Since the Colorado Rockies joined the NL in 1993, the Denver-based
franchise’s hitters have garnered an unparalleled number of batting
titles. In fact, during the 31-year existence of the franchise, nine
different Rockies hitters have captured 11 NL batting crowns while, over
the same stretch, no other MLB club can claim more than five batting
titles. Critics of the franchise frequently argue that Colorado’s
hitters benefit from playing in the thin air and high elevation of
Denver which causes the ball to travel further. While playing at high
altitude helps Rockies hitters produce standout offensive totals at
home, this same advantage works against the team’s pitchers who
routinely post poor home numbers. In addition to having to endure the
disadvantages of pitching in thin air and high elevation, Colorado’s
hurlers also deal with the challenges of adjusting to distinct elevation
changes and the potentially greater risk for injury that comes along
with it. As a result, Rockies pitchers have enjoyed little in the way
of success. In fact, over its 31 years of play, the team has finished
at the bottom of the NL in ERA a staggering 18 times while ranking
next-to-last on another five occasions. In stark contrast to the team’s
hitters who have collected 11 batting crowns, no Rockies hurler has
come anywhere close to winning the ERA title, as just three of the
club’s pitchers have even managed to finish the season ranked on the NL
top-10 leaderboard in ERA.
Indeed, the
disadvantages that Colorado’s hurlers face are underscored by the
eye-popping park factor values the team’s home ballpark generates each
year which are typically the highest in the NL. Thus, instead of using
traditional ERA to evaluate Rockies pitchers, ERA+ is a more accurate
metric because it attempts to the level the playing field by taking into
account the impact the pitcher’s home ballpark had on their
performance. Yet, even with the adjustments of ERA+, there have only
been 11 occasions in which a Rockies pitcher produced an ERA+ figure
that cracked the NL top-10 leaderboard in the metric. Further
underscoring the disadvantage faced by Colorado’s hurlers, these 11
finishes on the ERA+ leaderboard represents the same number of batting
titles won by the team’s hitters. With this in mind, I decided to take a
deeper look at these rare occasions when a Rockies hurler overcame the
disadvantages of pitching in Denver to slot among the senior circuit’s
top moundsmen. Some of these hurlers actually pitched more effectively
at home than on the road, even though in each of these cases Colorado’s
home ballpark generated a NL-worst park factor for pitchers.
A
free agent acquisition for 1994, right-hander Marvin Freeman brought
parts of seven seasons of experience to the Rockies. Considered a long
shot to make Colorado’s rotation, Freeman got the opportunity to open
the year as the team’s number-five starter when fellow righty Kent
Bottenfield suffered a broken hand while taking batting practice. Freeman initially began his major league career as a starter for the
Philadelphia Phillies during the latter half of the 1980s but failed to
cement a permanent spot in the rotation. Freeman was then moved to the
bullpen just prior to a July 1990 trade that sent him to the Atlanta
Braves. He pitched effectively in relief for the Braves over the
remainder of 1990 and during each of the next two seasons as the club
captured the NL pennant in both 1991 and 1992. However, Freeman was
released by Atlanta at the conclusion of 1993 after struggling through
an injury-riddled year in which his ERA soared to 6.08.
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Signing
on with Colorado for 1994, Freeman made the most of the opportunity
created by Bottenfield’s injury and excelled in his second chance at
starting, putting together a brilliant campaign for the second-year
Rockies. After compiling a 67-95 record during the franchise’s
inaugural season, Colorado improved to 53-64 in 1994 and became an
unlikely contender in a weak NL West, spending the majority of the
campaign within a handful of games of the division lead before the
strike brought a premature end to the season. One of the main factors
in the club’s surprising run was the superb pitching of Freeman who went
10-2 with a 2.80 ERA that translated to an even more impressive 179
ERA+. The righty finished on the NL leaderboard in both metrics as his
traditional ERA ranked third while his ERA+ slotted runner-up to former
Braves teammate Greg Maddux. Freeman’s 2.80 ERA stood out on a
beleaguered Rockies pitching staff that sported a NL-worst 5.15 mark
with David Nied’s 4.80 figure representing the next lowest ERA among the
team’s regular starters. Freeman went undefeated at Colorado’s Mile
High Stadium while producing similar home and road ERA numbers. In
fact, because each of Freeman’s unearned runs came on foreign terrain,
his home RA9 of 2.90 was actually lower than his 3.29 road mark. Moreover, the 31-year-old hurler was showing no signs of slowing down
as he went 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA in his final four starts before the
strike halted play on August 12. In addition to ranking among the
senior circuit leaders in both ERA and ERA+, Freeman also paced the loop
with a .833 win-loss percentage while his 4.5 WAR classified
fourth-best among NL hurlers. Freeman drew support from NL Cy Young
Award voters and tied for fourth in the election.
After
having dealt with injuries in 1989, 1991, and 1993, Freeman proved he
could put together a standout season as a starter. Unfortunately, his
injury issues resurfaced at the beginning of 1995 as elbow problems
plagued him throughout the year. The righty remained in Colorado’s
starting rotation but saw his ERA balloon to 5.89 and ERA+ slump to 91. Freeman fared no better in 1996, pitching to a 6.04 ERA for the Rockies
before being selected off waivers by the Chicago White Sox at the end
of August. Freeman made a single ineffective start for Chicago in what
turned out to be his final major league appearance.
When
the strike ended and play resumed for the 1995 season, the Rockies
moved into their new home ballpark, Coors Field. While Mile High
Stadium generated respective park factors of 123 and 114 in 1993 and
1994, Coors Field proved to be even less pitcher-friendly than its
predecessor as Colorado’s newly-minted home registered an eye-popping
128 park factor for 1995. Rockies hurlers were battered to the tune of
6.17 ERA at home, compared to 3.71 on the road.
Right-hander
Kevin Ritz took his lumps at Coors Field but pitched well enough on the
road to slot among NL ERA+ leaders for 1995. Ritz came to Colorado as
the 46th pick of the 1992 expansion draft after being left unprotected
by the Detroit Tigers. In parts of four seasons with Detroit, Ritz had
compiled an uneven 6-18 record and 5.85 ERA with the majority of his
outings coming as a starter. Attempting to return from an elbow injury
that brought an early end to his 1992 campaign, Ritz appeared to be
damaged goods as his elbow issues crept up again and caused him to miss
all of the 1993 season. Ritz began 1994 in the minors but earned the
call-up to Colorado in late May and made 15 starts for the club, going
5-6 with a 5.62 ERA that worked out to an ERA+ of 89.
With
the prior year’s ace Marvin Freeman hampered by his own elbow injury,
Ritz picked up the mantle in 1995, posting an 11-11 record and 4.21 ERA
across 173 1/3 innings—in the process tossing nearly 70 more frames than
any other Rockies hurler. The 30-year-old righty pitched much more
effectively on the road than at home as three-quarters of the 16 long
balls he allowed came at Coors Field. Ritz’s 4.21 ERA translated to a
solid 128 ERA+ which ranked eighth-best in the NL. Additionally, Ritz’s
4.5 WAR slotted him in the same number-eight spot on the senior circuit
pitching leaderboard.
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Fueled by a potent
offense that relished hitting at Coors Field, the Rockies racked up a
77-67 record and secured the NL wild card, thus reaching the postseason
in only the franchise’s third year of play despite the pitching staff
compiling a league-worst 4.97 ERA. Ritz toed the slab for Colorado in
the opening contest of the NLDS at home against the NL East champion
Braves. Ritz started the game opposite the senior loop’s eventual Cy
Young Award winner for the campaign, Greg Maddux. With each club
boasting formidable lineups, Ritz and Maddux did their best to limit the
damage at the unforgiving confines of Coors Field. Ritz lasted five
and one-third innings, being tagged for three runs, one of which was
unearned. Maddux tossed seven frames, also yielding a trio of runs. Neither starter factored in the decision as Atlanta won the opener by a
score of 5-4. With the Rockies facing elimination, Ritz returned to
the mound in Game Four, this time in relief of starter Bret Saberhagen
whom the Braves had routed for six runs over four frames. Ritz entered
the contest with Colorado trailing 6-3 and pitched poorly, allowing
Atlanta to extend the lead by giving up four runs in one and two-thirds
of an inning. The Braves won the game 10-4 to take the NLDS and
complete the first step of what would be a successful drive to the World
Series championship.
Now the de facto ace of
Colorado’s beleaguered pitching staff, Ritz shouldered an even heavier
load in 1996, making 35 starts and hurling 213 innings, once again
leading the team by a healthy margin. Ritz and the Rockies both took a
step backwards from 1995, as the righty maintained a 5.28 ERA that
translated to a mediocre ERA+ of 98 while the club fell out of playoff
contention, going 83-79 to finish in third. Be that as it may, Ritz
crafted an impressive 17-11 record and set the single-season franchise
mark for wins that stood until 2010. Ritz further declined during a
difficult 1997 which saw his ERA rise to 5.87 and his record drop to
6-8, before a torn labrum brought a premature end to his season in late
July. The same injury sidelined Ritz for much of 1998 as he made just a
pair of starts for Colorado in what would be his final big league
campaign.
After Marvin Freeman and Kevin Ritz
placed among the NL ERA+ leaders in back-to-back years, the Rockies
pitching staff began an eight-season stretch in which no hurler managed
to crack the top 10. During this period, a few of Colorado’s pitchers
came reasonably close as Roger Bailey, Pedro Astacio, and Brian Bohanon
each finished in the top 15 with Astacio matching Ritz’s
franchise-record 17 wins in 1999. This eight-year span also saw the
club sign marquee free agent pitchers Darryl Kile, Mike Hampton, and
Denny Neagle. Although each of these three hurlers had achieved success
prior to signing with Colorado, they struggled mightily while pitching
for the Rockies. After witnessing the substantial drop in performance
this trio suffered, henceforth very few high-profile free agent hurlers
signed deals to join the franchise. In an effort to cut down on scoring
at Coors Field, MLB approved the use of a climate-controlled humidor
during the 2002 campaign. The humidor, which was designed to keep
baseballs from drying out in the thin air of Denver, helped curtail
scoring to a degree as Coors Field’s park factors, which had generally
hovered in the mid-to-high 120s, mostly stayed in the 110s from that
point forward.
The Rockies pitching staff’s
eight-year run of futility finally came to an end in 2004 when the
unlikely name of Joe Kennedy nudged his way onto the NL ERA+ top-10
leaderboard. Picked up from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as part of an
offseason trade, the left-handed throwing Kennedy brought three years of
major league experience to Colorado, over which he had posted a
lackluster 4.98 ERA. Fresh off a disastrous 2003 where he went 3-12
with a 6.13 ERA while missing a month due to shoulder inflammation,
Kennedy quickly made a positive impression with his new team, winning
each of his first four decisions to begin 2004. He then labored through
a series of middling starts before the return of his shoulder
inflammation sent him to the sidelines in early July. The 25-year-old
hurler came back strong from his month-long stay on the disabled list
and ended the season on a high note with a 3.19 ERA over his final 10
starts. With his solid finish to the campaign, Kennedy rounded out 2004
with a 9-7 record and 3.66 ERA. One of the few bright spots on a
68-win Rockies club whose pitching staff assembled a NL-worst 5.54 ERA,
Kennedy ranked ninth in the loop with a 135 ERA+. The southpaw
maintained comparable home and road ERA figures while compiling a much
better win-loss record at Coors Field. Kennedy’s shoulder injury nearly
cost him a spot in the top 10 as he was only able to accumulate 162 1/3
innings, barely meeting the required number of frames to be eligible
for the ERA+ leaderboard. Despite his relatively low inning total,
Kennedy accrued 5.6 WAR, the sixth-highest figure among NL pitchers.
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However,
Kennedy was unable to carry the momentum of his impressive 2004 into
2005 as opposing hitters freely pounded him both at Coors Field and on
the road. Finally, after posting an unsightly 7.04 ERA across 16
starts, Kennedy was shipped to the Oakland Athletics as part of a
four-player trade on July 13. The lefty recaptured some of his form
with the A’s, logging a 4.45 ERA over the balance of the campaign while
pitching better in relief. Kennedy remained in the bullpen for 2006
where he excelled as Oakland’s set-up man, registering a sparkling 2.31
ERA despite once again missing time due to shoulder inflammation. Following his brilliant 2006, the A’s gave him another shot at breaking
into their starting rotation for 2007 but he produced pedestrian
results and was subsequently selected off waivers by the Arizona
Diamondbacks on August 4. The southpaw only made three relief
appearances for Arizona before they released him on August 22. He then
finished out the campaign as a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays. Tragically, during the offseason, Kennedy passed away from hypertensive
heart disease which caused his heart to stop beating. Kennedy was just
28 years old at the time of his death.
The
initial three Rockies pitchers to crack the NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard
had respectively come to the team via free agency, the expansion draft,
and trade. But the 2006 campaign saw the first instance in which a
home-grown hurler, right-hander Jason Jennings, achieved the feat for
the franchise. The 16th overall pick in the first round of the 1999
draft, Jennings received the call-up to Colorado in late August 2001. Jennings debuted in grand style, earning himself the unique distinction
as the first—and to date only—Modern Era player to throw a
complete-game shutout and hit a home run in their major league debut. The following season, he went 16-8 with a 4.52 ERA for an uncompetitive
73-win Rockies team and was voted NL Rookie of the Year, becoming the
first Rockies player to secure top freshman honors. The subsequent
three campaigns were less impressive though, with the young hurler
racking up a combined record of 29-34 with a 5.25 ERA.
However,
Jennings rediscovered his form in 2006, battling back from a broken
middle finger that cost him the final two months of the previous season,
to post a career-best 3.78 ERA. Although he notched an ERA nearly
three-quarters of a run lower than his rookie campaign, his solid
pitching was not reflected in his win-loss record as he only managed a
9-13 mark. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old etched his name on the NL
leaderboard, ranking sixth with a 130 ERA+ and slotting eighth among
hurlers with 5.0 WAR. He also tossed a pair of shutouts, matching the
franchise’s single-season record set by Roger Bailey in 1997. Jennings
produced a slightly lower ERA and a much better win-loss mark at home
than on enemy terrain. This was not a surprising outcome for the righty
who had gained a reputation earlier in his career for his ability to
win games at Coors Field after going a respective 9-4 at the ballpark in
2002 and 8-1 in 2003. In addition to Jennings, Colorado’s starting
rotation also featured fine pitching from Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook
who each classified just off the NL top-10 leaderboard in ERA+. Francis
went 13-11 with a 4.16 ERA which translated to a 118 ERA+ that ranked
12th. Cook, like Jennings, posted a hard-luck record that was not
reflective of his efforts, going an uneven 9-15 while maintaining a 4.23
ERA which worked out to a 116 ERA+ that slotted 14th. Yet, despite
being in the unusual position of having three effective starters heading
the team’s rotation, Colorado finished well out of playoff contention,
only mustering an uninspiring 76-86 record.
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With
the completion of the 2006 campaign, Jennings had one year remaining on
his contract before he would be eligible for free agency. When
Jennings and the Rockies front office could not come to terms on a
contract extension, the club decided to part ways with the righty,
shipping him to the Houston Astros as part of a five-player trade on
December 12. Hampered by elbow problems that sent him to the disabled
list early in the 2007 season, Jennings pitched abysmally for Houston,
concluding the year with a 2-9 record and 6.45 ERA. Signing on with the
Texas Rangers for 2008, he experienced more elbow issues, missed a
significant chunk of the campaign, and performed poorly in the few
starts he did make. The 2009 season saw Jennings remain with Texas and
move into the bullpen. However, he only showed modest improvement in
his new role and was released by the Rangers on August 27, bringing an
end to his major league career.
Even though
trading Jennings weakened Colorado’s starting rotation, their pitching
staff put together a fine collective effort during the 2007 campaign,
logging a 4.32 ERA that slotted eighth-lowest among NL teams—easily the
best ERA figure and ranking the club had achieved up to this point. The
unusually strong showing by the pitching corps was an important factor
in helping the Rockies secure the NL wild card and advance to the
postseason for the first time in a dozen years. Colorado then went on
an impressive playoff run, sweeping both the Philadelphia Phillies in
the NLDS and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS before themselves
being a victim of a sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox in the
World Series. Despite a solid overall performance from the Rockies
pitching staff, the starting rotation did not feature a standout effort
as Aaron Cook’s team-leading 117 ERA+ merely ranked 16th-best in the NL.
The
2007 campaign also witnessed the emergence of the club’s next top
pitcher as right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez joined the starting rotation
during the second half of July and finished out the season with a 112
ERA+. Originally signed by the Rockies in 2001 as a 17-year-old amateur
free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Jiménez continued to pay
dividends as he rode the momentum into 2008, posting a 118 ERA+ that
ranked 16th in the senior circuit and barely a fraction behind Cook’s
team-pacing 118 figure which classified 14th. Jiménez followed that up
by notching a 15-12 record and 3.47 ERA in 2009 while slotting ninth
among NL hurlers with 5.5 WAR and just off the leaderboard in 13th place
with an ERA+ of 136. Although his traditional ERA only ranked
16th-best in the senior loop, up to this point his 3.47 mark represented
the lowest figure achieved by a Rockies pitcher over a full-length
162-game campaign. The righty’s sharp moundwork undoubtedly played a
key role in Colorado’s 2009 return to the postseason as the club set a
franchise record with 92 wins while the pitching staff established a new
low by registering a 4.22 ERA that matched its eighth-place rank among
NL teams from two years earlier. The Rockies subsequently fell to the
Phillies in the NLDS, with Jiménez taking the loss in the series opener
and pitching to a no-decision in the club’s Game Four defeat.
Already
having cemented his reputations as one of the top young pitchers in
baseball, Jiménez kicked off 2010 in grand style, opening the campaign
with back-to-back victories before taking the mound in Atlanta and
holding the Braves hitless to become the first, and thus far, only
Rockies pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Named NL Pitcher of the Month for
both April and May, Jiménez check into midseason with a fantastic 15-1
record and 2.20 ERA, deservedly earning the nod as the senior circuit’s
starting pitcher for the All-Star Game. The 26-year-old sensation
tossed a pair of scoreless frames to help the NL win the Midsummer
Classic. However, Jiménez cooled off over the latter half of the
campaign, going 4-7 while maintaining a respectable 3.80 ERA to finish
2010 with a 19-8 record and 2.88 ERA. Part of Jiménez’s success stemmed
from his ability to pitch effectively at Coors Field. In fact, during
each of the initial three seasons of his career, he actually pitched
better at home than on the road. For 2010, Jiménez set new personal
bests at Coors Field in both win-loss record and ERA while greatly
improving on enemy terrain where, for the first time, he produced the
lower ERA figure.
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A disappointing aspect of
Jiménez’s campaign was that he failed to earn a victory over his final
three starts and, as a result, narrowly missed out on the chance to
become the first Rockies pitcher to reach the 20-win plateau. Nevertheless, he paced the senior loop with a .704 win-loss percentage. Additionally, the righty’s 7.5 WAR slotted runner-up among NL pitchers
as he also ranked third in both victories and strikeouts. On top of
that, his 2.88 ERA classified eighth in the circuit while his
more-illustrious 161 ERA+ was good for third-best. Thus, he joined
Marvin Freeman as the only Rockies hurlers to finish on the NL top-10
leaderboard in both traditional ERA and ERA+. Jiménez also established
multiple single-season records for the franchise as his 19 victories
broke Kevin Ritz’s mark of 17 from 1996 that had since been matched by
Pedro Astacio in 1999 and Jeff Francis in 2007. With his two shutouts,
Jiménez equaled the franchise-high total shared by Roger Bailey and
Jason Jennings. And, with 214 strikeouts, Jiménez surpassed the
franchise-leading number of 210 set by Astacio in 1999. What’s more,
not taking into account Freeman’s 2.80 ERA and 179 ERA+ from the
strike-shortened 1994 season, Jiménez’s respective 2.88 and 161 marks
established new franchise-bests for figures achieved over a full-length
campaign. Despite phenomenal pitching by Jiménez, the Rockies slipped
to an 83-79 record to finish third in the NL West. With Jiménez
fronting the rotation, Colorado’s pitching staff was able to shave a few
points off the previous year’s 4.22 ERA and produce a 4.14 mark, though
on this occasion the figure was only good enough to rank 12th-best
among senior circuit clubs. At the conclusion of the season, NL award
voters recognized Jiménez’s stellar campaign as he slotted third in the
Cy Young election and received a smattering of down-ballot support for
MVP, classifying 23rd.
After putting together
one of the finest pitching campaigns in Rockies history, Jiménez took a
significant step backwards in 2011, seldom resembling the dominant
hurler from the prior year. Through his first 21 starts of 2011,
Jiménez posted a 6-9 record and 4.46 ERA, at which point Colorado
decided to trade the right-hander, sending him to the Cleveland Indians
in exchange for four prospects on July 30. Jiménez’s struggles
intensified in Cleveland as he rounded out the campaign by maintaining a
5.10 ERA in 11 starts for his new club. The hurler drew the ire of his
former team in April of the following year when he beaned Rockies
shortstop Troy Tulowitzki during a spring training contest and as a
result was suspended five games by MLB to open the 2012 season. The
campaign proved to be a disastrous one for Jiménez as he went 9-17 with a
5.40 ERA while dubiously leading the AL in losses. He rediscovered
some of his tempo in 2013, notching a 13-9 record and 3.30 ERA after
which he became a free agent and signed a four-year pact with the
Baltimore Orioles. Jiménez floundered in Baltimore, going a combined
32-42 with a 5.22 ERA for the club and wrapping up his major league
career with a particularly rough 2017 in which he logged an ugly 6.81
ERA. However, two years later, he returned to the mound to pitch in the
Dominican Winter League, and subsequently joined the Rockies as a
non-roster invitee for spring training in hopes of making the team for
the 2020 campaign. Jiménez failed to make the club and officially
decided to call it a career later in the year.
In
addition to setting several single-season records for the Rockies
franchise during his banner 2010, Jiménez established multiple career
benchmarks for the team as well. Most notably, he currently stands atop
Colorado’s leaderboard in both ERA and ERA+, registering respective
3.66 and 128 figures in those metrics, while also pacing his pitching
peers with 18.9 WAR. Additionally, the righty shares a modest record
that highlights the difficulty of pitching for the Rockies as Jiménez
and Jason Jennings are the only pitchers to have thrown three shutouts
for the club.
While Jiménez was dominating
opposing hitters during the 2010 campaign, fledgling right-hander
Jhoulys Chacín was putting together a fine effort to break into
Colorado’s starting rotation. Initially signed by the Rockies in 2004
as a 16-year-old amateur free agent out of Venezuela, Chacín made his
big league debut for the team during the middle of 2009. Sparingly
used, the youngster made just nine appearances, all except one of which
came in relief. Opening 2010 in the minors, he quickly earned the
recall back to Colorado and turned in a sound performance, primarily
working as a starter and finishing the season with a 9-11 record and
3.28 ERA over 137 1/3 innings. Chacín’s 3.28 mark translated to a nifty
142 ERA+ that would have easily been good enough to crack the NL top-10
leaderboard had he accumulated the required number of frames.
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Now
a solidified member of the Rockies starting rotation, Chacín’s strong
pitching continued into 2011 as he went 11-14 with a 3.62 ERA across 194
innings. Sporting a steady 126 ERA+, the righty slotted eighth among
senior circuit hurlers while additionally ranking sixth with 4.2 WAR. An effective pitcher despite battling control problems, Chacín issued
an average of four free passes per nine frames and dubiously paced the
loop with 87 walks. Nevertheless, he offset his wildness by being one
of the toughest pitchers to generate contact on as evidenced by the fact
that he allowed only 7.8 hits per nine innings—the eighth-stingiest
total in the NL. Chacín made 18 of his 31 starts at Coors Field,
pitching slightly better at the unforgiving ballpark than on the road. With Ubaldo Jiménez’s struggles and subsequent trade, Chacín
distinguished himself as Colorado’s most effective starter on a pitching
staff that compiled a 4.43 ERA which ranked next-to-last in the NL as
the club further tumbled out of contention, skidding to a 73-89 record.
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After
authoring a pair of impressive campaigns, Chacín plodded through a
difficult 2012 which saw him sidelined from early May to late August
with shoulder inflammation. Limited to just 14 starts and 69 innings,
the righty went 3-5 with a 4.43 ERA and 105 ERA+. With Chacín unable to
lead the rotation, the Rockies sank to the bottom of the NL West with a
mere 64 wins while the team’s pitching staff registered a senior
circuit-worst 5.22 ERA. Healthy in 2013, Chacín battled back to his
pre-injury form, going 14-10 with a 3.47 ERA. The 25-year-old hurler
also earned the unique distinction of becoming the first Rockies pitcher
to make multiple appearances on the NL top-10 leaderboard for ERA+ as
his solid 129 figure slotted sixth-best. Classifying one position
behind Chacín with a 128 ERA+ was his southpaw rotation-mate Jorge De La
Rosa, marking the first time multiple Rockies hurlers cracked the
top-10 leaderboard in the metric. Yet, despite boasting the formidable
righty-lefty combo of Chacín and De La Rosa, the team only made modest
improvements from 2012, remaining in the NL West basement with a 74-88
record as the pitching staff once again ranked last among senior circuit
clubs in ERA, though on this occasion with a less-woeful 4.44 figure. In addition to breaking back into the top 10 for ERA+, Chacín also
returned to the leaderboard in WAR, slotting fifth among NL moundsmen
with a 5.8 mark. Pitching more to contact and relying less on striking
out hitters, Chacín exhibited better control than he had in 2011,
bringing his walk total down while cutting the amount of home runs he
allowed by almost half. In a repeat of 2011, Chacín made 18 of his 31
starts at Coors Field. However, this time around, he pitched much more
effectively on the road but compiled a better win-loss record at home.
Unfortunately,
Chacín’s shoulder issues crept back up in 2014, first sending him to
the sidelines for the start of the season before ending his campaign all
together in late June. In between stays on the DL, he made 11 starts,
producing a miserable 1-7 record and 5.40 ERA. He returned in time for
the following year’s spring training but struggled with his mechanics
while showing reduced velocity on his fastball. As a result, Colorado
decided to cut ties with the young righty and released him prior to the
start of the season. Chacín spent the next several years drifting
around MLB, pitching for six different teams between 2015 and 2020,
including two separate stints for the Atlanta Braves. Aside from a pair
of solid efforts in 2017 and 2018, he rarely was able to exhibit
anything close to the form he showcased while cracking the ERA+ top-10
leaderboard for Colorado during the 2011 and 2013 campaigns. Finally,
in 2021, the nomadic hurler’s travels brought him back to his original
club, as he rejoined the Rockies, this time in the less familiar role of
relief pitcher. After spending nearly all of his career as a starter,
at age 33, Chacín posted a serviceable 4.34 ERA as a middle reliever. The righty remained in Colorado’s bullpen for 2022 but after being
battered to the tune of a 7.61 ERA was released on September 15. Chacín
kept his skills sharp, returning to his home country to pitch in the
Venezuela Winter League and representing the nation in both the
Caribbean Series and the World Baseball Classic. However, he has likely
thrown his final big league pitch as he failed to draw any interest
from MLB clubs for 2023. Nevertheless, during his time in Colorado,
Chacín distinguished himself as one of the franchise’s top hurlers,
etching his name on the Rockies career leaderboard in several
categories, most notably ranking second only to Ubaldo Jiménez with a
4.05 ERA and slotting third with a 113 ERA+.
The
aforementioned southpaw half of the Colorado’s righty-lefty tandem that
cracked the 2013 NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard, Jorge De La Rosa initially
entered pro ball with the Arizona Diamondbacks after signing an amateur
free agent contract out of his native Mexico in 1998. Purchased by the
Boston Red Sox prior to the 2001 campaign, De La Rosa spent three
seasons in the franchise’s minor league chain before being sent back to
Arizona as one of four players to acquire marquee pitcher Curt Schilling
on November 28, 2003. However, De La Rosa’s reunion with the
Diamondbacks was brief as just three days later, he was shipped to the
Milwaukee Brewers as part of massive nine-player trade. The young lefty
earned his big league call-up to Milwaukee in August 2004 and was given
a handful of starts but pitched poorly, going 0-3 with a 6.35 ERA. He
was moved into the bullpen for 2005 where he only made small gains
before being dealt to the Kansas City Royals in July 2006. Primarily
used as starter by the Royals, he fared no better with his new team and
was sent to the Rockies as a player to be named later after opening the
2008 campaign in the minors.
Remaining in the
starting role, De La Rosa pitched decently for Colorado, ending 2008
with a 10-8 record, 4.92 ERA, and 95 ERA+. The following year began
poorly for the southpaw as he dropped each of his first six decisions
before recovering to go 16-3 over the balance of the season and finish
2009 with a 16-9 mark, 4.38 ERA, and 108 ERA+. Interestingly, even
though his ERA was nearly two runs higher at home than on the road, he
picked up 10 of his 16 wins at Coors Field to match the franchise’s
single-season record for wins at home which had been oddly set by a
full-time reliever, Gabe White, in 2000. De La Rosa’s strong pitching
down the stretch helped the Rockies secure the NL wild card. Unfortunately, he suffered a groin strain in his final start of the
regular season and was unable to take the mound during Colorado’s
NLDS-loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Injuries continued to plague De
La Rosa, limiting him to a mere 33 starts over the next three years,
the most severe of which was a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery
and shelved him for the majority of the 2011 and 2012 campaigns.
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However,
De La Rosa rebounded from his injuries to turn in his finest effort,
concluding 2013 with a 16-6 record and 3.49 ERA. De La Rosa’s superb
.727 win-loss percentage ranked second-highest in the senior loop while
his victory total slotted third. Additionally, he classified seventh
with a 128 ERA+, placing one spot behind his rotation-mate Jhoulys
Chacín. The southpaw also joined his righty colleague on the WAR
leaderboard, accruing a 4.4 mark that ranked eighth-best among NL
hurlers. De La Rosa pitched phenomenally at Coors Field, going 10-1
with a 2.76 ERA compared to a mediocre 6-5 record and 4.19 ERA on the
road. One of the toughest pitchers to take deep in 2013, the
32-year-old was particularly stingy at home where he surrendered just
three long balls across 81 2/3 innings.
De La
Rosa continued to pitch masterfully at Coors Field during 2014, notching
a 10-2 record and 3.08 ERA. However, his struggles on foreign soil
became much more pronounced as he went 4-9 with a 5.09 ERA to give him
an overall 14-11 mark, 4.10 ERA, and 104 ERA+ for the season. The lefty
produced a similar 4.17 figure in 2015 before seeing his ERA soar to
5.51 for 2016, his final year with Colorado. De La Rosa then signed a
free agent deal to re-join the Diamondbacks. Converted into a relief
pitcher by Arizona, the veteran put together a respectable effort and
ended the 2017 campaign by getting the opportunity to pitch in the
postseason for the first time in his career. De La Rosa re-signed with
the Diamondbacks for 2018 but suffered a drop in performance and was
released in early August. Picked up by the Chicago Cubs a few days
later, he rediscovered his tempo and finished the year on a strong note,
in the process getting his second taste of postseason play. De La Rosa
attempted to return to Colorado in 2019, signing a minor league deal
with the club. However, he developed an oblique strain and was released
in June, a move that brought an end to his baseball career.
Although
he was denied the chance to return to the Rockies, De La Rosa stands
atop the franchise’s career leaderboard in both victories and strikeouts
while also pacing the team in the dubious categories of walks and wild
pitches. Be that as it may, the .585 win-loss percentage he compiled
over his nine seasons with Colorado represents the winningest mark among
the franchise’s starting pitchers. What’s more, with 53 of his 86
victories for the Rockies coming at Coors Field, De La Rosa is by far
the winningest pitcher in the history of the ballpark.
Five
years after Chacín and De La Rosa became the first pair of Rockies
hurlers to simultaneously crack the NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard, the 2018
campaign witnessed Colorado’s lefty-righty combo of Kyle Freeland and
Germán Márquez turn the trick. A Denver native, Freeland was selected
by his hometown team with the eighth overall pick in the first round of
the 2014 draft. The franchise quickly reaped the benefits of signing
the local product as Freeland made Colorado’s roster to open the 2017
season and put together a solid rookie effort, going 11-11 with a 4.10
ERA across 156 innings that translated to a more impressive 123 ERA+. Had Freeland tossed six additional frames, his 123 mark would have been
good enough to crack the senior circuit top-10 leaderboard. The young
hurler’s steady pitching helped the Rockies capture the second NL wild
card and return to the postseason for the first time in eight years. However, Freeland was denied the opportunity to take the mound in the
playoffs as Colorado fell to the Diamondbacks in the NL Wild Card Game.
Both
Freeland and the Rockies looked to carry the momentum into 2018. The
sophomore lefty tripped out of the gate, however, dropping his first
three decisions while registering a 5.85 ERA through his initial 20
innings. Freeland’s struggles did not last long as he quickly righted
the ship, bringing his ERA under 4.00 and his record back to .500 while
the club attempted to establish itself as a contender in the NL West
division and wild card races. During the second half of June, the
25-year-old hurler embarked on a brilliant run, going 11-1 over the
remainder of the campaign to finish 2018 with a 17-7 record and 2.85 ERA
across 202 1/3 innings. In his final start of the regular season,
Freeland earned the Rockies a postseason berth with a victory over the
Washington Nationals. Narrowly edged out by the Los Angeles Dodgers for
the NL West crown, Colorado once again secured the second wild card. This time around, Freeland was given the ball to start the NL Wild Card
Game and the young phenom did not disappoint, tossing six and two-third
scoreless frames versus the Chicago Cubs. When Rockies manager Bud
Black lifted Freeland from the game, his team held a slim 1-0 lead. However, Freeland did not factor into the decision as Colorado’s
bullpen was unable to hold the lead, allowing Chicago to even the score
in the eighth before the Rockies prevailed to win the game in the 13th
inning. Colorado advanced to the NLDS where they were defeated by the
Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game sweep. Because Freeland had taken the
hill against the Cubs on short rest, he was not scheduled to pitch
until Game Four of the NLDS. Thus, his Wild Card Game start proved to
be his only appearance of the playoffs. Nevertheless, Freeland’s clutch
pitching had been instrumental in the Rockies reaching the postseason
in consecutive years for the first time in franchise history.
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With
his superb sophomore effort, Freeland followed in the footsteps of
Marvin Freeman and Ubaldo Jiménez, becoming just the third Rockies
hurler to crack the NL top 10 in both ERA+ and traditional ERA as his
respective 166 and 2.85 marks ranked fourth and fifth on the
leaderboard. Each of these figures also represented new franchise-bests
achieved over a full-length 162-game campaign. Additionally,
Freeland’s 17 wins and 7.7 WAR slotted fourth among senior circuit
moundsmen while his .708 win-loss percentage classified sixth. Freeland
pitched magnificently at Coors Field, going 10-2 with a 2.40 ERA, thus
matching Gabe White’s and Jorge De La Rosa’s single-season franchise
record for wins at home while producing the lowest home ERA for any
Rockies starting pitcher with 50 or more innings. Award voters
recognized Freeland’s phenomenal pitching as he finished fourth on the
NL Cy Young ballot, joining Freeman and Jiménez as the only Rockies
hurlers to classify among the top five in the election.
After
putting together a solid rookie campaign and an excellent sophomore
season, Freeland had successfully established himself as one of the top
young pitchers in baseball. However, the southpaw slumped heavily in
2019, at one point even being demoted to the minors as he posted an
uneven 3-11 record and ghastly 6.73 ERA. Freeland’s abysmal year
mirrored the team’s struggles as Colorado sank to fourth place with a
71-91 mark. Freeland rallied back to recapture some of his form during
the pandemic-shortened 2020, notching a 4.33 ERA and 120 ERA+ while the
Rockies narrowly avoided finishing in the NL West cellar. A series of
fair to middling performances followed though, as the hurler registered
respective ERA+ figures of 111, 102, and 100 over the next three seasons
while maintaining sub-.500 records during each of those campaigns. After a third-straight fourth-place result in 2021, Colorado’s troubles
compounded with the team sinking to last in both 2022 and 2023. Nevertheless, early in the 2022 season, the Rockies front office showed
its faith in Freeland by signing him to an extension that runs through
the 2026. Thus, barring a substantial drop in performance, catastrophic
injury, or departing the club via trade, Freeland will soon become the
franchise leader in pitcher WAR as his 18.1 mark is within sight of the
18.9 total Jiménez compiled during his time with the Rockies.
The
aforementioned right-handed half of Colorado’s lefty-righty combo that
cracked the 2018 NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard, Germán Márquez began his
professional baseball career in the Tampa Bay Rays organization after
being signed out of his native Venezuela at age 16 in July 2011. Márquez languished in the Rays minor league system, only having
progressed through high A-ball when he was swapped to the Rockies as
part of a four-player deal prior to the 2016 campaign. The youngster
immediately clicked with his new club and quickly climbed up Colorado’s
organizational ladder during 2016, going from Double A to Triple A
before making his big league debut for the Rockies in early September. Márquez then put together a steady rookie effort, finishing 2017 with
an 11-7 record and 4.39 ERA that translated to a 115 ERA+ which ranked
14th-best in the senior circuit.
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Márquez
carried the momentum into 2018, going 14-11 with a 3.77 ERA while
grabbing the final spot on the NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard with a 125
mark. In stark contrast to his southpaw counterpart Freeland, Márquez
pitched much more effectively away from Coors Field. Like Freeland
though, the 23-year-old righty was at his best over the closing months
of the campaign, posting a 2.14 ERA in both August and September. During his final start of September, Márquez tied the major league
record shared by Jim Deshaies and Jacob deGrom by striking out the first
eight batters he faced. In the process of mowing down those eight
batters, Márquez surpassed the Rockies single-season franchise benchmark
of 214 strikeouts set by Ubaldo Jiménez in 2010. For his excellent
September, Márquez was named NL Pitcher of the Month. However, he ended
the regular season on a sour note, surrendering four runs over four and
two-third innings and taking the loss against the Dodgers in an October
1 tiebreaker game to decide the NL West title. As a result, Colorado
had to settle for the second NL wild card. Nevertheless, Márquez’s
superb late-season pitching had been instrumental in the team reaching
the playoffs. He toed the slab six days later for Game Three of the
NLDS with the Rockies facing elimination versus the Brewers. Márquez
pitched decently, allowing a pair of runs across five frames but was
tagged as the losing pitcher after Milwaukee shutdown Colorado’s offense
to win the game 6-0. The righty finished the campaign with 230
strikeouts, the NL’s fourth-highest total. Additionally, with 14
victories and 4.1 WAR, he slotted on the senior circuit moundsmen
leaderboard, ranking ninth in both categories. A strong hitter for a
pitcher, Márquez often helped his own cause, batting .300 for the year. At season’s end, he joined Mike Hampton as the second Rockies hurler to
earn the NL Silver Slugger Award.
Although
Colorado took a significant step backwards and fell out of playoff
contention following the 2018 campaign, Márquez continued to pitch at a
productive level over the next three seasons, going a combined 28-22
with a 4.42 ERA and 113 ERA+. The young hurler put in a workhorse
effort, tossing the 12th-highest number of frames in MLB during that
stretch while pacing the NL in both games started and innings pitched in
2020 and complete games in 2021. On June 29, 2021, Márquez nearly
became the first Rockies pitcher to throw a no-hitter at Coors Field as
he held the Pittsburgh Pirates hitless for eight frames before finally
yielding a single to Ka’ai Tom to open the ninth inning. Márquez erased
Tom by inducing the next batter, Michael Perez to ground into a double
play and completed the one-hit shutout by retiring Adam Frazier to end
the game. In addition to nearly spinning a no-hitter, the 2021 campaign
also saw the righty earn his first All-Star selection.
However,
Márquez slumped to a 9-13 record and 4.95 ERA in 2022. He had posted
an identical ERA through his initial four starts of 2023 when he was
sidelined with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery and cost
him the remainder of the season. Despite the injury, the Rockies front
office showed optimism in Márquez’s recovery, signing the hurler to a
two-year contract extension that runs through 2025. Márquez currently
sits just a pair of strikeouts behind Jorge De La Rosa’s
franchise-leading total of 985. Additionally, Márquez ranks third
all-time among Rockies hurlers in wins, fourth in WAR, and fifth in
games started. Márquez will be 29 years old entering the 2024 campaign
and provided he returns from injury and pitches effectively, he could
very well stand atop the franchise leaderboard in one or more of those
categories by the end of 2025.
After making the
playoffs in 2018, the Rockies quickly went into a tailspin as each of
the next five seasons saw the club finish well under .500 with
back-to-back last-place results in 2022 and 2023. One of the few strong
pitching performances over that span came from right-hander Antonio
Senzatela who delivered a steady 2020 effort to become the most recent
Rockies hurler to classify on NL ERA+ top-10 leaderboard. Like Márquez,
Senzatela hailed from Venezuela and was signed out of his native
country at age 16 in July 2011. In Senzatela’s case, he was signed by
the Rockies and slowly climbed up the franchise’s minor league chain
before making the team’s big league roster to begin the 2017 campaign. The youngster raced out to a 7-1 record with a 3.19 ERA over his first
10 starts but soon found himself relocated to the bullpen following a
series of tough outings. Senzatela concluded his rookie season with a
10-5 record, 4.68 ERA, and 108 ERA+. He remained in the bullpen to open
2018, ultimately making his return to the starting rotation in July and
for the second consecutive year, ended the campaign with a 108 ERA+. Senzatela maintained his spot in the rotation during 2019 despite
laboring through an ugly season in which he registered a 6.71 ERA that
translated to an ERA+ of 77.
Senzatela shook
off his difficult 2019 and reestablished himself with an impressive
2020, going 5-3 with a 3.44 ERA during the 60-game, pandemic-shortened
season. The 25-year-old righty put in a workhorse effort, ranking
fourth in the NL with 12 starts while slotting fifth with 73 1/3
innings. Senzatela’s 151 ERA+ earned him the final spot on the senior
circuit top-10 leaderboard as he additionally classified seventh among
NL hurlers with 2.5 WAR. Senzatela pitched brilliantly at Coors Field
where he crafted a 3-0 record and 2.10 ERA compared to a 2-3 mark and
4.62 ERA on enemy turf. He surrendered nine long balls during the
campaign with only one of those coming at home.
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Senzatela
followed up his strong 2020 by posting a respectable 4.42 ERA and 109
ERA+ in 2021, while being victimized by poor run support which resulted
in an uneven 4-10 record. Nevertheless, he continued to showcase his
best pitching at home. Likely with Senzatela’s ability to succeed at
Coors Field in mind, during the offseason, the Rockies front office made
a point of securing his services, signing him to a five-year contract
extension worth $50.5 million that runs through 2026 and includes a team
option for 2027. Senzatela floundered in 2022, however, going 3-7 with
a 5.07 ERA and 91 ERA+ before a torn ACL brought a premature end to his
season in mid-August. He returned to the mound during the following
May, only to be quickly sidelined once again, this time by an elbow
injury that required Tommy John surgery and closed the curtain on his
campaign after just two starts. With Márquez and Senzatela both on the
shelf due to season-ending injuries, the Rockies struggled to a
franchise-worst 59-103 record for 2023. Senzatela is expected to remain
sidelined for the majority of 2024. When the right-hander returns from
his latest injury, he will look to maintain his excellence at Coors
Field where, to date, he has compiled a nifty 27-14 record and 4.57 ERA. At the same time, he will aim to improve his fortunes on the road where
thus far he has registered a wretched 12-29 mark and 5.22 ERA.
Through
31 seasons of Colorado Rockies baseball, only 10 of the club’s pitchers
have managed to produce 11 finishes among the NL ERA+ top-10
leaderboard. Although three of those 10 hurlers—Kyle Freeland, Germán
Márquez, and Antonio Senzatela—are currently part of the Rockies 40-man
roster, their recent battles with injuries and ineffectiveness
underscore the difficulty Colorado’s pitchers face by plying their trade
in the thin air and high elevation of Coors Field.
by John Tuberty
Stat
links to main players mentioned:
Marvin Freeman,
Kevin Ritz,
Joe Kennedy,
Jason Jennings,
Ubaldo Jiménez,
Jhoulys Chacín,
Jorge De La Rosa,
Kyle Freeland,
Germán Márquez,
Antonio Senzatela,
Greg Maddux,
Bret Saberhagen,
Mike Hampton,
Jacob deGrom,
Troy Tulowitzki,
Darryl Kile,
Pedro Astacio,
Aaron Cook,
Jeff Francis
Sources:
Cards:
Marvin Freeman 1994 Score Rookie & Traded, Ubaldo Jiménez 2010
eTopps, Kyle Freeland 2019 Bowman, Marvin Freeman 1995 Upper Deck
Collectors Choice, Marvin Freeman 1994 Fleer Update, Kevin Ritz 1995
Fleer, Kevin Ritz 1996 Pacific Crown Collection, Joe Kennedy 2004
Donruss Studio, Joe Kennedy 2004 Topps, Jason Jennings 2004 Leaf Second
Edition, Jason Jennings 2003 Fleer Double Header, Ubaldo Jiménez 2011
Topps, Ubaldo Jiménez 2011 Topps Checklist, Jhoulys Chacín 2014 Topps,
Jhoulys Chacín 2013 Topps, Jorge De La Rosa 2016 Topps, Jorge De La Rosa
2016 Topps Stadium Club, Kyle Freeland 2017 Bowman-Prospects, Kyle
Freeland 2022 Topps Heritage, Germán Márquez 2019 Topps Heritage, Germán
Márquez 2022 Topps Heritage, Antonio Senzatela 2022 Topps Series 2,
Antonio Senzatela 2018 Topps
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