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.

Number 4–Jhoulys Chacin (14.7 bWAR, 9.9 fWAR, part of six seasons as a Rockie)

Record-wise, Jhoulys Chacin would not make this list as his record was 38-48 in 124 games (109 starts) as a Rockie. His other numbers show that he was a victim of poor run support from the Rockies offense.

He pitched to a 3.78 ERA with an ERA+ of 120. He also had a FIP of 4.03 and he had a WHIP of 1.338.

His best seasons were in 2010-11 and 2013. In 2010, he went 9-11 with a 3.28 ERA in 28 games (21 starts). He had a FIP of 3.55, a 9:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a WHIP of 1.274, and an ERA+ of 142. In 2011, he added ten more starts and nearly sixty innings to his 2010 total when he went 11-14 in 31 starts. His ERA was 3.62 (4.23 FIP and an ERA+ of 126).

He was injured in 2012 so he only had 12 starts but he was excellent again in 2013 when he went 14-10 in 31 starts (197 1/3 innings). He had an ERA of 3.47 with a FIP of the exact same and an ERA+ of 129.

Number 3–Jorge De La Rosa (15.5 bWAR, 15.0 fWAR, part of nine seasons as a Rockie)

Jorge De La Rosa is, without question, the best left-handed starting pitcher in Colorado Rockies history.

In his Rockies career, he went 86-61 with an ERA of 4.35 in 209 games (200 starts). His FIP was 4.24, and his WHIP of 1.381. Those 200 starts are second in Rockies history, only behind the guy who is next on the list and he is the Rockies all-time leader in strikeouts with 985, more than 200 more than the next person (who is also later on in this list). He is also the Rockies all-time leader in wins.

His best season came in 2013 when he went 16-6 in 30 starts. He had an ERA of 3.49, an ERA+ of 128, and a FIP of 3.76.

Number 2–Aaron Cook (17.1 bWAR, 17.3 fWAR, part of 10 seasons as a Rockie)

Aaron Cook is the longest-tenured starting pitcher in Colorado Rockies history so, naturally, he made himself on to this list, partially due to that fact.

However, he was still a key cog in the Rockies rotation during that decade. In his Rockies career, he went 72-68 with an ERA of 4.53, an ERA+ of 106, and a FIP of 4.39. Cook was an extreme ground-ball pitcher as his groundball rate was north of 60 percent and his strikeout rate was only 3.8 per nine innings, which is half or less than half than most pitchers currently.

He is second to De La Rosa in all-time wins as a Rockie, 4th in walk-rate per nine innings, the all-time leader in innings pitched, games started, and second in complete games.

His best season came in 2008 when he was an All-Star. He went 16-9 with an ERA of 3.96 in 32 starts (211 1/3 innings). He had an ERA+ of 118, a FIP of 3.76. His walk rate and strikeout rates were better than any other point in his career at that point and his home-run rate was the lowest that it had been since 2003.

Honorable Mentions

The Rockies have some guys that could eventually be in, or top, this list in a few short seasons. Chiefly, Jon Gray is very close to making this list as it is. If not for his 2018 season, he would be on this list. Kyle Freeland could also be on this list soon if he can return to his 2018 glory.

Other than those two, Pedro Astacio, Jeff Francis, and Jason Jennings were the closest to making the list.