Carlos Estévez was the Phillies’ top trade-deadline pitching target. His former coach explains his rise.

After being acquired by the Colorado Rockies in May 2017, Barry Enright was sent to triple A. He met the team on the road in Nashville, and on the eve of his first start, his new roommate played video games until 3:30 in the morning.

“I was like, ‘Who the [heck] is this guy?’” Enright recalled.

Seven years later, Carlos Estévez is still a hardcore gamer. And until Saturday night, Enright was his pitching coach. The former teammates and old friends reunited this season with the Angels, Enright helping Estévez pitch better than ever in his eight-year major-league career.

» READ MORE: Phillies bolster their bullpen by trading touted pitching prospects for closer Carlos Estévez from the Angels

Who better, then, to ask about Estévez’s newfound control and improved offspeed pitches, a combination that compelled the Phillies to swap two pitching prospects for the 31-year-old righty 72 hours before Tuesday’s trade deadline?

“Esté's a student of the game,” Enright said by phone Sunday at Angel Stadium. “We were excited to work together. I think it was a little bit of the mechanical side but also a little bit more focus on the offspeed pitches being a weapon that kind of opened up the fastball, which then helps the fastball command as well.”

OK, let’s pause. Estévez has always led with his blazing fastball. That won’t change, especially once he joins the Phillies on Monday and takes over a role that will bear a strong resemblance to a closer without manager Rob Thomson actually affixing the label.

But at Enright’s suggestion, Estévez began using his changeup more often to left-handed hitters and his slider to righties in counts when he would typically stick with the heater. The change, ironically after an April 30 blown save against the Phillies in which he gave up homers to Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas, made him less predictable and reliant on having to put hitters away with velocity.

Phillies special assistant Charley Kerfeld noted as much in his scouting report, according to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, and it was new information from two offseasons ago, when they were interested in signing Estévez as a free agent.

(Estévez wound up taking a two-year, $13.5 million offer to be the Angels’ closer; the Phillies signed lefty Matt Strahm to a two-year, $15 million contract.)

“At times, he’d chase velocity trying to get that miss, trying to end that at-bat, and sometimes that’s going to end up giving up a hit or giving up a homer,” Enright said. ““He didn’t have the true putaway pitch unless he was able to locate his fastball. When he started to bring the offspeed pitches and have those as true weapons, it subconsciously opened up his fastball to have freedom that he didn’t have to be so perfect.

“When you’re living at the top of the zone [with the fastball] and you can drop in a changeup at the bottom of the zone, it just opened up another layer for him. And he bought into that.”

» READ MORE: The Phillies just paid a steep price for pitcher Carlos Estévez, and for good reason

Estévez was also open to Enright’s ideas in spring training on how to smooth out his mechanics, a change that was designed to help him throw strikes more consistently.

The result: Five walks against a total of 124 batters, a 4% walk rate that is down from 11% last year, and 9.3% in his career entering this season. Estévez hasn’t given up a run since May 21. He has retired 53 of the last 58 batters.

And now, he has a chance to close games for a World Series contender.

“He’s unbelievable,” said Phillies reliever Jeff Hoffman, Estévez’s teammate in Colorado. “He’s going to be a great addition. He’s going to fit in perfect here. It’s going to be really fun because he hasn’t had the chance to win yet. To be able to get to see that firsthand is going to be really cool, and to be able to do it with him is going to be cool.”

The trade deadline isn’t until 6 p.m. Tuesday, but the Phillies are likely finished making moves. Dombrowski could look to add roster depth, but he addressed the team’s two biggest needs by acquiring righty-hitting outfielder Austin Hays from the Orioles on Friday and Estévez one day later.

Nearly an hour before Saturday night’s game, before the news broke in media reports and later an announcement by the Phillies, Bryce Harper intercepted Hoffman in the clubhouse.

“Hey, did you see the trade?” Harper said.

Hoffman immediately reached for his phone and texted Estévez.

They met at double-A New Britain (Conn.) in 2015 and ascended the upper levels of the Rockies’ organization together. Estévez got to the majors first, in April 2016; Hoffman joined him four months later. Their wives are friends; their children are about to get reacquainted.

When the Phillies visited Anaheim in late April, Estévez congratulated Hoffman on his success since signing a minor-league contract with the Phillies last year. Then, he made an observation.

“He was commenting on how it just seems fun here,” Hoffman said. “It’s fun when you win.”

» READ MORE: The Phillies liked new outfielder Austin Hays ‘for a few years.’ Where does that leave Brandon Marsh?

Hoffman described Estévez as a unifying teammate. Estévez was born in the Dominican Republic but attended high school in West Virginia. He’s fluent in Spanish and English, making him “a great bridge between the Latino players and the Americans,” according to Hoffman.

And if you play video games, well, Estévez will be a fast friend.

“We play Xbox still,” Hoffman said. “We’re ‘Call of Duty’ teammates. And we’ve got a good group that plays ‘Call of Duty’ here, too. As soon as I found out we were trading for him, I was like, ‘Trea [Turner], [Kyle] Schwarber, dude, we’ve got another teammate!’”

In Anaheim, meanwhile, Enright wished Estévez well. They joked about those days as triple-A roommates. Even now, Enright isn’t sure why they got paired up.

“Maybe nobody wanted to room with him because he played video games all night,” Enright said, laughing. “I joke with him all the time, ‘Once I learned your personality over those months, I loved you.’ It’s a little bit bittersweet, by all means, but I’m extremely happy for him that he’s going to go and chase that ring.

“He deserved this. He worked for this.”