Colorado Rockies: The Top 5 Starting Pitchers in franchise history

Our countdown of the top five Colorado Rockies continues with the top five starting pitchers in franchise history.

Over the last couple of months, we have counted down the top five Colorado Rockies on the position player front but today, we will head over to the pitching category and start with the starting pitchers.

As you probably know if you’re reading this, the Colorado Rockies have not been known for their starting pitching prowess in their relatively short history. This was particularly evident in the pre-humidor era of the Rockies as once-great pitchers like Mike Hampton and Darryl Kile saw their numbers go sky-high in a Rockies uniform and return to much better numbers once they left.

The humidor has made pitching at Coors Field much more bearable, as you will see in the list. In fact, all five starters on this list pitched in the humidor era. For this list, we are looking at their WAR as a pitcher so their hitting skills, or lack thereof, won’t be considered. However, their WAR is not the “be-all, end-all,” just a good barometer.

Let’s dive in.

Number 5–German Marquez (11.3 bWAR, 10.2 fWAR, part of four seasons)

German Marquez has a very good shot to be at the top of this list in two or three seasons if he pitches as well as he is capable of but thus far in his career, he is at number five.

He has a career record of 38-24 with an ERA of 4.32 in 96 career games (93 starts). He has a FIP of 3.93, a WHIP of 1.27, a nearly 4:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and an ERA+ of 115. His win-loss percentage, WHIP, walks per nine innings, walk rate, and strikeout-to-walk ratio are all the best of any qualifying pitcher in Colorado Rockies history.

His best season came in 2018 when he went 14-11 in 33 starts (196 innings) and he had an ERA of 3.77 (3.40 FIP). He had an ERA+ of 125, a better than 4:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a WHIP of 1.204.