Colorado Rockies morning after: What to do about Tyler Anderson?

The Colorado Rockies had another clunker of a start from left-hander Tyler Anderson. He has made five starts this season and each one of them have not been good.

Tyler Anderson has pitched his fifth straight clunker of a game for the Colorado Rockies and, perhaps, it leaves his spot in the Rockies rotation at a crossroads.

After yesterday’s 10-9 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he pitched 4 innings, allowing 7 hits and 6 runs (all earned) which included two home runs allowed, he and Bud Black spoke to the media after his outing.

The Rockies left-hander said that he felt “most of the pitches they hit were pretty well executed” (h/t Tracy Ringolsby of Inside The Seams). He still feels confident but he would go back and look at video to see “if I’m tipping something there.”

Bud Black said that he isn’t concerned about his confidence because “one of his strengths is his confidence” but he feels that it’s more “physical” and Anderson needs to “get to the point where he consistently is making pitches,” (h/t again to Ringolsby).

Anderson’s ERA is now 11.76.

He was placed on the 10-day injured list for a knee injury after two of those bad starts but he has had three starts since.

So, either he is still pitching injured, he just doesn’t have it, or there is something mechanical that he needs to fix (e.g. if he’s tipping his pitches, find a fix for it).

Either way you look at it, it’s not a good situation and when you look at the Rockies other options, it makes a potential change look difficult. The Rockies don’t have much in the way of quality depth at starting pitcher.

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Jeff Hoffman is the option that comes to mind at first since he has made some starts for Albuquerque as well as one start for the Rockies this season. However, considering that his start in the majors was not good (5 IP, 6 H, 4 R/ER) and he has not looked good at all in Albuquerque (4 games, 3 starts, 9.16 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 23 H, 19 R/ER, 6 HR’s), I honestly don’t think that he would be the best option.

Another option that may come to mind is Yency Almonte. He’s already been in the majors this season but he has appeared in relief in every game in the majors and in Albuquerque so he likely isn’t stretched out enough right now to be a starter.

Ryan Castellani is another option on the Rockies 40-man roster but he has pitched to a 5.32 ERA in 5 starts for Albuquerque. That may sound a bit high but it’s actually well more than a run lower than the Isotopes team ERA (6.68) and nearly identical with the Pacific Coast League ERA entering Friday (5.31).

The most intriguing internal option that the Rockies have is their #3 prospect per MLB.com, Peter Lambert. Entering Friday, he had a 6.08 ERA in 5 starts. However, he had an excellent start against Tacoma (the Mariners Triple-A team) last night. With that, he would also lineup perfectly to take the spot in the rotation of Anderson.

The Rockies could also turn to Chad Bettis but if you’ve watched this season, Bettis has struggled as much as Anderson, which is why he’s in the bullpen.

It will be a tough decision for the Rockies to make but we are 20 percent through the season already. It’s about time that the Rockies left-hander figures it out or the team makes a change.