In his quest to reach the majors, Connor Van Scoyoc is at a new minor league level and has a new pitching role

CEDAR RAPIDS — The role is new. The level is new.

So far Connor Van Scoyoc has adjusted to them both well.

The Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad is in his first Triple-A minor league baseball season, with Albuquerque in the Colorado Rockies organization. The 25-year-old right-hander strictly is a relief pitcher after mostly being a starter previously in his six-year professional career.

“I’m just doing what they have said to do, and I’m trying to make the most of it,” said Van Scoyoc, poolside earlier this week at his hotel in El Paso, Texas, where the temperatures have been in the 100s and where his Isotopes are playing a six-game Pacific Coast League series. “The toughest adjustment has been you don’t have a lot of time to get ready, just from the fact that you don’t know when you’re pitching.

“You play catch three hours before game time and then you sit around and shag BP (batting practice), do PFPs (pitcher’s fielding practice), and then you only have eight pitches before you go into the game. It’s like ‘Hey, get Connor hot,’ and then you have the guy on deck.”

But while that role adjustment has been tough on him, Van Scoyoc’s numbers prove he’s making it successfully. He went into Friday with a 2.55 earned run average in 11 appearances, giving up less hits (19) than innings pitched (24 2/3).

He allowed a couple of runs in two-thirds of an inning Friday night.

Though he has struck out only nine hitters, he has never really been a big strikeout guy, relying heavily on a sinker to get groundball outs. That’s especially important in the PCL, a league renowned for its offense and home run totals because of the presence of multiple high-altitude cities, such as Albuquerque.

“It’s kind of crazy here,” Van Scoyoc said. “You get balls that are hit with 89 (mile-per-hour) exit velocity that are able to sneak their way out. Balls that seem like they’re just floating up there.

“I’ve got to pitch more to the edges (of the plate) because I don’t throw as hard as some guys. It’s just mixing up speeds, try and mix that changeup and breaking ball in there.”

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Van Scoyoc was an 11th-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels in 2018 out of high school, signed and began pitching in games in 2019. He was traded in late June 2023 to the Rockies for big league infielder Mike Moustakas.

The son of Aaron Van Scoyoc (who played minor league ball in the New York Yankees organization), brother of Spencer Van Scoyoc (who pitched in the Phillies system) and grandson of Jim Van Scoyoc (the legendary former Norway High School and minor league coach), he had Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery in 2019 and a procedure this past offseason to remove bone spurs and other loose bodies from that elbow. A starter last season for Double-A Hartford, he became a minor league free agent in the offseason but re-signed with the Rockies.

“I didn’t even test free agency,” Van Scoyoc said. “Coming off that surgery, it sounded like the Rockies still wanted me. You look at the big league club, it looks like there are opportunities. So it was almost a no brainer.”

Colorado is the worst team in Major League Baseball record wise and always seems to need pitching. The hope for Van Scoyoc is he keeps getting outs regularly and gets a call up at some point this summer.

As a reliever, not a starter.

“I’m happy with the results so far,” he said. “Yeah, (the majors) is the goal every season. Just give yourself opportunities to make the big leagues or show the other 29 clubs that you can be a supporting member of the team.”

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com