Colorado Rockies: Mid-season ranking of the 2018 starters

5. German Marquez

I was one of the few skeptics when it came to the possible dominance of Gray. Instead, I believed that German Marquez would become the ace of this rotation. Unfortunately, this season that hasn’t been the case.

Marquez is 5-8 with a 5.53 ERA. I think the best stat to gauge a pitcher’s performance is adjusted ERA (ERA+). This stat takes into account the ballparks the pitchers play in. League average is 100. Jacob deGrom is the league leader in ERA+ at 225. That means that deGrom is 125 percent better than the average pitcher. Marquez’s ERA+ is 85.

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The reason I was such a high believer when it came to Marquez was because he has three plus pitches that he can command when he is at his best. However, the reason he has struggled so mightily this season is due to his lack of the command of the fastball.

Marquez’s fastball is his go to pitch and hitters have been crushing it. Batters are hitting his fastball at a .322 average.

Marquez is also struggling at home with a 7.93 ERA. The one bright spot is that he has performed well at away from Coors Field with an ERA of 3.07.