Colorado Rockies: We Examine 5 Key Numbers From 2016

1) 1,223

Number of strikeouts by Colorado pitchers

Sep 29, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Jon Gray (55) delivers a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

The simplest, most fool-proof way to ensure the other team doesn’t score is to keep them from hitting the ball in the first place. The 2016 Rockies, led by Jon Gray and his 185 punch outs, tallied the second-most strikeouts in club history, falling just 11 strikeouts short of the record held by the 2010 team.

The 2010 team, as you may remember, was the last Rockies team to seriously threaten for a playoff spot. Which team did this year’s squad pass for second all-time? The 2009 squad, or as you also may remember, the last Rockies team to make the playoffs.

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Forget about altitude for a second: the real challenge of pitching at home for the Rockies is dealing with one of the largest outfields in the major leagues. A ball hit into the outfield has a better chance of turning into a hit at Coors Field than it does anywhere else in the Major Leagues. The solution for the pitchers? Keep the ball on the ground (see #2 on this list), or even better, keep it from being put in play to begin with.

The most exciting part is this looks like it’s only the beginning. The average age of last year’s pitching staff was 27.7 years old. That’s the sixth-youngest in MLB and tied for third-youngest in franchise history. If Gonzalez Germen or Jeff Hoffman takes Jorge De La Rosa‘s old spot in the rotation, the average age could be even lower next season.

Having a youthful pitching staff isn’t always a good thing (it’s worth noting that all five of the pitching staffs that were younger than Colorado last season were also terrible), but the Rockies aren’t exactly sending lambs to the slaughter here. Gray, Anderson, Chad Bettis and Tyler Chatwood were four of the five leading strikeout artists for Colorado in 2015. All four will be back in the rotation and are young enough that you could reasonably project growth in their future.

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There are still questions for this rotation. It remains to be seen if Gray can handle the pressure of being an ace or if Anderson can make it through an entire season without a trip to the DL. But for perhaps the first time in franchise history, there is no questioning that the Rockies have young, exciting pitching talent.

1) 1,223

Number of strikeouts by Colorado pitchers

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