Rockies Year in Review: Jorge De La Rosa

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Here at Rox Pile, we are starting a player review for each and every player that suited up in a Colorado Rockies uniform this season. This series will be going all the way up until Dec. 16 with player profiles posted every day.

Today, we are featuring Rockies starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa.

What more can you say about Colorado’s ace pitcher Jorge De La Rosa? Year in and year out the southpaw gives the team the best chance to win even if he doesn’t show up to the park with his best stuff. We saw that same scenario a lot this summer.

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One example that strikes my mind first is the game against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 19. De La Rosa couldn’t find a rhythm that day, yet managed to get out of a mess. The southpaw allowed six walks, yet kept the Nationals scoreless. De La Rosa needed 110 pitches to scratch six innings — not to mention allowing just four hits while striking out six.

For the season as a whole, De La Rosa was solid. The 34-year-old made 26 starts, collecting one complete game to his credit — eight innings on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last outing of the season.

De La Rosa finished with a record of 9-7, compiling an ERA of 4.17. Jorge logged over 149 innings this summer, collecting 134 strikeouts while posting a WHIP of 1.36. Walks were a huge problem for De La Rosa, allowing 65 free bases in 26 games — not ideal.

August was easy De La Rosa’s best month of the year and the statistics prove it. Jorge made six starts during the Month of August, compiling a record of 2-2 with an ERA of 2.87. However, Colorado went 3-3 during that stretch which wasn’t an indication of how well Jorge pitched. The veteran gave up just 12 runs over 37.2 innings, adding 28 strikeouts to his credit.

Either way you roll the dice, every time Colorado sent De La Rosa to the hill every fifth day, I knew the team had a chance. It didn’t matter if he struggled the previous outing, I can count and rely on number 28.

Overall Grade: B

Next: Rockies Year In Review: Nick Hundley