DENVER -- Upon learning that he would be called up to the big club on Sunday, Rockies No. 26 prospect Zach Agnos pitched a perfect strike with his first video call to his mother.
Lee Agnos was in Richmond, Va., visiting her father, who recently moved into hospice care. George Miller, 85, was a pitcher in the Senators/Twins and Angels organizations from 1960-65, with his final three seasons spent at the Double-A level.
So when Agnos called, Lee was able to turn the phone to allow Miller to see his grandson.
“The one thing I asked him last night was, ‘What’s the best pitch?’” Agnos said. “He always would ask me that question. The answer is a strike.
“So it was a really special moment, not just for him but my whole family.”
Tears of thankfulness and happiness engulfed Agnos.
“I had turned the phone to my dad,” Lee Agnos said. “When I turned it back, I didn’t know what was going on there. He was so broken up, and he was trying to tell me that he had made it.”
Agnos made the most of his debut by pitching a scoreless eighth inning in a 3-1 victory over the Nationals in the second game of the Rockies' doubleheader on Sunday, which ended their losing streak at eight games.
The 24-year-old posted a 2.25 ERA with two saves and 10 strikeouts against three hits and three walks in 8 1/3 innings with Triple-A Albuquerque. Since being drafted out of East Carolina in the 10th round in 2022, Agnos is 13-6 with a 1.82 ERA in 99 Minor League games.
But so many more people had their hand in his ascension.
His oldest brother, John, was planning to pitch at Virginia Tech as a walk-on, but went in other directions because of a coaching change. John’s experience through travel ball and showcases for scouts set a path. Jake Agnos, 26, preceded Zach at ECU and was drafted in the fourth round by the Yankees in 2019 as a left-handed pitcher. But four surgeries in four years have Jake, a free agent, at a career crossroads.
While Zach Agnos was a two-way star at East Carolina -- a .300-plus hitter who played shortstop and third base -- the family was hit by tragedy. Niko Agnos, Lee’s husband and father to John, Jake and sister, Katie, died from complications from COVID-19. The ECU program galvanized around the family.
“I’m proud of what he’s been able to do, especially with how much our family has gone through, with our dad passing away in '21 unexpectedly,” Jake Agnos said. “He’s been able to give our family such a bright spot.”
Jake and Zach have been offseason housemates while chasing their shared dream. They lived together in Florida, with Zach preparing for a season and Jake dealing with the repeated rehab exercises from his surgeries.
“It’s funny because Zach was always the position player and I was always the pitcher,” Jake Agnos said. “But since he got into pro ball, I find myself doing more of the listening and less of the teaching. It’s funny how that has changed.
“To see him have those conversations with the guys at the gym and share his baseball knowledge is great. We always knew he had it, but he’s done such a good job of transitioning from that two-way player.”
Lee brought Jake and Katie to Colorado, with everyone operating on three to four hours of sleep. John stayed home because his wife is expecting a child. Cheers from Agnos’ family’s row rang as he entered, and grew wilder with a first-pitch strike on a sinker to Keibert Ruiz.
Agnos did not pitch in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, a 3-2 Rockies loss, but debuted in Game 2 in the Rockies’ newest City Connect uniform -- a splash of cobalt blue, psychic purple, laser orange and razor pink to nod toward the skies above Coors.
The uniform reminded Agnos of a story from his grandfather. The Washington Senators relocated to become the Minnesota Twins in 1961, while Miller was pitching for the organization.
“He actually has a picture in a newspaper,” Agnos said. “When they switched from Washington to Minnesota, he and a couple of his buddies just flipped the hat to make the ‘M’ a ‘W.’ He likes telling us about that.”
Manager Bud Black needed Agnos because the bullpen needed to cover seven innings in the Game 1 loss after starter Kyle Freeland left with a blister on his left middle finger.
“It’s good to see,” Black said. “We’ve heard a lot about him the last couple of years from player development and we saw him in Spring Training. There’s a lot to like there, so it’s good to get him going.”
Josh Bell hit a two-out single off of Agnos and Luis García drove a pitch deep to center, but Mickey Moniak caught it to end the inning.
“My stomach turned to me when that ball was hit … the magnitude was a little bit higher,” Agnos said. “But it was just awesome.
“I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because I was so excited and had an early flight. So I’m running off a lot of caffeine. That definitely helped.”