Colorado Rockies: Who Will Be the Second-Half Pitching MVP?

The Colorado Rockies have gone 2-1 since the All-Star break. They got three exceptional starting pitching performances from Jorge De La Rosa, Chad Bettis and Jon Gray. The bullpen also pitched well, minus the loss that Gonzalez Germen took today in walk-off fashion. Who on the current pitching staff will be the team’s second-half MVP?

The Colorado Rockies pitchers gave up a total of just six runs in the three game set they just finished with the Atlanta Braves. De La Rosa got through six innings, Bettis pitched 6 2/3 and Gray pitched seven innings today. The bullpen gave up a total of one run on the trip (the walk-off run today).

It was a great start to the second-half of the season for Rockies pitching. That being said, who out of these guys will be the team’s second-half MVP? There are some very strong candidates – starters Jon Gray, Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson, and bullpen guys Boone Logan and Carlos Estevez would be the leaders in the clubhouse.

However, the man who should take over in the second-half and lead all of the Rockies pitchers is starter Tyler Chatwood (with Gray and Logan the honorable mentions).

Chatwood has had a very good year, especially on the road. He leads the team in wins (8), is second on the team having only allowed 35 ER (Chris Rusin leads with 25, but has started four less games) and his ERA is 3.29, which is second lowest among the starters (only Anderson is less at 3.03).

On the road, Chatwood has been simply dominant. He is 5-0, with a 1.30 ERA (easily the lowest by the starters) and has a batting average against of only .183 (best again among the starters).

Chatwood’s road numbers would have easily earned him an All-Star nod. However, his home record is quite the opposite at 3-5 with a 5.30 ERA. Not pathetic numbers, but not great either.

Paul Klee of the Colorado Springs Gazette argued that Chatwood should have still have been named to the All-Star game, even with the home/away split:

"But Chatwood? He deserved it. Friday will mark two months since ol’ Chatty allowed a home run. That’s 50 innings ago, a very long time. Check this out, too: Chatwood owns the best road ERA in the National League, a dazzling 1.30. This season he hasn’t lost a road game (5-0) and, at one point, had strung together the longest road scoreless streak by a pitcher since 2014 (272/3 innings)."

Chatwood missed time with a back strain which put him on the 15-day DL in June. However, once he returned on July 6, he once again came through in helping to end a Rockies losing streak, pitching five innings in a 7-3 win against the division-leading San Francisco Giants. With him out, the Rockies had crumbled to a 5-11 record.

Chatwood has become the team’s No. 1 starter, a role and responsibility which he embraces.

“Anytime we’re on a little skid, you want to be the guy to stop it. But really I was just trying to execute pitches,” Chatwood said, via Nick Groke of the Denver Post.

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Chatwood’s other main key to success is he has been successful in avoiding the barrel of the bat to the opposing hitter. He ranks 20th out of 51 pitchers on the chart below with a hard-hit contact percentage of just 12.6 percent, per Purple Row:

The secret to Tyler Chatwood's success: Miss the barrel https://t.co/weo7dFUfI3
— Purple Row (@PurpleRow) July 11, 2016

Chatwood’s success is a better story since he has had to come back from two Tommy John surgeries. The mental fortitude he has had to show to come back from those debilitating injuries is just unreal.

If Chatwood can keep missing those barrels, and keep dominating on the road, he will go a long way to being the second-half MVP of the pitching staff. If he can start stringing this form together at Coors Field, he will be easily the pitching staff second-half MVP.

Next: Colorado Rockies: 5 Takeaways From Saturday's Win in Atlanta

He wants to be the team’s ace, and with his high mental fortitude, he will continue to be so.

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