Colorado Rockies: Antonio Senzatela as a starter or bullpen pitcher?

What is Antonio Senzatela’s role for the Colorado Rockies as the 2018 season approaches?

Last season, Antonio Senzatela surprised a lot of people. He began his rookie campaign with an incredible start. On May 26, the Venezuela native threw eight innings, shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals to improve his record to 7-1 with an ERA of 3.19 for the season. However, over his next five starts, Senzatela saw his ERA spike to 4.79 before getting sent to a bullpen role. From July on, he started five more games, but most of his appearances came as a relief pitcher to finish the season. We took a look at what the numbers suggest for Senzatela’s role for the 2018 season.

As a starter

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Senzatela made 20 starts in 2017 for the Rockies, earning a record of 10-5. Over 111 innings pitched as a starter, he had a 5.03 ERA. It is clear that teams started figuring him out during his rookie season the more they saw him. Only five of Senzatela’s starts went more than six innings, so he may not be a guy built for many deep starts. Additionally, along with his stamina issue, a lot of his numbers were worse as a starter.

From the pen

Making 16 appearances for 23.2 innings, Senzatela found his early season form in spite of changing to a relief pitcher. With an ERA of 3.04, he remade himself. There were some staggering differences in the numbers as a reliever compared to a starter. He allowed a batting average of .157 in relief compared to .273 when starting. His slugging allowed dropped as well from .475 to .241. A large part of that is due to him not giving up a home run as a reliever. He also saw a spike in strikeouts, which may be due to the stamina factor.  He also had a WHIP of .887 from the bullpen that is similar to the Yankees’ David Robertson and the Nationals’ Sean Doolittle.

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His 2018 role

Senzatela will be an asset to the Rockies because of his role. With a revamped bullpen and having a solid five man rotation, he can be the piece to put a pitching unit over the top. The numbers make it obvious that Senzatela is better suited for the bullpen, as he can give the team a couple innings of work. Although, his starter background will help as he can be the spot starter if there is an injury in the rotation or if guys like German Marquez or Kyle Freeland struggle.