Chatwood on the mound last year. Image: Kelley L Cox-USA Today Sports

For baseball reasons Chatwood was not ready. With electric stuff that caught the attention of his veteran teammates in his first camp with the team, he lacked the refined skills of a Major League starting pitcher. He did not command his fastball well enough and his secondary pitches were not up to snuff. Chatwood, at the ripe age of 23, belonged in the minor leagues for more seasoning and more development. The Rockies, through poor front office decisions and some bad injury luck, felt they were forced to rush Chatwood to the big leagues. And because they love throwing around the word “hybrid” and kicking their pitchers between the bullpen and the rotation, Chatwood worked as both a long reliever and a starter. None of this accelerated his development into a good starting pitcher.

Equipped with that same mid-90′s fastball and at least a little bit of time to pitch in the minor leagues as a starter, Chatwood has thrived so far with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. In 3 starts he is 1-0 with a 1.84 ERA. Perhaps most encouraging are these two numbers: he has struck out 17 hitters and walked only 4. These numbers, while positive developments, are hardly enough to prove that Chatwood is now ready to go or does not need more seasoning. Yet circumstances might once again force the Rockies to add him to the Major League rotation.

With Jhoulys Chacin on the disabled list with a back strain and the Rockies facing a packed stretch of games with no off day in sight, Chatwood was scratched from his scheduled start this weekend. That makes him available to start Wednesday’s game if today’s split doubleheader actually takes place. If that’s the case, Chatwood will likely fill two spot starts with the Rockies until Chacin returns.

This could be an exciting development. Chatwood has a higher ceiling than at least two pitchers currently in the rotation with his stuff and his ability to miss bats. The possibility exists that he would become an upgrade.

This could also be the first true nervous moment of the season. If this results in Chatwood being rushed again and his development being stunted again, then it is the worst kind of flashback to 2012. It is another setback for an already struggling farm system. The Rockies need Chatwood, Drew Pomeranz, and Christian Friedrich to get right and be the future of the pitching staff. Moving Chatwood up this early might not be a problem for those plans, but it will be a nervous couple of starts in case either appearance becomes a red flag that the Rockies simply do not have enough depth at starting pitcher.

There are reasons that run deeper than the games at hand that we should all cheer for Tyler Chatwood to pitch well this week.

I resisted the temptation of using a picture of him batting. It wasn’t easy. Image: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

This does also seem to bring us to a relevant point with Chatwood, however. At age 23, he is an absolute pup. His appearance fits that designation. He’s a little guy and his ears stick out like his hat is too big for him. As many have noted, he looks like somebody brought their kid brother along because otherwise one team wouldn’t have enough guys.

It feels to me like something has always hindered Chatwood’s development once he reached the big leagues. Speculating from afar it seems like the Angels may have rushed him to the show when he started 25 games in 2011. In 2012 the Rockies did not put him in a position to succeed by starting him out in the bullpen. I never understood the rationale behind that decision; why not let the youngest of your young borderline starters get more starts in the minor leagues? If your eventual plan is to use him in the starting rotation, what good does it do you or him to have him make an impermanent cameo as a reliever? I know that is a step for some young pitchers, but I never thought it made sense for Chatwood.

His next significant stretch with the big league club took place during the paired pitching experiment project thing that was never paired pitching. So while he did start 12 games, it is not useful to spend much time or energy on them. Due to a string of bad decisions, I believe that the Rockies are still clueless as to what they have in Chatwood, for better or for worse.

For Chatwood, 2012 needs to be dedicated solely to his development as a starting pitcher. He needs to find command of his electric fastball and find a way to miss more bats. That development needs to happen in the minor leagues, even if it is in the carnival that is the higher altitude of Colorado Springs, CO.

During last year’s Spring Training, Michael Cuddyer and Todd Helton lauded Chatwood as the most exciting of the young arms in camp. There is still a high ceiling with Chatwood; the Rockies just need to learn from their 2012 mistakes when it comes to helping him reach that potential.

Where should Chatwood be in 2013? In the AAA starting rotation.

Where will Chatwood be in 2013? Pending something exciting or disastrous in the Spring Training rotation competition, in the AAA starting rotation.