Is the Rockies' Pitching Staff sneaky good?

If there’s one thing that the Colorado Rockies have been historically known for during their time in Major League Baseball, it’s horrid pitching staffs.

There have been very few outlier seasons for the Rockies in terms of their pitching. The lowest number of runs they’ve given up over a full season is 715 in 2009. For reference, that number would have placed them in the bottom half of the league in 2024.

Pitchers in Colorado can not always be blamed for their struggles. Coors Field, the home of the Rockies, has an elevation of approximately 5,200 feet. Because of this, the air is much thinner than that of ballparks near sea level, and fly balls tend to travel further. So, at Coors, home run rates are often higher than in other stadiums, leading to inflated run totals.

The Rockies have had good pitchers here and there, headlined by right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, but the staff as a whole can seemingly never figure out how to limit runs.

To begin the 2025 season, though, things have been different for the Colorado pitching staff. Although the team is 2-7, a record good for last place in the loaded NL West, their starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.61. Before last night, that number was even lower at a tidy mark of 2.08.

The rotation isn’t exactly a collection of name-brand arms. At the moment, Colorado’s five starters are Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan Feltner and Chase Dollander. Here is a brief rundown of each member of this group.

Kyle Freeland

Freeland may already be the second-best pitcher in franchise history. The 32-year-old lefty has accumulated a 4.45 ERA in his nine seasons in the big leagues, amassing 207 wins.

Freeland has never thrown particularly hard, and he doesn’t strike out many hitters. When he has been successful, he has limited hard contact and abstained from walking hitters.

This year, he’s in the 94th percentile in chase rate, the 68th percentile in hard-hit percentage and has not walked a batter. Freeland will need to remain above-average in those metrics to maintain his success, but it seems that at least early on in the season, he’s returned to his prime form.

Germán Marquez

Marquez has gone about his business differently than Freeland, as he has already walked six batters compared to just seven strikeouts. However, the common denominator is that, similarly to Freeland, he has not allowed a home run so far.

The veteran righty throws hard enough, with an average velocity of about 95 miles per hour on his fastball. In his career, he’s conquered Coors Field by using his sinker to generate a litany of ground balls.

Marquez has a career rate of 1.2 home runs per nine innings, a brilliant mark for the environment he pitches in. He’s missed the majority of the past three seasons due to a bevy of injuries, but he’s gone right back to business this year, generating ground balls at a 53.1% clip.

Antonio Senzatela

Senzatela has been with the Rockies since 2017, and his career has been very up-and-down to this point.

The righty has always had a knack for keeping the ball in the ballpark and preventing walks. Senzatela’s pitching style is nearly identical to Marquez's, and he has also rarely pitched in the past three seasons because of various injuries.

Senzatela’s peripheral stats look much worse than Marquez's, as he’s only graded above-average in walk rate and ground ball percentage.

He looks like he is due for a bit of regression as the season progresses, as his expected ERA is a ghastly 6.69. Nonetheless, his good command will at least give him a chance to compete.

Ryan Feltner

Feltner might be the clearest candidate for regression out of this group.

He lacks a true out pitch and tends to allow hard contact. Felter’s career ERA is 5.19, and he’s the only starter outside of Dollander who has surrendered a home run thus far.

Yet, as with the other pitchers we have discussed, 51.5% of batted balls against him have been on the ground, and he’s only walked two batters.

Feltner would probably be better suited bumping up his sinker usage. Only 9% of his offerings have been sinkers, while 35% of his pitches have been 4-seam fastballs.

Doing so would allow him to transition into even more of a ground ball pitcher, as he’s currently stuck somewhere in between trying to induce grounders and trying to strike hitters out.

Chase Dollander

Rounding out the rotation is perhaps the pitcher with the highest upside, Chase Dollander. The 2023 first-round pick made his big league debut on Sunday, allowing four runs over five innings while striking out six batters. He gave up two home runs.

Dollander has a very different pitching style from the other Rockies pitchers. He has a power fastball, which averaged 97.8 miles per hour in his debut, which he pairs with a slider, curveball and a changeup.

The prospect's pedigree speaks for itself, but pitchers who rely on sliders often struggle to pitch in high-altitude environments.

Dollander has all the stuff to succeed, but Coors Field may not be the best home for him, considering his arsenal. The Rockies hope that his extreme velocity and pure movement will overcome the thin air of the Mile-High City.

As you can see, these pitchers have succeeded this year by generating a lot of ground balls.

This works very well for them, primarily due to the Rockies' pair of elite defenders on the left side of the infield. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar is in the 88th percentile in fielding run value, and third baseman Ryan McMahon has historically been a tremendous defender.

In all likelihood, the Rockies will end up near the bottom of the league in ERA by the end of the season. Nonetheless, the front office has done a fine job of finding pitchers who specialize in inducing ground balls to combat the high altitude, which at least gives the pitching staff a chance of succeeding despite the unfavorable field conditions.

Dominick Pizzelanti is a second-year dual-majoring in broadcast journalism and Spanish. To contact him, email dqp5565@psu.edu.