Colorado Rockies: The top 50 Rockies of all time (numbers 20-11)

14. Aaron Cook (Rockies Career WAR 17.1)

The longest-tenured Rockies pitcher in its brief quarter-century history who spent all but 1 year of his 11 in the league in Purple Pinstripes. This longevity allowed him to climb to the top of the Rockies record books in just about every major pitching category.

He’s second in career WAR, wins, completed games, and shutouts while he’s first in games started and innings pitched. Those numbers perfectly encapsulate his workmanlike career.

He never had a pretty ERA but when his sinker was on, it was HEAVY and his 79-pitch shutout on July 1, 2008 — at Coors Field against the hated Padres is one of the least celebrated accomplishments in MLB history (not to mention the year before he had a 74-pitch complete game against the same Padres).

Speaking of Padres, it doesn’t hurt the man was otherworldly whenever they took the batter’s box (his career numbers against the Padres are 14 wins and a 3.10 ERA in 27 career starts). He had a career 4.53 ERA for comparison’s sake. His best season came in the aforementioned 2008 campaign where he had a 3.69 ERA (lowest in full-season for career) and 16 wins(career-high) in 211.1 IP (2nd best in his career by 2/3 of an inning) for an ERA+ of 118 and WAR of 4.4 (another career-high).