lorenzen after the latter was designated for assignment on Aug. 17) also have chances to show their stuff over the season’s final three weeks. The trio’s opportunity down the stretch is even more important considering likely vacancies in the Rockies’ rotation heading into 2027.
Ryan Feltner remains under club control for two more seasons. Despite a career-worst 5.84 ERA in 21 games this year, he is expected to be cemented into the rotation for next season, barring a surprise. And Chase Dollander, who had season-ending internal brace surgery on his elbow in late June, will be back at some point in 2027. Beyond that, there are question marks.
Tomoyuki Sugano has been Colorado’s best starter this year, even as he’s struggled lately, including an 8.61 ERA in five August starts. Sugano will be a free agent, as will longtime Colorado mainstay Kyle Freeland, who is not going to reach his 2027 conditional player option that vests with 170 innings pitched. The Rockies could try to re-sign one or both of them; whatever happens, it’s likely Colorado will bring in at least some veteran help for 2027, as the front office did with Sugano, Lorenzen and Jose Quintana (injured most of the year) in 2026.
“We don’t know what (president of baseball operations) Paul (DePodesta) and (general manager Josh Byrnes) are going to do in the offseason in terms of acquisitions and building the rotation out that way as well,” Schaeffer said. “But the young arms we’ve got, they’re good pieces, and we like all those guys.
“To be honest, I don’t think the service time matters. We just want guys who are willing to compete here at Coors Field and aid to our winning process. Age (or being a veteran) doesn’t matter for me. Production matters.”
That’s where Adams hopes he can come in, with the same mindset he’s had since arriving as a scrawny, little-recruited pitcher with a high-80s fastball and braces.
“I’m approaching (the future) the same way as I did when I first got into college ball and first got into pro ball — just getting better little by little the entire time,” Adams said. “I just got up here, but of course I want to still be here and I want to be pitching well and helping these guys win (when the rebuild comes to fruition).”
