Left-hander Chris Rusin has agreed to a minor league contract with the Rockies, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets.
This will be the second stint in the Colorado organization for the 34-year-old Rusin, who appeared in the majors with the Rockies in each season from 2015-19. During his best two-year stretch with the team, 2016-17, Rusin ate up 169 1/3 innings and recorded a stingy 3.19 ERA with a quality 6.1 percent walk rate and a similarly impressive 58.5 percent groundball mark.
Unfortunately, Rusin’s career has fallen off track since his halcyon days with the Rockies. He struggled to a 6.09 ERA over 54 1/3 frames in 2018 and then dealt with back problems in 2019, when he threw only one inning. Rusin latched on with the Braves last year, though he totaled just 3 1/3 innings and yielded three runs before they released him in September.
Also a former Cub, the 34-year-old Rusin owns a 4.65 ERA/4.10 SIERA with a 16.8 percent strikeout rate, a walk percentage of 7.6 and a 53.2 percent grounder rate in 468 2/3 big league innings.