Four Colorado Rockies pitchers out of options and under pressure

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DENVER, CO – AUGUST 30: Manager Bud Black #10 of the Colorado Rockies watches his team against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field on August 30, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Joe Mahoney/Getty Images) /

With the 2020 Major League Baseball season comes a new wrinkle in the roster sizes for each team. The Colorado Rockies and other MLB teams will have 26 players on their Opening Day rosters, including 13 pitchers.

The extra man will add some intrigue this season, especially for the Colorado Rockies who have needed fresh bullpen arms in the past after dealing with the run-scoring games and altitude effects that Coors Field can level against a pitching staff.

Yency Almonte

Almonte bounced back and forth between Triple-A and MLB last season, appearing in 30 games in Albuquerque and 28 with the Rockies. The 25-year-old right-hander never seemed to settle into a role last season, throwing more than 40 pitches in an outing on four separate occasions while throwing 10 or less six times. That could partly be to blame for Almonte’s 5.56 ERA last season and ERA+ of 94.

It was a far cry from 2018’s debut where Almonte dazzled in 14 games, striking out 14 in 14.2 innings and posting an ERA+ of 262 and FIP of 2.96 (compared to 5.51 last season).

Almonte will likely fall into the middle inning relief role this season. If given the chance to get comfortable in a role, he has the tools to be successful, as he showed against right-handers last season, holding them to a .242 average. While not eye-popping, it was much better than the .347 posted by lefties against him.

Can Almonte find his groove in 2020 as a regular member of the bullpen? Simply put, he must since he will be part of the roster.

Chi Chi Gonzalez

On the surface, the 28-year-old Gonzalez went 2-6 with a 5.29 ERA and 99 ERA+ in 14 games (12 starts) with the Rockies in 2019. But there’s much more to the right-hander’s year than just those numbers and the key he might hold for Colorado this season.

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Gonzalez shined in September, going 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in five starts. Those starts included times on the hill against the Los Angeles Dodgers (twice), St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, so Gonzalez was shining against some of the National League’s toughest competition. Plus, in three of those September outings, he went six innings or more.

With Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson no longer in the rotation mix, Gonzalez is considered one of the front-runners to fill the fourth or fifth starter role for the Rockies in 2020. If he can match his September numbers (something the Rockies desperately need this season), Gonzalez could solidify a back end of the rotation that is currently a question mark.

Gonzalez and the two pitchers listed after this are the candidates for not only a starting role but also could fill a long-relief role as well. Our prediction? Gonzalez slates into a starting role, likely as the number four starter.

Editor’s Note: It was reported by Kyle Newman of The Denver Post about two weeks after this article was published that Gonzalez actually has one remaining option left on his contract as he had four options originally, not the standard three options.

Jeff Hoffman

It seems like every season the Rockies want to see how Jeff Hoffman can fit into the pitching mix. It also seems like every season that the question isn’t answered.

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This, however, is seemingly the last year that Hoffman can answer that question for the Rockies. Out of options, Hoffman has to perform this season, whether that’s in the rotation (where he has started 38 of his 52 career games with Colorado) or in a bullpen role (where he hasn’t pitched for the Rockies since 2018).

In his career, Hoffman has been more successful as a starter, although none of the numbers have been overly impressive. Last season, walks became a big problem for the 27-year-old right-hander (giving up 4.4 per nine innings) as were home runs (21 surrendered in just 70 innings pitched, accounting for the third-highest total of dingers allowed on the team).

Those numbers have to be better in 2020. Fans know it. The Rockies know it. Hoffman knows it. This is likely the last chance for the former ninth overall pick in the 2014 draft to shine for the Rockies. He will likely get that chance as the fifth starter or long reliever to start the season.

Antonio Senzatela

Pick which side of the coin you want to look at from last season with Senzatela.

The good side? Senzatela made 25 starts and racked up 11 wins. With the injury bug hitting the Rockies rotation hard last season, the 25-year-old right-hander was consistent.

The bad side? That consistency wasn’t something the Rockies wanted to see on the mound. A career-high 6.71 ERA and career-low ERA+ of 77 in addition to a WHIP of 1.749 and 11.6 hits surrendered per nine innings were all marks that led to 2019 not being a great season in the Senzatela storyline.

He also dropped from 6.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 2018 to 5.5 strikeouts per nine innings in 2019. He wasn’t fooling hitters at all last year and that’s certainly a concern heading into 2020.

Let’s stick with the “dropped” theme for a moment. Senzatela reportedly dropped 15 pounds this offseason (something manager Bud Black said he needed to do) so he will enter spring training in good shape. Can he become a solid option for the back end of the rotation? The Rockies need him to do that, and we predict he starts the season as part of the rotation.

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Prediction: Senzatela and Gonzalez fill out the rotation (along with Kyle Freeland, Jon Gray, and German Marquez) while Hoffman and Almonte are part of the bullpen.

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