10 Best Rockies Moments: Senzatela pitches through Mother's Day emotions

We continue our countdown of the most memorable Rockies moments of 2017 with more pitching. It was an absolute banner year for the Rockies on the mound, who got some of the best performances they’ve ever seen as a franchise, most of them from young men who had never been tested at the MLB level. While the two rookies highlighted today both had plenty of frustrating moments to go along with these more pleasant ones, and both enter next season with questions marks galore floating over their heads like they are video game characters with information or a question for you, neither should be left out of any conversation about how the Rockies went from afterthought to contender in the first months of the season.

Honorable Mention: Starting Hoff Right

He may have ended the season looking lost in the bullpen and unhappy that he had fallen into eighth or ninth place (with Tyler Chatwood still in the picture at the time) on the starting rotation depth chart, but Jeff Hoffman started the season looking every bit the potential ace that made him the primary return in the Troy Tulowitzki trade.

He finished the season with an ugly 5.89 ERA and a 1.470 WHIP. But make no mistake, the Rockies, in all likelihood, would not have made the postseason without Hoffman’s first five starts. Going 4-0 over those five games, he collected 36 strikeouts to just six walks, posting a 2.25 ERA over 32 innings. Back-to-back seven-inning performances against the Phillies saw him strike out 16 batters while giving up just two runs. At a time when Colorado was building a lead it would stubbornly cling to in the standings, the Rockies became desperate for someone to step into the rotation and stop the bleeding after injuries to Jon Gray and Tyler Anderson and Chad Bettis.

Ultimately, Hoffman didn’t have the kind of breakout campaign he was looking for, the kind that would have put him on the path we’ve seen Gray following. But they gave a glimpse into the kind of potential Hoffman still has.

No. 8: Senzatela Honors Mom, May 14

Antonio Senzatela was pitching to keep pace with the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in the win column in mid-May. A young man that most pundits and more than a few players had never heard of before opening day, Senzatela found himself suddenly carrying a heavy load for a team making surprise waves across MLB. But, for just one day, all of that was secondary. By May 14, it was clear the Rockies had something special in this young pitcher (as well as a few others) and that this season held far more promise than the ones prior. On that day, pennant races and the business of baseball fell by the wayside as everyone turned their undivided attention to this rookie attempting something that most of us, as manager Bud Black put it to us after the game, could only imagine.

Less than one year after losing his mother to cancer, the 22-year-old took the mound with only seven MLB games under his belt and pitched his team to a win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It wasn’t the most dominating effort of all time –  four runs over five innings – but there were no dry eyes in the house when he took the mound… on Mother’s Day. Hard to imagine a better story than that.

Anyone who has ever lost a loved one before their time knows that feeling of a lack of closure and an unending desire to show that person how much they meant to you. On this day, Antonio Senzatela, who wears a special rosary around his neck for every start to honor his mother, got a chance to say thank you… and goodbye.

He pitched well enough for his team to win and anyone who was lucky enough to witness his performance will recall the deep, guttural feeling that Senzatela wasn’t just battling but was using all of his emotions just to get through the day.

So much of what we focus on in this game comes down to cold and clinical analysis and most times that is both necessary and useful. But if ever there was a reminder that baseball is a game played by humans, it came in watching Senza battle through his emotions, telling BSN Denver once it was all over that he pitched to make his mother proud. We can be sure that he did.

If you kept your composure completely, you may want to check for a pulse.

On this day, arguing that ballplayers are not just a collection of statistics and that this game cannot be boiled down entirely to numbers came easy. In fact, Senzatela’s whole season might make a fine entry in that category. He put up a decent 4.65 ERA and a pretty good 10-5 record in 2017, but he was so much more valuable to the identity of the Rockies over the course of the 36 games he appeared in than those numbers would suggest. Like Hoffman, he helped keep the team more than afloat in the early going, never letting his lack of experience scare him away from being an anchor for an eventual playoff team. It was at this time, perhaps never more so than during this game, that the righty began defining himself with a trait that escapes far more seasoned players.

These days, whenever we ask Jeff Bridich or Bud Black about the Coors Field Effect, they don’t accept the premise that certain kinds of players are more or less naturally inclined to succeed in their environment… with one exception: they always talk about the caliber of character. To them, it’s not about groundball pitchers or flyball hitters, it’s about strong minds who can deal with chaotic factors and power through. With Senzatela, the Rockies had the poster child for this philosophy.

Bearing witness to this moment was equal parts heart-wrenching and uplifting. And it was absolutely unforgettable.