Colorado Rockies: What to Expect From German Marquez Tonight

The Colorado Rockies face off against the San Francisco Giants with the season series tied at nine games apiece. Rookie German Marquez is making his second start tonight. What can we expect from him this evening?

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First of all, in case you are not familiar with Marquez, he spent the majority of this season at Double-A Hartford. He won the Eastern League Pitcher of the Year honors by going 9-6 with a 2.85 ERA and 126 strikeouts in 135 2/3 innings (21 starts).

While he started off in the bullpen with mixed results (5 1/3 innings, three ER), his first appearance as a starter was very good against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Against the Red Birds he was outstanding going five innings with four hits, one ER, one BB and three strikeouts in a 11-1 Rockies victory.

His best pitch was a superb curveball which kept their hitters off-balance and prevented them from sitting on the fastball. Furthermore when he threw the fastball he was able to throw it to both sides of the plate in any count.

What about notoriously noted flyball-central Coors Field? No, he was certainly not scared about it, as Andrew Dill of BSNDenver.com noted.

“That was real good, wonderful,” he said after his historic win. “I was excited. My MLB debut was exciting, too, but it’s the same baseball. A lot of people told me that the ball can fly  but man, they have to hit it first, y’know?”

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Most of all it is great to see him with this confidence, especially for a 21-year-old. Consequently he should be able to carry this same confidence into his start tonight at pitcher’s haven AT&T Park. Especially relevant is the fact that Giants hitters are only hitting .255 in 2016, which is only eighth-best in the National League. Additionally, they have also only hit 125 home runs on the year which is the third-worst mark in the NL.

Hence if Marquez can have the same effectiveness with his curveball, and paint the corners of the plate again with the fastball, his start tonight can be as good as his first start.

Next: Colorado Rockies: 3 Things to Watch in San Francisco

Finally, with Jorge De La Rosa likely out the door, there is a spot open in the rotation for 2017. Is Marquez the right guy? We won’t have a large sample size.

In conclusion, if he pitches well tonight and pitches well again in another start prior to the end of the season, he will be an early favorite to be this piece leading up to next year’s spring training.