Diamondbacks Player Spotlight: P Josh Collmenter

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Josh Collmenter has been going through a roller coaster of a 2015 season. Collmenter, who was named the Opening Day starter at the beginning of the season, has since been moved out of the starting rotation and into the bullpen.

In 14 games pitched, 12 of them starts, Collmenter has a record of 3-6 with a 5.23 ERA. Not quite the numbers one would expect from an Opening Day starter. Collmenter is not an ace, by any means. He was thrown into that role because of the team’s youth and lack of a true ace.

Collmenter’s best season with the D-Backs in terms of his numbers was his rookie year back in 2011. He finished that year with a record of 10-10 with an ERA of 3.38 in 24 starts. Collmenter finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting that year, as well.

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Since then, Collmenter has only eclipsed 10 wins once when he went 11-9 in 2014. Other than in 2011, where he started 24 games, and 2014, where he started 28 games, Collmenter has not been a full time starting pitcher. Out of his five seasons in the major leagues, he has been a bullpen guy for three of those seasons, including this one now.

Collmenter’s early success was greatly due to his unique pitching delivery. His arm angle comes straight over the top. This helped balance out his below average velocity on his pitches. Over his career, has fastball has never been higher than about 88 mph. But major league hitters know how to adjust.

So once guys figure out what to look for in Collmenter’s delivery, it’s just about hitting that fastball. Collmenter’s velocity has dropped over the last couple seasons. His fastball now has a hard time getting over 86 mph. That’s relatively easy for these hitters to square up.

Collmenter’s lack of success this year has led many to believe that he does not have a future as a starting pitcher on this team. Most think if Collmenter has a future with this team, it may be in the bullpen. With all of the young starting pitching the D-Backs have in their system, the bullpen might be a likely spot for Collmenter.