Rockies young bullpen brings the heat and the hype

Can the Rockies young bullpen be considered a top bullpen in the Major League’s? Bud Black thinks so.

Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters on Wednesday that based on pure stuff he believes the Rockies bullpen is “up there with anybody”. My knee-jerk reaction to his statement was to reel in the opposite direction. But after some careful consideration, and some minor digging, I think there might be some truth buried in his words.

Let’s unpack it.

There’s no denying the Rockies bullpen struggles over the last few years have been atrocious. We’re talking historically bad.

The bullpen claimed the top spot in 2024 for worst ninth-inning ERA (7.10) in MLB, beating out the Blue Jays for that crown by 1.22 runs.

They also set a Modern Era (since 1900) record by squandering six leads of five or more runs in the ninth inning or later. Not the way you want to be setting records.

BUT WAIT! It wasn’t all bad.

Cue the 2024 All-Star break. The Rockies sat miles out of both the divisional and wild card race (well, that part was still bad), but after doing some reflection on the state of the franchise they decided to fully endorse a new movement– the youth movement.

The Rockies dug into their farm and out of the soil they brought up Seth Halvorsen, Jaden Hill, Luis Peralta (via trade), and Jeff Criswell. Two other young rookie hurlers Victor Vodnik and Angel Chivilli were already on the roster.

The combination of these pitchers immediately began paying dividends.

Post-All-Star game, the Rockies bullpen averaged 95.4 mph, the third highest in MLB over that time span.

During that same duration, the Rockies rocketed 173 pitches over 99 mph, eighth most in MLB.

By the final month of the season, Rockies relievers were averaging 98.2 mph on their fastball, second in MLB.

Although a lively fastball is fun for the fans, a true ball-knower is painfully aware that a 100 mph fastball can only go so far in today’s league. The real reason this bullpen has given us a chance to be optimistic is due to their ability to get outs.

For example, in his first 13 innings pitched at the big league level, Luis Peralta did not allow a run. That was the longest scoreless streak to begin a career by a Rockies reliever in franchise history. 

Entering the final road series of the season the Rockies rookie relievers Luis Peralta (0.00), Seth Halvorsen (0.00), Jaden Hill (4.50), Jeff Criswell (2.30) and Angel Chivilli (3.29), all age 24 or younger, combined for a 2.62 ERA (68.2 IP, 20 ER) with 66 strikeouts.

Small sample size of course, but they did this against some of the best teams in all of baseball at the time (NYY, MIL, PHI, LAD, SD).

All that being said, the Rockies bullpen needs a much bigger sample size if we can officially consider them up there with the likes of the Dodgers and Phillies. They seem to have the right pieces though.

“I think about our bullpen– the young arms– that got the call-up and instantly helped produce. [Seth] Halvorsen, Jaden Hill, [Angel] Chivilli, Victor Vodnik, they are all electric and it got to a point later in the year where if we had a lead late in the seventh forward we were pretty confident we were winning the game. To have those guys super young is awesome to see” said Rockies gold glove center fielder Brenton Doyle.

It’s rare for Rockies fans to be able to get excited about the bullpen, but as the offseason winds down and pitchers begin to wind up, the Rockies bullpen is giving us a big reason to look forward to 2025.

I’ll take it.