Colorado Rockies Rumors: German Marquez to Start on Tuesday?

There’s been speculation about which pitcher the Colorado Rockies would call up to take Jon Gray’s place in the rotation for Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Nationals. The front-runner in the promotion race has been German Marquez. From a published report, it sounds like Marquez will indeed take the hill for the Rockies on Tuesday.

According to this article by Ken Rosenthal, the Rockies will call up Marquez in time to take the mound for game two of a four-game series against the Nationals at Coors Field. The spot in the rotation was vacated when Gray was put on the disabled list after suffering a stress fracture in an outing against the San Francisco Giants.

Colorado did not need to fill the spot last week with two off days surrounding a two-game series at Chavez Ravine against the Dodgers. However, the team doesn’t have that luxury of off days this week.

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Marquez was with the Rockies when they began the season but did not see any action out of the bullpen before being sent to Triple-A Albuquerque on April 9. Last season, the 22-year-old right-hander went 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA in six outings, including three starts. He posted a 1-0 mark with a 6.00 ERA in spring training before the Rockies broke camp and headed to Milwaukee to start the 2017 campaign.

He has performed well in Albuquerque, striking out 18 and walking no one in 10 innings of work.

With Marquez being called up, the Rockies will need to find someone to send down. That could well be either Cristhian Adames or Pat Valaika. Adames is hitless in 10 at-bats this season while Valaika has just one at-bat since being called up on April 18. Valaika was called up the same day that Gerardo Parra was reinstated from the paternity list. Pitcher Shane Carle and outfielder Raimel Tapia were sent to Albuquerque to make room for the new duo.

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So what does that mean? Colorado has been carrying an extra position player rather than a pitcher since April 18. With Marquez reportedly coming up, the Rockies will restore their balance to the pitching-position player lineup and option one of their position players back to Triple-A.