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

3 of 4

PHOENIX, ARIZONA – SEPTEMBER 26: Starting pitcher German Marquez #48 of the Colorado Rockies throws a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the seventh inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on September 26, 2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) /

While the Colorado Rockies’ poor start to the season was to be expected going in, one question mark around the team was about the rotation.

Specifically, is the 2020 starting pitching rotation the best in Rockies history?

It looked promising going in, and while injuries have set them back, the starting pitchers have looked very good to start the season.

But how do they compare to the rest of Colorado Rockies history?

To answer this question, I went deep into the bowels of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference and found several important stats that I think could be helpful in comparing this year’s rotation to all those seasons past: winning percentage, ERA, WHIP, OPS, SO/9, and BB/9 are all that I looked at for this study.

So, let’s begin.

Winning percentage (W %)

Now, I don’t read too much into this statistic because it is too easily swayed by a poor offensive output but the W% will also be down if the pitching never gives the offense the chance to be ahead.

At 6-8, the current rotation has a W% of .429, which places them at 21st all-time for the Rockies. The highest W% a Colorado Rockies rotation has ever put up is in 2009, when the starters went 69-50 on the season for a W% of 0.580, barely beating out the 2018 rotation which went 59-43 with a W% of .578.

So far, this year’s rotation has had a top-five ERA (Earned Run Average) performance across all Colorado Rockies rotations at 4.28, good enough for 4th, currently. This is competitive with the top three teams which were in 2009, 2018, and 2010, respectively.

The 2021 rotation ERA is actually closer to first place than it is to fifth place. I should note, though, that ERA can rise throughout the season for pitchers because of various things such as season fatigue and better batter awareness as the season goes on.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 26: Austin Gomber #26 of the Colorado Rockies pitches against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning at Oracle Park on April 26, 2021 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

WHIP (Walks-Plus-Hits-per-Inning-Pitched)

Here, the 2021 Rockies rotation is currently in fifth all-time with a WHIP of 1.38 across the first 23 games. The 2018 rotation, which recorded a WHIP of 1.29, is fairly close to this mark, and a decrease in the walk problem (that we’ll have more on in a moment) could help put the 2021 rotation over the edge.

Here, we finally have a point solidly in the 2021 rotation’s favor. They lead the franchise so far in OPS (OBP plus Slugging), only allowing an OPS of .706 to start off the year. In second is the year 2010, which only allowed an OPS of .723. I won’t dwell on this because OPS can have outside effects like ERA due to things like defense.

Now we get into the more interesting statistics.

SO/9 (Strikeouts per nine innings pitched)

The 2021 rotation currently ranks second in this category with 7.46 SO/9, behind 2018 who has more than a whole extra SO/9 on 2021 with 8.53 SO/9.

This is not quite a point in 2021’s favor, but it shows that they are in the running to be the best.

BB/9 (Walks per nine innings)

Unfortunately, BB/9 is currently the main thing holding the GOAT title back from the 2021 rotation.

Currently, BB/9 is currently at the highest rate in franchise history, at 4.50 BB/9. This is just barely above the 4.48 BB/9 mark set by the 1999 rotation. The top three in this category? Only three of the best Colorado Rockies seasons in history. 2017, 2018, and 2007 hold these spots with 2.26 BB/9, 2.97 BB/9, and 2.98 BB/9, respectively.

So how does the ranking shake out?

Well, I set out in this article looking for the best, but in order to do that, I need to take my data and be as objective as possible with it. I took each category that I ranked and weighed them separately. I weighed SO/9 and BB/9 higher, and I weighed W% and OPS lower as both could have non-pitcher-related effects.

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.

16 May 1998: Pitcher Kevin Ritz of the Colorado Rockies in action during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Brewers won the game, 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport /

More from Rox Pile

I know everyone will ask me for the five worst rotations in Rockies history, so here they are.

You could probably guess some of these. From rank 25 to 29, we have 2003, 1993, 2004, 1999, and 1996.

Now, I know some red flags just came up because the Rockies’ first postseason rotation is on the list, but remember one thing, that was the years of the Blake Street Bombers. The offense that year was so insanely high-powered that, despite being in the bottom 10 for five of the six categories, their rotation’s W% was actually the 7th best in franchise history.

These were teams led by Kevin Ritz, Armando Reynoso, and Shawn Estes as their aces. They were just simply not built to be the heart of the team like they are now, so I highly doubt that by the end of the season the 2021 rotation will fall this low. (Here is the link to my spreadsheet where I have the full data).

Kevin Ritz is also one of only four guys in MLB history to make 130 or more MLB starts and have an ERA of 5.20 or higher in his career (two of the other three are former Rockies Jordan Lyles and Scott Elarton) so that tells you about the rotations anchored by Ritz there.

In conclusion, the 2021 Colorado Rockies Starting Rotation has potential. While the walking problem is currently holding them back from the lofty expectations that some had of them this year, the rotation looks very good. The injured Kyle Freeland returning could be the last piece that can put the rotation over the edge. As the season goes on, it will be nice to continue to watch this unit grow and hopefully continue to do what they have been good at, aside from walking batters.

Next. How the Rockies are using their taxi squad in 2021. dark

Data for this article was found using Baseball-Reference and MLB.com

Home / Colorado Rockies History