Spring Training is winding down and fans are excited to see the Colorado Rockies head into the 2024 season with renewed vigor and opportunity to redeem. Leading the way into a turnaround season are five veteran starting pitchers, so how can they do better this year than they have in the past?
At the helm is Kyle Freeland , the 30-year-old lefthander from Denver who is slated to pitch his third Opening Day game for the Rockies. Freeland will not face the Arizona Diamondbacks till Opening Day, but he is prepared to bring his new arsenal of knuckle-curves and changeups to thwart some of the D-back bats.
In the two spot is Cal Quantrill after he avoided arbitration this year when the Rockies agreed to a one-year contract for $6.55 million. Quantrill, a righthanded pitcher acquired from the Guardians, is adding a splitter to his pitching repertoire in the 2024 season. Pitching-to-contact is Quantrill’s style, and it looks like his symbiotic relationship to the Rockies’ defense is tight given the exemplary performance last Sunday against the San Franscisco Giants. Quantrill forces weak contact and that is blending well with Rockies defense so far this year as evidenced by his 2.53 spring ERA.
Next up is Austin Gomber who finished 2023 with a 9 – 9 record after 139 innings pitched. Gomber has struggled in the Cactus League this year with a 15.26 spring ERA and a 0 – 2 record. In September of last season, Gomber was placed on the 60-day IL for lower back inflammation as a precaution against rushing his healing to return to a losing season. With the team still carrying pitching starter, Antonio Senzatela on the IL-60 going into the season, it made sense why they gave Gomber an extended off season to recover. However, Gomber is probably a less-certain starter in the rotation with Peter Lambert waiting in the wings for his spot. Gomber can not have more games like the 21 hits he gave up to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday if he wants to retain his spot.
At this point in the rotation, it gets a little muddy with little differentiation between a recognizable starter and a possible starter. Ryan Feltner, the 27-year-old righthander, and Dakota Hudson, the 29-year-old righthander, are both only showing a couple innings at each outing this spring, so it was hard to see an obvious difference. What both Feltner and Hudson must pay attention to is the three other righthanded pitchers with start potential. Peter Lambert, Ty Blach, and German Marquez who have all seen time on the mound at the start of the game this spring, and all three have delivered results comparable to Feltner and Hudson.
The Colorado Rockies rotation seems strong and interesting at the one and two spots, but then there seems to be a lot of uncertainty and wishful thinking across the rest of the starter spots. Spring Training has not revealed an obvious choice for those second-half spots, and it has cast some doubt on Gomber’s ability to deliver in the three spot. With a week left before Opening Day, the Rockies rotation seems a little more uncertain than fans may have hoped for.
