SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Stu Flesland III spent most of the spring and summer making life look easy, with one ugly night in mid-May standing out like a bad inning that refused to leave.
The Rockies left-handed pitching prospect, a 2023 11th-round pick out of the University of Washington, opened the year in his hometown with High-A Spokane. His parents were in the seats, watching him pitch where he once dreamed about reaching pro ball. Out on the mound, he could hear friends calling out to him, and it felt, as he put it, “like a high school thing,” he said.
He overwhelmed hitters there, piling up 19 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings before Colorado bumped him to Double-A Hartford. Once there, he turned in a 1.88 ERA over 18 games, 12 of them starts.
The detour through Triple-A Albuquerque, though, brought both ends of the spectrum. Before he officially joined Hartford on May 19, the Rockies had him cover a few innings at Triple-A twice.
The first appearance was clean: three scoreless innings. The second went off the rails fast.
Against Oklahoma City, Flesland was tagged for nine runs on eight hits and four walks in one inning. Alex Freeland and Jack Suwinski both homered off him, and both had Major League at-bats behind them.
It was the kind of outing that can shake a pitcher if he lets it. Flesland took it as a lesson.
“It was not a small thing,” Flesland said. “I figured that a lot more guys are looking for what kind of pitches you’re tipping, and I needed to have a closer eye on that.
My second outing didn’t go well. I had a meeting with my pitching coaches, and they let me know that’s why things went that way.”
The numbers in the Arizona Fall League told the same story. Flesland finished the regular season with a 6.94 ERA while facing some of baseball’s best prospects, and that mark climbed after he allowed five runs on five hits and one walk in two innings. But he answered in the playoffs on Thursday, holding the Mesa Solar Sox to one run on three hits and one walk across 3 1/3 innings.
At 6-foot-5, Flesland brings a look and delivery that can make hitters uncomfortable when everything is synced up. His arm slot is neither especially low nor especially high, and the ball can be tough to pick up if he keeps his shape consistent. The problem, by his own admission, was giving away too much.
“When I come set, I’m very closed off, but I was more closed off on certain offspeed pitches, so they were able to pick what they wanted to go for,” Flesland said. “But it was a great thing, a learning experience. That is going to help me as I move up.”
That playoff outing fit the larger arc of his year, especially after Hartford needed him. Injuries and promotions had thinned out what once looked like a league contender, and manager Robinson Cancel’s club was fighting to find its footing late. Flesland said that setting gave him an extra edge.
“I had that chip on my shoulder and wanted to get to Double-A and make an impact,” he said. “I had played for Robbie before and I knew a bunch of the guys there. It was a comfortable atmosphere to walk into, and they were in the middle of a playoff push.”
His stuff is built around a four-seam fastball that sits just under 92 mph and a sinker that comes in just above 90 mph. His changeup and slider are meant to arrive at different speeds, and once he got to Scottsdale, he said he would work with Rockies coaches and analysts at Salt River to look for adjustments that could help him add more velocity at the top end.
“Stu had a great year,” Rockies roving pitching coordinator Dan Meyer said. “We want him to finish strong.
We thought he’s earned this honor to play in the Fall League. We want to continue to refine.
He’s deceptive, a little funky. But he has good stuff.”
Flesland has started and relieved at both the college and pro levels, and he’s comfortable in either role. Even his look carries a throwback feel, with the 1890s-style handlebar mustache drawing attention and a resemblance, at least in style, to Rollie Fingers, the right-hander who pitched from 1968-85 and became a Hall of Famer as a reliever.
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