Jon Gray set to make season debut, Carlos Estevez MLB debut for Rockies

Colorado Rockies manager Walt Weiss hopes Friday night’s return of uber-promising Jon Gray to the rotation will be a “shot in the arm” for the club.

Weiss furthered that Gray was not on any kind of pitch or innings limit for his season debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers but this being his first start of the season, one would not be shocked to see the team avoid pushing him too hard.

Additionally, the Rockies made a series of roster moves Friday, sending Jason Gurka and David Hale to Albuquerque and calling up Gonzalez Germen and Carlos Estevez who is in line to make his MLB debut. The team also had to place their best reliever of the season so far — Miguel Castro — on the 15-day DL, which was expected. Weiss reiterated that the team does not believe the injury to be too serious and hopes Castro can return to his newly-earned lat-inning role soon.

Gurka has thrown 9.2 IP in 2016 and is sporting a 9.31 ERA. His strikeout to walk ratio has been good, but Gurka has simply found too many bats in his brief chances.

Hale has only thrown two innings at MLB this season, called up when the team needed an extra man during the road trip because of an injury to Nick Hundley. He posted a 13.50 ERA.

Germen has yet to give up a run in six innings at Triple-A this season. He was also posting a wicked 10.50/1.50 strikeout to walk ratio. He pitched 38.2 innings last season at MLB with a 4.41 ERA. Despite decent numbers, the 28-year-old Germen has yet to stick in the Majors mostly due to a high walk rate. If he has slayed that demon, he could be a dark-horse addition to the roster.

Estevez was a revelation in the Rockies system in 2015. Coming in with few-to-no expectations, he rocketed through High-A up to Double-A immediately establishing himself as the Closer. He recorded 13 Saves while striking out over ten batters an inning, despite the obstacles that often accompany mid-season promotions. The Rockies liked what they saw from him in spring training after giving him a 40-man roster spot and now he will find out if his big arm (97 mph regularly) can play with the big boys.

“It’s gonna be exciting to see,” Weiss said of the potential debut, “He’s got a big power arm and we’re looking forward to getting a look at it.”