Ranking The Rockies: 29 Yohan Flande

We at BSN Denver are running a series where we rank how valuable each of the Rockies’ 51 players was to the team in 2015. Value was calculated by statistics, viewing, and how memorable each player’s contributions were. The rankings will be from last to first, you may view the full rankings (here).

Player: Yohan Flande

Stats: 19 G, 68.1 IP, 3-3, 4.74 ERA, 1.434 WHIP, 5.68 FIP, 99 ERA+, 5.7 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, -0.4 WAR

Big Moment: Aug 20, the Nationals are in Denver facing the Rockies, pitching for Washington is All-Star Max Scherzer. Flande arguably out-duels one of the NL’s top aces in a 3-2 Rockies win. He pitched seven innings allowing two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five and inducing 12 groundballs. He finished with his highest game score of the season at 65.

Season Recap: The 29-year old surprisingly started the season at Double-A New Britain. I honestly think a lot of people felt bad for Flande who had spent nine seasons in the minors before making his big-league debut in 2014 because he was right back in the minors. Flande pitched almost 40 innings over six starts for the Rock Cats, before getting promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque where he made another six starts. He pitched for the Rockies as both a long reliever, and a starter making 10 starts in the majors. The left-hander proved for the second straight season that he is competent to a replacement-level pitcher. The depth provided by Flande over the past two years is something every team in the majors needs.

What’s Ahead: He is pre-arbitration eligible which means the Rockies can bring him back for the league’s minimum salary. He still on the 40-man and the Rockies have a few prospects that aren’t that may need to be protected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get cut for the protection of a younger player.