Colorado Rockies: is Tyler Chatwood the Rockies 2nd best starter?

Jon Gray has been the Colorado Rockies best starting pitcher in 2017 as he is 8-4 with a 3.95 ERA. In his last 10 starts going back to July 25, he is 5-3 with a 2.79 ERA. He hasn’t given up more than three runs in any of the outings and he has gone at least six innings in seven of the ten starts. However, following him, the case could be made that Tyler Chatwood has been the Rockies second-best starter of late.

Tyler Chatwood faced the San Diego Padres on Friday night and he pitched very well as he went 5 2/3 innings only allowing four hits, one run, and one walk. With that performance, it begs the question: is he the Rockies second-best starter?

Chatwood since August 9

Chatwood has made nine appearances since August 9, six have been in relief and three have been starts. In that span, he has an ERA of 1.54. Batters have only hit .244 and he has only walked 3.85 batters per nine innings (his average this season is 4.8 per nine innings).

His numbers are also pretty good in his three starts. He is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in 13 2/3 innings pitched. That’s only only run (which he gave up last night). His other numbers aren’t as strong as batters have hit .255 and he has walked 3.95 per nine innings. This is particularly good on the walk front as we know that Chatwood is prone to walk plenty.

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Final Thoughts

Considering that German Marquez, Kyle Freeland, and Chad Bettis have really struggled as of late, I would probably amend my postseason rotation if it started today. Obviously, Bud Black has a little bit more time to decide what his postseason rotation would like (assuming that the Rockies get through the wild card game but if it happened today, this what it would probably look like if I were Bud Black.

Wild Card Game: Jon Gray

Game 1 of the NLDS: Tyler Chatwood

Game 2: Tyler Anderson

Game 3: Gray

Game 4: German Marquez

Game 5: Chatwood

Next: Raimel Tapia is part of the future, not the present

Sometimes, especially with his walks, Chatwood may give you some heart palpitations but, as of late, he has got the job done. And that’s not something most of the rest of the rotation has done. Therefore, at least at this point, he is the Rockies second-best starter