Colorado Rockies roster move: Jon Gray to the 60-day IL, done for the season

The Colorado Rockies have made a roster move and it involves their best starting pitcher this season.

The Colorado Rockies just announced that they have placed their ace of the 2019 season, Jon Gray, on the 60-day injured list with a fractured left foot. Obviously, with being placed on the 60-day injured list and with there being less than six weeks left of the season, this injury will end Gray’s 2019 season.

Gray, 27, was scheduled to start today’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field this afternoon but obviously, in a dramatic turn of events, something must have happened to Gray in the recent hours to cause the left foot fracture.

Gray will end his season with a record of 11-8 with a 3.84 ERA (139 ERA+) in 26 games (25 starts) in an excellent rebound season.

Last season, as you may remember, Gray was sent down to Albuquerque for a few weeks because he was struggling so much. He ended 2018 with an ERA of 5.12 in 31 starts.

In a corresponding move, the Rockies have selected the contract of Tim Melville from Triple-A Albuquerque. He will be starting in place of Gray in a few hours.

Melville, 29, will return to the major leagues for the first time since 2017 as he spent parts of 2016 and 2017 in the majors with the Reds, Twins, and Padres. At the major league level in six games (three starts), he pitched to a 11.05 ERA in 14 2/3 innings.

This season, Melville started with the Independent League Long Island Ducks but after just two appearances with them, the Rockies purchased his contract from the Ducks in May. He has spent the rest of the season in Albuquerque, pitching to a 10-5 record in 18 games (17 starts) with an ERA of 5.42. He had a WHIP of 1.588 while allowing 10.6 hits, 2.2 home runs, 3.7 walks, and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

Final Thoughts

Obviously, Gray’s injury is yet another huge blow to the Rockies, who already had next to nothing in the way of depth, particularly with pitchers.

Nobody would have guessed that (at least in the interim) in August that the Rockies rotation would be German Marquez, a struggling Kyle Freeland, Peter Lambert, Chi Chi Gonzalez, and Tim Melville but that just goes to show that you can never have too much pitching.

Stay tuned to the site and to this article as we will update this article when more develops from the story.

UPDATE: Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post tweeted that Gray is leaning towards surgery on his foot.