Bettis Finding Success in 2015
June 16, 2015 | Baseball
Former Texas Tech ace Chad Bettis, in the midst of his best season for the Colorado Rockies, made his first Major League start in the state of Texas Monday night in Houston.
June 16, 2015
By Joshua Koch
Special to TexasTech.com
HOUSTON - Following last season, Chad Bettis spent a lot of time thinking. Losing sleep on trying to figure out why he was struggling on just simply getting outs.
In 2014, Bettis struggled. The former Red Raider made 21 relief appearances out of the Rockies bullpen, posting an 0-2 mark with a 9.12 ERA.
Something had to change and Bettis knew it.
Starting Over
While Bettis was trying to figure things out, help was on the way - the Rockies hired Darren Holmes and Steve Foster as their bullpen coach and pitching coach, respectively, in the offseason.
When Spring Training came around, Bettis was taken away from the group by Holmes and Foster to strip everything away that he was doing and start over.
"We slowed down the process for him at spring training," Foster said. "We backed it off, took him out of the regular routine of things in pitching in games and did more teaching away from group in order to work on the delivery. Make sure he could do some things with his delivery so that he could repeat it and throw strikes and compete."
Four bullpen sessions later, Bettis retooled the way he was pitching. His delivery was better, Foster said, finishing out in front and not cutting off pitches.
What had fixed was being able to throw down and away to right-handed hitters and down and in to the lefties, the former Red Raider said. He also was not being as predictable with his pitch selection like he had been in the past.
Bettis said going through the process was not very fun at first because they had to start from scratch and get his pitching right.
"It's still a work in progress," Bettis said. "It's nice to see a lot of it come to fruition."
Finding Success
Fast forward to the 2015 season - Bettis is much better and more effective than he has ever been in his Major League career. The spring training work is paying off and everyone is noticing.
"To where I am at this point of my career I am more of a complete pitcher," Bettis said. "I feel like I was just a grip-and-rip it guy and now it's being able to understand hitters, read hitters and pitch your way through the game."
In the month of June, Bettis has thrown 16 innings of work, giving up 10 runs, while striking out 16.
"It's been great because it doesn't always happen that quickly," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said about Bettis' improvement from spring training. "Chad was able to take it right into games and perform with some of the adjustments he made during spring training. It's always rewarding certainly for the player but even for the coaches that are working with him ... But he's very open-minded in spring training and ready and willing to do anything to get better.
"The bottom line is he's gone out there and performed."
On May 29, Bettis tossed arguably his best game of his pro career.
Facing the Philadelphia Phillies on the road, Bettis went eight innings, giving up no runs, while surrendering just two hits, striking out seven and walking none in the Rockies 4-1 victory.
The nation turned its attention to Bettis late in the outing as he carried a perfect game into the seventh inning and then a no-hitter into the eighth. His no-hit bid was broken up with a one-out single from Phillies left fielder Cody Asche.
"That's something that was everything is starting to piece itself together and I know what I'm capable of doing," Bettis said about having that kind of performance. "Off of that outing it was just trying to replicate that."
Improvement Noted
Bettis' success this season definitely hasn't gone unnoticed by teammates.
Veteran pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, who is in his 21st season, said there is a huge difference in Bettis' performance from him being a reliever last season to him being a starter this year.
"From last year to this year he's definitely made huge strides," Hawkins said. "Pitching in the strike zone and getting a lot of swings and misses. He did a lot of work in spring training on his mechanics. All the hard work is starting to payoff for him."
Just had a great conversation with Chad Bettis about his road to the Majors. Awesome talk with the former Red Raider.
-- Joshua Koch (@jokoch09) June 16, 2015
Staying up in the Majors for longer stints, Bettis credits that to just getting older and learning his lessons that have come with every call-up and send-down he has experienced.
"It's been a maturity factor, that's what's kept me up here I think," Bettis said. "Learning how to pitch. Getting sent up and down the last couple of years and transitioning from starting to relieving and back to starting has taught me a number of things."
As far as Bettis staying in the Majors for a long period of time, Weiss said his command has gotten better and they see a lot more confidence in him than in the past.
The Rockies organization really likes Bettis, always has, Weiss said, and the former Red Raider is setting up to be a factor in their pitching staff.
"He's going through the process right now of establishing himself as a Major League pitcher and he's done a very nice job," Weiss said. "He's on the right path. Like I said we've always had plans for him at the Major League level. Always saw him as a part of the picture up here. He's confirming those thoughts we've had."
-- Rockies manager Walt Weiss
Bettis, pictured here in 2008 during Texas Tech's trip to the Houston College Classic, tossed five strong innings Monday night against the Astros. Bettis remains the Texas Tech career leader in saves (17) and ranks in the top 10 still for career strikeouts.
Back in Texas
In Bettis' most recent start Monday night, the former Red Raider got to have one of his dreams come true that he hoped for years ago when he was still wearing the scarlet and black - pitching in Minute Maid Park as a pro.
"When I touched down, man back in Texas," Bettis said with a smile while sitting in the Rockies dugout on Tuesday. "It's always good to be back here, whether it's here, in Dallas or wherever. It's something that I have very much so respect for this state and everything that it's taught me in baseball but in life as well. It's just great to be back here."
In a fitting turn of events, the way the pitching rotation worked out Bettis was slated to pitch on Monday at Minute Maid Park.
It wasn't the first time Bettis had pitched in Minute Maid Park. The former Red Raider pitching for Texas Tech in the Minute Maid Classic in 2008 and 2010.
"I don't remember too much about it, I don't remember who I pitched against or anything like that," Bettis said. "I just remember pitching here when I was with Tech and was like, `I would love to come back here and pitch in the big leagues.'
"Having that last night was a lot of fun. It was a dream come true."
Being back in his home state, Bettis had his brother and his family on hand to watch him pitch in his first Major League game in Texas.
Standing at the base of the steps of the Rockies dugout before he ran out onto the field, Bettis said he knew it was time to go. It was time to try and keep his team in the game.
The former Red Raider finished the game going five innings, giving up five runs on seven hits, while striking out five and walking two in the Rockies 6-3 loss.
Despite not having his best outing of the season, Bettis still enjoyed pitching back in Texas.
"Just being able to come back here and pitch and do what I've wanted to do for so long it's awesome."