It should mean something to a team’s front office when a fanbase as beleaguered as Colorado Rockies fans are gets more excited over the signing of a minor league pitcher than anyone else during the offseason.
At the risk of blowing things out of proportion here, the Rockies apparent signing of LHP Jefry Yan to a minor league sent joy through a fanbase that is often left feeling confused and frustrated.
The excitement for Yan, however, has nothing to do with his 96 mph fastball or sweeping slider. Rather, the excitement comes from the only reason I’m even writing this article. Rockies fans’ desire to get a good show when they go to the ballpark.
No one in their right mind remotely expects the 2025 Colorado Rockies to make it to the postseason. Not to say this can’t be a valuable year focused on young development but that’s beside the point.
The point is that Rockies fans aren’t expecting the world here. Not yet at least. What we do expect though, or at least hope for, is some fun baseball out on the field. And for a guy who has yet to even step foot on a big league field in his entire career, Jefry Yan looks like a hell of a lot of fun.
Known for his post-strikeout antics, he captivates a home fanbase after every pitch and likely infuriates an opposing team’s fanbase as well. A beautiful combo for us Rockies fans (we love playing spoiler).
Imagine this, Rockies are playing a road game in dreaded Los Angeles. It’s the bottom of the 9th, Rockies are up 1-0. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani steps to the plate. Jefry Yan toes the rubber and delivers three straight strikes, ringing up the Dodgers best hitter. As Yan delivers his final pitch he leaps six feet into the air and pumps his fist into his chest. Walker Buehler stands on the top step of the Dodgers dugout staring, glaring, as Yan celebrates on the hill.
Despite the Rockies not being able to hold a candle to the Dodgers talent longterm, this scenario would give me immense joy in the moment. And that is the exact reason why I love this signing for the Rockies.
I’m not alone either. Check out the reactions on the good ol’ social media machine.
The dude brings a funk and charisma that has never-before graced the likes of Coors Field. At least not recent enough for any of the newer fans to remember.
In a season that will likely be plagued with fan frustrations and head scratches (hopefully some good stuff too), it would be nice to see something different now and again. Something fun.
There’s a reason the fans reacted the way they did when the Savannah Bananas announced they would be stopping at Coors Field on their world tour next year. “Finally! Fun baseball again!” cried the masses.
And look, I’m not trying to take too much away from the Rockies here. There have been some good things to salvage from the past few seasons. Multiple gold gloves, some promising rookies, some great individual games last year, etc. But overall, back-to-back 100-loss seasons is the antithesis of fun.
So as we continue into an offseason that will likely not move the needle for Rockies fans all that much, I want to take a moment to appreciate a good signing when I see one. Not once have I even looked at Mr. Yan’s numbers while writing this article. There will be a time for that one day. But for now, I’m just happy the Rockies seemingly added a piece to their squad that could make watching baseball in Colorado just a little bit more enjoyable.
