So far in 2018, the Colorado Rockies have seen some ups and downs from their vaunted-but-still-young starting pitching rotation.
But they’ve been healthy, something that is a concern for every staff but has been especially crucial in Colorado.
Should that change, the Rockies remain well equipped to dip into their absurdly talented bullpen and have Antonio Senzatela step in, fulfilling the swingman role that was intended for him.
After Senza, though, things get a little bit tricky. An intriguing group of yet-to-debut arms—Yency Almonte, Sam Howard, Zach Jemiola, and Harrison Musgrave—are either not quite healthy or not quite ready. Or both.
And then there’s Jeff Hoffman who has been a bit of a mix of all of that.
Hoffman missed almost the entirety of his spring training with a shoulder injury and while he is back to full health, he is not yet back to full strength.
He gave up five runs in six innings over his first two starts. His second took place with Triple-A Albuquerque and manager Glenallen Hill did not mince words about his outing, telling BSN Denver reporter Patrick Lyons that there is work to be done.
“Yeah, it really was good to see him back on the mound and pitching,” he said He wasn’t sharp tonight, but it was good to get his pitch count up. He was very erratic. Not very sharp with the fastball, and his breaking ball was good at times but it’s not any consistency there.”
He bounced back in his third rehab outing, going 4.2 innings and giving up one run on two hits.
We’ve seen flashes of Hoffman’s brilliance before, most notably during May last year when he gave Colorado a string of dominant spot starts that helped power their early surge to 20 games over .500.
He was making good on every opportunity and making lineups look silly and appeared to be on the track to becoming a true top-of-the-rotation guy. But once the regular starts came, he began to falter again, losing consistency in his command and falling victim to the huge runaway innings that have plagued so many before him at Coors Field.
With other guys going well and the team in a pennant race, Hoffman was relegated to the bullpen where he again struggled, giving Rockies fans and brass plenty of pause about his future.
But the talent is still there.
Hoffman has arguably the best combination of stuff in the organization. His fastball can sit on 96-97 mph with movement and the curveball can be devastating but anyone who has watched pitching in Denver for a long time knows it takes more than talent.
Time will tell us if Jeff Hoffman has the mental fortitude to succeed at the cavernous confines of Coors Field but he definitely has the arm.
We will likely find out before too long because unless the Colorado Rockies experience a historic bout with remarkable health, they are going to need him.
