Scott Oberg announces retirement

pitcher Scott Oberg On Instagram today, he announced that he would not pursue a comeback to the mound. “I have accepted a part-time position with the Rockies, but will no longer pursue the game I have always loved as a player,” Oberg said in the post. He remains grateful to the many people in his life who have helped him on his journey over the years. Denver Gazette’s Daniel Arentuk reports that Oberg will be a special assistant in baseball operations for the Rockies.

Oberg, now 32, was selected by the Rockies in the 15th round of the 2012 draft and made it to the big leagues by 2015. His first three seasons with Colorado featured a subpar strikeout rate, but he scored a large amount of ground balls. From 2015 to his 2017, he recorded his 5.05 ERA, striking out 18.7% of the batters he faced but scoring wormburners on 55.6% of the balls.

For the next two seasons, Oberg took a big step forward by adding punchouts to his repertoire. From 2018 to his 2019, he threw his 114 2/3 frames with his 2.35 ERA. That’s an impressive number anywhere, but especially for a pitcher who calls Coors Field home. He took his 25.5% of the hitters he faced that time and scored a ground ball in 52.7% of the clip. Based on that strong performance, the Rockies gave him his three-year, $13 million extension with his 2023 club option.

Unfortunately, Oberg then went through a turbulent period dealing with multiple health issues and has been unable to hit the mound since. The main problem was a blood clot in his right arm that initially sidelined him and led to surgery in 2016. They sent him to injured reserve in August 2019, leading to another surgery and the end of that strong season. That didn’t deter the Rockies from agreeing to its extension. It was placed on the surgeon’s table again.

In addition to blood clots, he also required surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in September of that year. It was hoped that surgery would address a chronic blood clot in his elbow, but that has not proven to be the case. I told him the tragic story of not having a pulse in my wrist. Oberg then spent the night in the ICU and had surgery the next morning.

Although he didn’t pitch for the Rockies that year, he scouted and coached throughout the organization and contributed to the team in other ways. The Rockies declined the 2023 option at the end of the season.

As previously mentioned, Oberg has been transitioning into a post-playing role for some time now, but with his announcement today it’s official that his playing days are over. Although he failed to develop strong momentum, he still appeared in 259 major league games and recorded 234 strikeouts along the way. finished. MLBTR congratulates him on his success and wishes him well in the future.