CINCINNATI -- Rockies right-hander Peter Lambert leaned against the dugout railing at Great American Ball Park on Saturday afternoon and said, “there’s nothing like watching big league baseball.”

Of course, Lambert’s statement came from an educational perspective. Pitching is way better than watching, and Lambert is about to move into the pitching phase of his recovery from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow conducted last July.

Lambert, 24, debuted in 2019 (3-7, 7.25 ERA in 19 starts) and felt on the road to applying some of the hard lessons of that year when the elbow injury occurred. Recently, Lambert has increased the intensity of his bullpen sessions, and next will come mixing in offspeed pitches. He hopes to begin facing hitters sometime around the All-Star break. Lambert’s goal is to return to the Rockies’ rotation before the end of the regular season.

“I’m about 11 months post-op,” Lambert said. “It’s just a long process, but so far things have gone smoothly -- really no setbacks.”

On June 6, 2019, Lambert set a Rockies record by fanning nine hitters in his Major League debut, a 3-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Of course, the big leagues move quickly, and the rest of the year didn’t go as well. His habit of a lengthy arm motion robbed his pitches of carry through the hitting zone, and general fatigue from the lengthy Major League season hit him hard. 

Lambert arrived early for Spring Training in 2020 and made measurable progress, but his arm bothered him during a Cactus League start. After last year’s shutdown, Lambert tried to pitch during Summer Camp, but when the problem flared up again, surgery became the only option.

“After 2019, there were changes I was making and I was feeling really good about it,” Lambert said.

The Rockies have taken Lambert on road trips and have him in uniform during games, which allows him to be in the dugout to pick up on information from coaches and teammates, in addition to having a dugout-eye view of similar opposing pitchers. The plan is for Lambert to use all the mental pitches he is throwing this season to shorten his learning curve.

“I keep up with a lot of pitchers,” Lambert said. “Everybody's different, obviously, so I can't just look at one pitcher and be like, ‘Oh, I'm gonna do exactly what he does.’ I just pick and choose things from the pitchers that I see, whether it's from in the dugout or on video and try to incorporate them into my game to make me a better player.”

When fully healthy, Lambert adds depth and competition to a starting staff that the Rockies have rode to the heights of postseason trips in 2017 and '18, but also the struggles since. 

Even with the need for position player talent, it’s doubtful the Rockies will disturb their starting pitching much ahead of next season. Righty Jon Gray is a free agent at year’s end, and close attention will be paid to whether the Rockies deal him ahead of the Trade Deadline or try to re-sign him. Teams will attempt to pry Germán Márquez, for both his talent and club-friendly contract, but the club likes those attributes as well.

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While Colorado's record is poor, the team has lost numerous close games that could have been swung with minimum production from players they have -- and could be reversed in the future with the right player acquisitions. Lambert wants to be a part of it.

“It’s very exciting,” Lambert said. “That's kind of how our whole team is -- not just the pitching staff. This is a younger group of guys and a lot of them are getting their feet wet right now. You see a lot of them having a lot of good success, which is great to see.”