Colorado Rockies: Seven trade targets from the Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore Orioles reliever Dillon Tate could be an asset in the Colorado Rockies bullpen

Dillon Tate has had an odd career already in baseball despite only pitching in the majors for slightly more than two seasons. He was the fourth overall pick in the 2015 Amateur Draft by the Texas Rangers, who picked one spot behind the Colorado Rockies, who chose an infielder by the name of Brendan Rodgers.

Tate, 27, was traded just over one calendar year later along with two other prospects to the New York Yankees for Carlos Beltrán. Two years later (in 2018), the Yankees traded him to the Orioles with two other prospects for Zack Britton.

Tate had a rough go of it in his first few MLB appearances in 2019 (6.43 ERA in 16 appearances) but in 2020 and 2021, he pitched well as he appeared in 74 games with an ERA of 4.16 (111 ERA+) while striking out nearly seven per nine innings and walking three per nine innings.

The thing that should make him intriguing to the Rockies is his groundball rate. The Rockies starting pitchers have thrived at Coors Field due to high groundball rates (often 50 percent or higher) while most of the relievers are in the low 40s or in the 30s.

Since 2019 among relievers (minimum of 100 innings pitched), Tate has the 8th-highest groundball rate at 58.5 percent, per FanGraphs. That and a good walk rate points to pitching well in the Rockies bullpen.