Colorado Rockies: Looking at aces who never panned out

Ubaldo Jimenez

Depending on how you want to look at it, Jimenez did or did not pan out as the Rockies’ ace. He did deliver the Rockies’ greatest season by a pitcher in 2010. That season, he threw the Rockies’ only no-hitter and he went on to go19-8 in 33 starts with an ERA of 2.88 with 214 strikeouts in 221.1 innings. He is also the only Colorado pitcher to start in the All-Star Game.

The issue is he was only the Rockies ace for three-and-a-half years before struggling in the first half of the 2011 season … which led to him being traded to Cleveland.

Had he been able sustain his dominance over multiple years, I would have declared him an ace. However, I will say that Jimenez and Pedro Astacio are the closest the Rockies have come to having a true ace.