Rockies Year in Review: Chad Bettis

Here at Rox Pile, we are starting a player review for each player that suited up in a Colorado Rockies uniform this season. This series will be going all the way up until Dec. 15 with player profiles posted every day.

Today, we are featuring Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis.

Bad Chettis (cc Purple Dinosaur Podcast) was one of the best surprises of the 2015 season. He gave the Rockies two quality starting pitchers – along with Jorge De La Rosa – that legitimized that daily hope of a Rockies victory every time he stepped on the mound; something that’s rarely seen in these parts of baseball. The turnaround from an abysmal attempt at a bullpen conversion in 2014 was outstanding and he forced his way into the future of the Rockies rotation.

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Bettis, 26, was drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2010 Draft as a starter out of Texas Tech. He debuted as a starter in 2013 and went 0-3 with a 5.02 ERA in eight starts before moving to the bullpen. The team still liked his stuff, but his velocity was down and he wasn’t the starter they hoped he could be. The 2014 season was as forgettable as it could be as he continued his new career path in the bullpen. Safe to say, there weren’t many expectations of Bettis coming into the 2015 season and any contribution he could bring would be welcome. After his mid-May call-up, he certainly played like a 2nd Round pick.

Bettis was definitively the Rockies second best starter this year, both by metrics and by the eye test. Bettis had a 2.6 WAR behind De La Rosa’s 2.8 and two of the 10 best pitching performances of the year according to WPA behind De La Rosa’s four. He led the team in FIP, second in WHIP, ERA, and strikeouts, and third in Quality Starts with 11 behind De La Rosa and Chris Rusin.

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Look at his FIP, K/9 ratio, and BB/9 ratio. These are three key areas that I look at when evaluating pitchers. FIP attempts to eliminate the effects of a defense and looks at the three things that a pitcher can control; home runs, walks, and strikeouts. Look at Toronto’s Drew Hutchison; he went 13-5 with a 5.57 ERA and a 4.42 FIP. Toronto’s defense was pretty atrocious this year and he had some of the best run support, but 4.42 is much more believable than 5.57. Anyway, FIP is a better representation of a pitcher than ERA. Bettis dropped a 5.52 FIP to 3.85 and raised his K/9 by three strikeouts; a massive improvement. The increase in K/9 could explain the improved FIP, but either way his 2015 featured a much improved Chad Bettis. His BB/9 was 3.3 walks per nine innings; not a great number. If Bettis wants to take the next step, he’ll have to improve his walks.

It wasn’t all good for Bettis; he had a 4 home run disaster against the Los Angeles Angels, only three starts where he didn’t walk a batter, and pitched into the 7th inning only three times. If Bettis can reel in his walks and work on his pitch efficiency to make it later into games (I know, broken record) to reduce the pressure on the bullpen, he could become a solid mid-rotation starter for the next few years.

Bettis will probably be the 3rd or 4th starter next year behind De La Rosa, top prospect Jon Gray, and either Tyler Chatwood or Jordan Lyles depending on how their recoveries go. Chad Bettis as a 4th man in your rotation? Don’t mind if I do.

Bad Chettis was good this year. Maybe he’ll eventually outplay the nickname. Eventually.

Overall Grade: B+

Next: Rockies Year in Review: Troy Tulowitzki

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