Evaluating The Talent: Jorge De La Rosa

Obviously it is difficult to grade Jorge De La Rosa‘s 2012 season because he spent most of it rehabbing from his Tommy John surgery and then from some complications thereafter. At one point we hoped De La Rosa would return by mid-summer, but before too long it was clear that it would be much longer than that until he returned.

I mean it when I say this – at least he is back. Image: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Before he was injured in 2011, the pressure placed on Jorge De La Rosa was tremendous. As a left handed starter who had proven he can pitch like an ace (gasp! at altitude!) and who had proven he can miss bats on a consistent basis, the Rockies counted on him for so much. When he went down that season went up in flames; although the cause and effect was not that simple, things started trending the wrong direction the moment he injured his throwing elbow.

As he tried to come back in 2012, the pressure placed on Jorge De La Rosa was tremendous. Although the window of time during which anybody in Colorado thought this team could contend was quite small, prospects were made that much bleaker once it was apparent De La Rosa could not make a quick return.

As the Colorado Rockies enter the 2013 season, the pressure placed on Jorge De La Rosa will be tremendous. Even with the uncertainty created by his extended time missed because of injury, he is one of the few proven pitchers on an otherwise frightening staff. Not only is he proven; he has proven that he can be an ace…no excuses, no qualifiers because he’s pitching at altitude. At the very least the Rockies need him to hold down one of the spots at the top of the rotation for most of 2013, even if he is not in “ace form” for much or any of the season.

As far as grading his 2012 campaign, there is not much good to be found in his three starts. He went 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA and only struck out 6 hitters. I am still willing to call it a success, however, simply because he got the truly ugly “first couple starts back from injury” out of his system, and he did so at a point in which the Rockies were truly irrelevant. Better at the end of an already ruined season than the beginning of a new one, right? Small victories, people. Small victories.

Where should De La Rosa be in 2013? With the Colorado Rockies as their #1 starter.

Where will De La Rosa be in 2013? With the Colorado Rockies as their #1 starter.