The Colorado Rockies, their pitching philosophy, and how their recent additions fit

It’s been an unsightly pair of seasons for the Colorado Rockies, going 100-121 (.452 winning percentage) and seeing two franchise players leave the team in a disgruntled fashion. Not a lot has gone well on 20th and Blake.

The pitching side of things, however, has provided some hope as the club finally possesses a stable crop of starting pitchers.

It seems, as of late, that they have also figured out how to cost-effectively address the bullpen with recent additions like Daniel Bard, Robert Stephenson, Jordan Sheffield, Jhoulys Chacín, and Tyler Kinley.

These arms, paired with homegrown talents like Carlos Estévez and Lucas Gilbreath — the latter pitched to a 0.42 ERA in his final 21.2 IP as a rookie — give the Rockies a chance at having a quality bullpen in 2022.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of the quality of the Rockies’ pitching staff is beside the point of how they identify and develop these pitchers.

How have the Colorado Rockies developed their pitchers?

Spin, Movement, Arm-Slots, and the Vertical Approach Angle

First and foremost, the Colorado Rockies, of course, look for pitchers whose stuff generates ground balls via quality off-speed and breaking pitches. Fastballs induce, by far, the fewest ground balls of any pitch type, per FanGraphs. That’s where the Rockies’ pitching philosophy comes into play.

In order for a fastball to create more ground balls, it must play down in the zone. According to data from Baseball Savant, four-seam fastballs in the lower 3rd of the zone generated an average launch angle of 9°, whereas fastballs in the upper 3rd saw a 22° launch angle against.

Why is VAA important and important for the Colorado Rockies?

Vertical approach angle (VAA) is a huge determinant in how pitchers will be successful given the location of their pitch when looking at the vertical plane (up in the zone vs. down in the zone). It’s become clear that pitches with a higher/flatter VAA (greater than -4.5°) work better up in the zone and pitches with a lower/steeper VAA (less than -4.5°) work better lower in the zone.

Work from the University of Iowa’s baseball student managers quantifies this information and also presents some handy graphs and charts.

Unfortunately, VAA is not a publicly available statistic. However, induced vertical break is available along with arm slot/release height and extension data. As a result, we can’t look at exact VAA measures but we can get a rough estimate of a pitcher’s fastball VAA.

Looking at Rockies’ pitchers, they, again, do not generate high levels of vertical break on their fastball.

The Rockies also have a lot of traditional 3/4 or straight-up arm slots with Marquez, Freeland, Gomber, Senzatela, and Estevez (five of their most highly used pitchers) releasing the ball at or above MLB’s average release height of 5.8 feet.

Jon Gray and Daniel Bard were outliers to this measure, both releasing the ball several inches lower than the average MLB pitcher. Still, neither Gray nor Bard generated lots of vertical break last season to create a higher/flatter VAA.

With these lower/steeper VAAs on the Rockies’ staff, they’re able to more effectively target the bottom of the zone and create Coors-necessary ground balls.

Pitch mix is a factor for Colorado Rockies pitchers

Pitch Mixing

I think we’re all familiar with the notion that curveballs are not very effective at Coors Field and that any pitch heavily relying on downward break will be nerfed by the mile-high air.

As a result, sliders and changeups tend to be the best secondary offerings for Rockies pitchers. We’ve seen limited splitter usage at Coors Field, though it’s fair to assume they would operate similarly to a changeup.

Using the same pitchers I just mentioned, none of them utilize a curveball within their top two offerings and they tend to feature a curveball more frequently on the road.

All in all, the Rockies’ ideal pitching mold is a pitcher with a fastball that does not create lots of spin-based movement in order to be effectively located lower in the zone. These pitchers will also come with a quality slider and, ideally, an average or better changeup.

How Do the New Guys Fit?

The Rockies signed two pitchers to MLB deals this offseason: Chad Kuhl and Alex Colomé. While neither is a flashy move, both are stopgaps for the team this year with their fair share of MLB experience. They also fit the Rockies’ pitching mold to some extent.

Chad Kuhl and Alex Colomé both fit in with the Colorado Rockies in a way

Starting with Chad Kuhl, though his fastball release height is slightly lower than average, his fastball generates 15 percent less vertical break than the average MLB 4-seamer.

Despite this, the Pirates still had Kuhl locate up in the zone with frequency, a contributing factor to a .333 average against his heater.

With the Rockies, it’s likely Kuhl will locate lower in the zone, where his fastball profiles better.

Kuhl backs up his fastball with a high 80s slider that has been very effective throughout his career. An optimized pairing of his main two pitches could have a significant impact on Kuhl’s overall success and turn him into a viable 5th starter.

Alex Colomé is a pretty unique pitcher. He only features a cutter and four-seam fastball.

His cutter operates somewhat like a weak moving but harder slider, creating his fit with the Rockies (pending his command remains consistent, unlike former Rockies’ reliever Bryan Shaw).

Colomé’s fastball actually does create an above-average vertical break, but it comes from a higher release point, keeping his VAA from being too flat and able to effectively play lower in the zone.

The longtime standout closer doesn’t have as sensical of a fit with Colorado as Kuhl but it appears his cutter drew the attention of the Rockies.

Overall, the Rockies seem to have a firm strategy when it comes to pitching at altitude. This should leave fans confident in the future of Colorado’s pitching and dispel the national narrative that the Rockies lack the ability to pitch.

It’s always important to remember that pitching goes far beyond data and statistics, though they still often tell an important part of the story.