Colorado Rockies: Jon Gray Will Be The No. 1 Pitcher

Despite not earning the win last night, the Colorado Rockies’ starter Jon Gray had his best outing in his short MLB career. Excluding a poor outing against the St. Louis Cardinals where he gave up 9 ER, Gray has been good with a 4.67 ERA, which is the fourth best mark out of the starters. Rox Pile takes a look at why Gray will be the Rockies future No. 1 starter.

Gray has now started 15 games for the Colorado Rockies up to the impending All-Star break, with 10 quality starts. He has done very well pitching to the sixth inning of games, as his 88.2 innings pitched is third on the team behind Chad Bettis (102.0) and Tyler Chatwood (90.2).

Additionally, he leads the Rockies pitchers by a long way in strikeouts (95). The next best mark is Bettis at 78 and then Jorge De La Rosa at 58. Gray is the only true strikeout pitcher in the rotation.

So why does Gray have the potential to be the Rockies No. 1 guy, probably as soon as 2017?

Firstly, Gray is becoming more comfortable at Coors Field. As MLB.com’s Ben Weinrib notes, last night was Gray’s 12th start at home, and over his last 25 1/3 earnings he has allowed a total of 10 runs.

“I’ve come to like throwing here,” Gray said. “Just the way the plate looks, everything else looks, the mound feels. I just have a comfortable feeling now. I’m not sure how many starts, but I’ve had a few. I’m comfortable with it.”

It can’t be underestimated how important feel is for a pitcher. If they don’t feel comfortable, because their lead leg isn’t landing right, or they are falling off the mound because of imbalance, this can wreck a pitcher’s momentum and confidence.

And when the pitcher is already trying to keep the ball low in the zone and attack hitters at the hitting-friendly Coors Field, the last thing he wants to be worrying about is the mound.

Secondly, Gray is starting to dominate games from the beginning. Last night against the Philadelphia Phillies was a perfect example.

Gray started off the game on fire, throwing 99 mph fastballs, which was around 3 mph faster than his average fastball this season. He also had terrific command of his secondary pitchers – his slider was wipe-out material and he was throwing his curveball the best it had looked in his career, with outstanding top to bottom movement.

At one point of the game, he threw just six balls in his first 48 pitches. The Phillies hitters were befuddled and barely looked like touching Gray. Through his first six innings, he only allowed two hits. He had complete control of the strike zone. It was great to see.

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Gray will only improve in the beginning of his games with maturity and experience. He is still only 24 years of age.

Lastly, the Rockies manager (whoever it is – it’s hard to see Walt Weiss being the manager next season) will have more confidence in Gray to be the staff’s ace, and as a result he will get the respect to get himself out of jams and to be the team’s horse.

Gray’s stuff is No. 1 worthy and once he has complete command of his secondary pitches he will easily be the Rockies No. 1 pitcher going into 2017 and forward.

When you combine Gray with some of the top young arms in the farm system, the Rockies pitching prospects look extremely promising.

Next: Arenado: Why He Isn't in the Home Run Derby

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and MLB.com unless otherwise indicated.