What to expect from Austin Gomber in a pivotal 2024 season?

There is no sugarcoating it, the 2023 season for the Rockies was a very disappointing one. The team lost 103 games and seemed pretty uncompetitive. For most of the first half of the season they trotted out a few veterans that were just not exciting to watch. Hopefully that changes in 2024 as the Rockies seemed to have opened up more playing time to continue to push this youth movement forward. 

Speaking of changes, Austin Gomber, one of the more talented pitchers in the Rockies group has made a change in his motion that he hopes will help keep him healthy, something he has struggled with the last few years. In an interview with Thomas Harding of MLB.com, Gomber has moved his toe position in the rubber to allow a straighter path to the plate, resulting in less twist in his back, ultimately putting less stress on his back. This stress is the main contributor to the injuries he has suffered the last few years. 

Gomber is loaded with talent and has flashed this at times for Rockies fans, putting up a solid 3.00 ERA in the month of July last year. The problem is that he hasn’t been able to consistently build off of that and string together 150 innings of solid stuff, whether it be injuries or just struggling to be effective.

2024 should be a little bit better of a year for Gomber if he can stay healthy. The 30-year-old lefty will be going into his fourth season with the Rockies and will look to recapture some of the strikeout ability he showed in 2021 when he posted an 8.4 K/9. He has never really struggled with walks, so making those changes in an effort to remain healthy, along with recapturing some of that 2021 magic could have Gomber in conversations as the best Rockies pitcher this year. 

The Rockies will really need Gomber to take some steps forward and prove that he has a legit chance at being a number two or three starter for this team moving forward. He is only under contract through next year and needs to prove that he will be worth the Rockies investment in keeping him in the Mile High City. He has the makings of being the "Robin" to Kyle Freeland's Batman for this starting rotation. They are the leaders of an inexperienced group at the back end and need to prove that they can get the job done for this young team.

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