Rockies carry insane talent and depth at starting pitching into 2019

For years – 25 of them in fact – hot stove conversation around the Colorado Rockies always had something to do with starting pitching.

But not this offseason.

No, during this break between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, all the chatter, rumors, and fan questions have been about how the club can acquire a big bat, maybe at catcher, first base, or in the outfield.

The script has flipped and the world at large is still slow in noticing.

Don’t get me wrong, Kyle Freeland’s near-unanimous fourth-place finish in the Cy Young voting is both a promising sign of the progress that has been made and is a completely fair spot for him to finish.

Freeland may at long last be the person who brings some sanity to the Coors Field debate.

But still, are the Rockies pitchers getting enough credit? Are they considered among the best staffs in baseball? Should they be?

In all the clamor for a bat, it seems somewhat lost that, despite all the well-documented offensive struggles, Colorado made the postseason for two consecutive years somehow.

German Marquez was able to grab some headlines along with Freeland thanks to his historic strikeout numbers and high-profile late-season starts but the rest of the staff is truly what sets this rotation apart from others in franchise history, and many others across the current landscape of the National League.

The Rockies have had dynamic duos before, most notably Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge de la Rosa in 2009, but they’ve never been as talented 3-10 as they are right now.

Even when you recognize that each of the next few guys went through some absolutely punishing moments in the 2018 season, it stands as arguably the most eye-popping stat of the year that Colorado needed just six starters for 161 games.

Jon Gray began the year as the incumbent top man in the rotation. His second-half performance in 2017 was one of, if not the, biggest factors for reaching the Wild Card game. But the horrors of that game were an omen of the year to come. He was so up and down in the first half that he was demoted to Triple-A for two outings before returning to MLB with a vengeance.

But as the stakes grew higher his performance began to resemble that fateful game from the year before and the whispers about his struggles in big games grew into roars. Still, the Rockies know they have a potentially elite arm that, if he can get himself right, could turn their dynamic duo into a trio in a hurry.

At this moment, Gray has the widest range of outcomes going into 2019. It’s not unreasonable to believe he could retake his spot at, or at least near, the top of the rotation with a stellar spring performance, especially if he shows up with a rejuvenated mindset and a plan to keep his body in prime condition. If it goes the other way, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he ends up outside looking in or forced into a bullpen role. Or traded.

In that way, he represents an extreme version of an element found in each of the next few pitchers on the staff.

Chad Bettis began the year as the Rockies best pitcher. By far. He carried them through the first month before experiencing a few speed bumps, then had his entire season derailed by a recurring finger blister. Needing to change the grip on his fastball, his performance suffered greatly upon return and he was moved into the bullpen to finish out the year.

He insisted that the injury and adjustment were not the primary reason for his struggles, so if a return to his health and familiar grip can get him back to the kind of pitcher he was in April of 2018, he can definitely be a part of the Rockies rotation moving forward.

If, however, a return to form appears unlikely early in spring training, Colorado would have incentive to move on from Bettis considering he is likely to make around $4 million in arbitration next season, money that could be spent in an area where the Rockies have less depth.

Tyler Anderson got off to a rough start, was brilliant through the middle part of the season and was a disaster the final month of the season before recovering just in time to have some of his best outings ever in the most important games he has ever pitched, including the NLDS.

Later admitting to some fatigue near the end of the year, Anderson looks to be a smaller adjustment away from solidifying himself as a reliable mid-rotation starter.

Astute observers will note that we have now discussed five pitchers meaning the following players would need to beat out someone with more experience.

Bud Black is fond of quoting what he calls “Rule Number One: Be Ready For Anything” and Antonio Senzatela seems to have gotten the message. Starting out the year as a swingman who provided some pivotal appearances out of the bullpen – including one in Miami where he entered the game in the second inning, earned the win and drove in the only run of the contest – he was eventually sent back to Triple-A to be stretched back out for a starter’s workload.

Ready on Alert Five like Maverick in Top Gun, Senzatela was waiting for the call.

Gray’s demotion was Senzatela’s promotion and the young man burst through the door determined to cement himself into the rotation. He pitched so well down the stretch that he was confidently handed the first game of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers. Senzatela did more than show up, throwing five innings of three-hit baseball; his only blemish a two-run homer given up to Christian Yelich.

He will likely get every opportunity to once again stake his claim to a rotation spot in spring.

Yency Almonte, Sam Howard, and Harrison Musgrave are next in line.

Each made their MLB debut out of the bullpen this year after working as starters in the minors.

Almonte has the highest ceiling of the bunch while the lefties have a bit more experience. Musgrave has shown enough polish and poise to not only make the postseason roster but factored in a couple of appearances as well.

All three will be dark horses to make the Opening Day rotation but each should have a very good shot of at least making the roster. A strong spring performance could do wonders for the depth-chart placement of any of these guys.

Behind them is a player who became a forgotten man to some degree in 2018. As the key piece in the Troy Tulowitzki trade, Jeff Hoffman got off to an injury-plagued start and his season was marked by inconsistencies. The hard-throwing righty was the lone man to start a game outside of Colorado’s core six, but his inability to settle in meant he wasn’t even called up when rosters expanded in September.

But a stretch of quality starts early in 2017, his raw talent, and the fact that an injury was involved means you can’t count him out of the race for the rotation either.

We’re now at 10 pitchers with MLB experience and success for the Rockies to choose from. Five have pitched in the postseason. All came from the Rockies system.

And we are not quite done.

If Almonte, Howard, Musgrave, and Hoffman represent intriguing talent with much yet to be seen in the same vein as Ryan McMahon, Raimel Tapia, and Garrett Hampson, then Peter Lambert is the pitching version of Brendan Rodgers.

Lambert has made his way quickly but steadily through the minors with remarkably consistent numbers. The 21-year-old has a cool and calm demeanor, and a career arc that suggests he is knocking on the door of destiny.

Beyond him is one last duo of players ready to make the jump to Triple-A, highly-touted prospects Jesus Tinoco and Ryan Castellani. Neither is in the running to break camp with the team but both are getting closer to their expected call-up times.

All this amounts to a collection of extraordinary talent that can potentially run 13 players deep. Going into next season, I would rank them as such:

1. Kyle Freeland

2. German Marquez

3. Tyler Anderson

4. Antonio Senzatela

5. Jon Gray

6. Chad Bettis

7. Yency Almonte

8. Harrison Musgrave

9. Sam Howard

10. Jeff Hoffman

11. Peter Lambert

12. Ryan Castellani

13. Jesus Tinoco

It’s worth noting that spots 3-6 and 7-10 are almost dead even and even those two groups are not that far apart. That could make for a lot of movement up and down this list in March.

Each of these players has a ton of upside along with a clear path toward making themselves better. This is why the annual talk of the Denver ballclub acquiring a veteran reliever have all but disappeared this time around.

So when conversations kick up around the holiday dinner tables about who has the best pitching rotation in baseball, be sure mention the Colorado Rockies.

And in so doing, remind them that a group that has just led the way to consecutive postseason berths has more talent, experience, confidence, and depth than they ever have before.