Colorado Rockies starting rotation: Is it the best in franchise history?

Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies — SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 30: Ubaldo Jimenez #38 of the Colorado Rockies pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on July 30, 2011 in San Diego, California. In a recent announcement Jimenez has been traded to the Cleveland Indians. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

Now before I reveal my rankings, I should say that WAR will most likely give a similar, but still different, answer.

The reason I used this method instead of WAR is all the numbers are percentages and do not have to be normalized as 1995, 2007, 2018, 2020, and 2021 (the shortened, incomplete, and game 163 seasons) would have to be if I used WAR. Plus, I really enjoyed finding the data on my own, so here is how the data shook out.

First, mainly because of the horrendous results on BB/9, the 2021 Colorado Rockies rotation is currently tied for ninth place on the all-time list as it stands today. Those walks are an important issue, though, and they deserve to be docked for it.

For awhile, pitchers can get out of those situations but eventually, they come back to bite you.

Look at the collapse of reliever Jairo Diaz last year for an example of that. If the walks go down, then metrics such as WHIP should also see a further decrease, increasing the Rotations stock.

As far as the rest of the list goes, I bet you could guess four of the top five seasons off the top of your head.

I’ll give you a second… Ready?

Ok, 2018, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2016 were the top five rotations in that order. 2018, 2009, 2010, and 2016 were in the top ten across all six categories. These seasons have great Rockies’ moments attached to them. Of course, they were the top five, even objectively.

These rotations were led by players like Ubaldo Jimenez, Aaron Cook, Kyle Freeland, and German Marquez, now all legends for the Rockies so no wonder they made the top.

Schedule