The Curious Case of the Colorado Rockies' Jon Gray

Aug. 4, 2015 was an important day in the history of the Colorado Rockies.

After all the talk and all the speculation, Jon Gray made his debut on the mound of Coors Field. The right-hander has been called the savior of the Rockies’ terrible starting rotation. He was going to cement himself as the ace of the next 10 years.

Well, it did not go exactly that way but Gray showed flashes. He was on a strict inning count and never pitched later than the sixth inning. In his nine starts, Gray only got past the fifth inning four times. Some of that were restrictions and some of that was his performance at times.

At the end of his short stint, the righty finished with a 0-2 record and a 4.50 earned run average. He threw 40 2/3 innings with 14 walks and 40 strikeouts. The ability to strike batters out was a plus for the Rockies but his inefficiency with pitch count and some big innings could be labeled as concerns.

The disheartening part of his time with the big-league club was his struggles at Coors Field. Three of his worst starts of the season came at 20^th and Blake. He gave up seven earned runs against the Mets on Aug 21 and didn’t get out of the second inning. There were two starts after that were also alarming. He gave up four and five earned runs in those starts.

Not saying giving up four or five runs in Denver would mean Gray couldn’t get a win but his home ballpark seems to be a bit in his head after only a few starts.

“I feel like my road numbers are good,” he told The Denver Post back in September. “But here, they’re really bad. If I can just … I don’t know if it’s setting my sights on pitches or what, but I have to make a change fast. I have to pitch here.”

I’ve pitched fine on the road. I just can’t find that — whatever it is — to make an adjustment to pitch in this place.”

Gray had a 2.70 ERA on the road, 8.27 at home. He has allowed more than twice as many hits (36-16) and more than three times as many runs (20-6) in Colorado, a place where he will have to pitch half of his games.

So, what do the Rockies do with Gray? Sending him back to the minors for some more seasoning seems like a giant step back for the righty. He finally got a call-up last season that he deserved long before that. Don’t let him start the season with the Isotopes. He is not a minor-league pitcher.

Gray’s nasty stuff is good enough to dominate in the major leagues. He showed it in several starts on the road. His strongest outings were against the Mets at Citi Field and against the Padres at Petco Park. Those are two pitcher-friendly parks to say the least. Another strong performance was against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Gray can deal on the road but is having trouble dealing with the thin air of Coors Field. The solution is to have him just pitch through it. Do not stunt the guy’s progress because of these struggles. Coors Field is naturally intimidating and Gray will have to learn how to put those fears to the side.

The Rockies are going nowhere in 2016. It would be a huge accomplishment to get to .500 and competing in the ultra-competitive NL West would be a miracle. If the Rockies feel that Gray is the future, and there is no reason for them not to believe that as of now, let him pitch on a regular basis with a normal pitch count.

Gray needs to learn to be a major-league pitcher in Colorado and he can achieve that with some on-the-job training. The big right-hander is the perfect type of power arm the team needs. Let him pitch and don’t baby what the Rockies hope is an ace for the future.