Can the Rockies’ Improved Rotation Depth Help Them Avoid 100 Losses in 2025?

When Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela went down with elbow injuries and subsequently needed Tommy John surgeries, the starting pitching for the Colorado Rockies went from a strength to a weakness.

The club reached the postseason in consecutive campaigns from 2017 to ’18 in large part due to the health and heroics of the rotation. For the first time in team history, they held ground in their pursuit of October; the loss of Márquez and Senzatela caused a historic hit in 2023 and ’24 with back-to-back 100-loss seasons.

Before those prolonged stints on the injured list, the last time Colorado suffered such uncertainty in the rotation was in 2015 when the club featured eight different pitchers who started at least 10 games during a fifth-consecutive losing season.

Though 2016 would bring a sixth-straight sub-.500 campaign, starting depth improved and brought about the most wins in six years. 

The Rockies’ success in 2017 and ’18, the team’s only consecutive playoff appearances since entering the league in 1993, was owed in part to a consistent rotation.

Outside of a solitary spot start by Jeff Hoffman, the entire 2018 slate of games was started by only six pitchers. Four pitchers made 30 starts or more, including Márquez and Kyle Freeland. Since 2017, only eight rotations have managed such a combination of health and success. 

The expected return of Márquez and Senzatela for 2025, along with the emergence of Ryan Feltner to work alongside veterans Freeland and Austin Gomber, plus a slew of starting pitching prospects on the precipice of reaching the Majors, signals a level of confidence for Colorado’s rotation the likes of which it hasn’t felt in years.

Senza and Germán’s Coors Field Reunion

The 29-year-olds from Venezuela have made for a consistent pair in the rotation, combining for 1,647.1 innings from 2017-22.

UCL injuries during the first half of 2023 and the subsequent Tommy John surgeries wiped out all of 2024 for both men. Colorado suffered back-to-back 100-loss campaigns in their absence. Coincidence? Not exactly.

Márquez was durable and downright electric before the injury. His 975.1 innings pitching from 2017-22 was the sixth-most in MLB; his 166 starts were bested by only three pitchers during that span.

The former Tampa Bay Rays farmhand wasn’t just able to be available. There was a potential no-hit bid each time he stepped on the mound. He was the first Rockies starter to make the NL All-Star team in over a decade when he earned a selection in 2021. His 986 career strikeouts are the most in franchise history. 

Say what you will about the Rockies not being too picky about who takes the ball every five days, but Márquez was also good for a 112 ERA+ during his first six full seasons as a big leaguer. Only three Colorado pitchers have been better, with only Ubaldo Jiménez (128 ERA+) being notably so.

Senzatela’s durability and success have never reached the same heights as his counterpart, but his mentality is one that fits the treacherous ways of Coors Field. Senza didn’t just survive; he could also thrive at altitude. While not quite Jorge de la Rosa in terms of success in Denver, Senzatela’s home ERA is exactly half a run less than on the road.

An ability to induce ground balls and limit home runs was one of the reasons Colorado gave him a five-year, $50 million extension following the 2021 season. Since then, a torn ACL and UCL surgery have limited him to 24 starts. 

It’s reasonable to think Márquez and Senzatela might only combine for 30 starts in 2025, or one middle-of-the-rotation starter between the two. Yet, as two question marks who have yet to throw a complete season following Tommy John surgery, Colorado might be eager to sign up for as much.

Márquez is a free agent following 2025 and Senzatela is signed through 2026. While they may no longer be a part of the picture for the Rockies’ next contender, they are key pieces this season as the club continues to transition to a more youthful group of players.

Purple Leaves: The Emergence of Feltner

If you stopped paying attention to the Rockies by last May — when the team started the month 8.5 games back of the final Wild Card — you missed an impressive span of starts by one particular pitcher in the second half. Even if you kept watching for performances from individual players, you likely wrote off Ryan Feltner following 22 consecutive winless outings.

It’s alright if you tapped out, but you missed one of the best stories to come out of Colorado in 2024.

Over his final 15 starts of the season, Felter posted a 2.98 ERA. The 28-year-old had the 10th-best earned run average in the National League during that stretch (min. 80 IP). Not bad for a guy who accomplished that mostly at Coors Field. 

That kind of sustained surge was the first for a Rockies starter since Márquez was a 2021 All-Star. Feltner was only the fourth player since 2014 to have such a streak with the franchise.

Feltner has been bucking trends for Colorado ever since his debut in 2021 when he jumped from Double-A directly to the Majors. He posted a 5.82 ERA in 30 games (29 starts) over the next two seasons and averaged four walks per nine innings in that time.

Feltner stressed out manager Bud Black much less in 2024, dropping his walk rate by 30% and allowing two or fewer free passes in 26 of his 30 starts to tie a franchise record for most in a season.

Aside from some of the prospects who have yet to wear the purple pinstripes, Feltner has the biggest breakout potential in 2025… not such a bold prediction when he’s already done it once.

Grizzled Young Veterans

Lost in the shuffle of 101 losses and the emergence of Feltner was a solid all-around effort from Austin Gomber. 

Before 2024, the closest to a full season the southpaw had experienced with Colorado was 27 starts in 2023. Were he not shut down for the final month of that season with lower back inflammation, Gomber may have been able to salvage his year thanks to a late-summer run of 11 starts with a 3.50 ERA. That performance brought his season ERA down from the mid-7.00s to the mid-5.00s. 

At least once a year, Gomber had been limited by injuries or because of a demotion to the bullpen, as was the case in 2022, until 2024. His age-30 season came with 30 starts for the first time in his career. There were zero trips to the IL and two prolonged stretches of starts that gave his team a legitimate chance of beating whoever lined up across from them.

An outsider might balk at his earned run average, but context is everything for a team at 20th and Blake. Gomber’s 4.75 ERA with 165.0 innings is something only Freeland (2022) and Márquez (2021) have accomplished since Colorado’s last winning season in 2018.

As for Freeland, he struggled from the onset, giving up 10 runs on Opening Day in the worst start of his career. A left elbow strain forced him to go on the 60-day IL for the first time in his eight years in the Majors, putting him on the shelf for two months with no chance at lowering an eye-popping 13.21 ERA. 

When he returned at the end of June, Freeland looked more like the 2018 version of himself — the one that finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting — than any season since. He immediately tossed six quality starts in seven tries, delivering a 2.91 ERA during that span.

After that reset, Freeland resembled the pitcher the Rockies signed to a five-year, $64.5 million extension. Were it not for a rough performance in his final start, Freeland could have joined Gomber, Feltner and Cal Quantrill in the sub-5.00 ERA club.

Johnny Depth

A total of 12 pitchers made a start for Colorado last season, including a trio of arms who made their big league debut: Anthony Molina, Tanner Gordon and Bradley Blalock.

Molina, a Rule 5 selection from the Tampa Bay Rays, was mostly utilized as a long reliever. Despite appearing in 35 contests, less than half of his appearances lasted as long as two innings. The 22-year-old struggled on the road (11.10 ERA) and was unusually good at home (3.82 ERA).

The plan all along had been to protect him from injury and overexposure as a reliever in 2024 before returning him to the rotation full-time in Triple-A Albuquerque. Considering his 2.05 ERA in outings of at least three innings, Molina might even be first on the call sheet should one of the five rotation incumbents go down with an injury.

Gordon was acquired with Victor Vodnik at the 2023 trade deadline from Atlanta for Pierce Johnson. He struggled in the Eastern League following the move but was much better at Triple-A to start 2024. 

His debut began auspiciously, with a strikeout to Adam Frazier and American League MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. to open the game. Gordon became the first Rockies starter to strike out each of the first two batters he faced in his MLB debut.

The former Indiana Hoosier managed to pitch into the seventh inning, something not seen at Coors Field by a debuting player in over eight years.

Though three of his next four outings were either quality starts or just shy, the wheels fell off immediately after. The 27-year-old avoided walks (8) in his eight starts, but not home runs (10).

Blalock was mostly the opposite of Gordon in terms of long balls (4) and free passes (19). He also got off to a strong start, even spoiling Old Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium with 5.2 innings of two-run ball.

Another trade acquisition for the Rockies, Blalock began the year with the Milwaukee Brewers. The 32nd-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft had a breakout first half with the Boston Red Sox in 2023 before being shipped to Milwaukee for Luis Urías. Less than a year later, he and Luis Peralta were traded to Colorado for Nick Mears.

Standby for Prospects

The impending free agency of Márquez and Gomber, coupled with 2026 being the final year Senzatela and Freeland are under contract, points to the Rockies needing to give more opportunities to their starting pitching prospects this season. And the prospects have been more than deserving of those opportunities.

Chase Dollander is the club’s standout minor leaguer following his first season as a professional.

The ninth overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft, Dollander was put on the shelf that year following a lackluster campaign with the Tennessee Volunteers. The Evans, GA. native tinkered with his slider following a 2022 season that had many considering him the top overall amateur entering 2023. 

Dollander began 2024 with a bang, going 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA over 14 starts with High-A Spokane. That earned him the honor of making the start for the NL in last summer’s Futures Game.

After rubbing elbows with the rest of the top prospects in the sport, the 6’2” starter was promoted to Double-A. He continued to excel with the Hartford Yard Goats, leading them to the team’s first ever postseason appearance thanks to a 2.25 ERA in nine outings. 

GM Bill Schmidt was zealous — not overzealous — last month at the Winter Meetings when speaking of Dollander, saying, “We’re going to give him every opportunity in Spring Training to make the team.”

Carson Palmquist and Sean Sullivan also offer upside for Colorado’s rotation should those ahead of them on the depth chart falter.

Palmquist, the club’s third-round selection in 2022 out of the University of Miami, was solid at Double-A (3.17 ERA) last season before struggling in the rough environs of Triple-A (5.86 ERA).

Sullivan has moved just as quickly through the minors as Dollander and Palmquist. The 22-year-old southpaw from Wake Forest finished his first full season in the minors at Double-A (1.97 ERA in seven starts) and had a system-best 8.33 K/BB ratio (min. 90 innings).

While Gabriel Hughes, the club’s top pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, deserves some attention, his impact on the rotation may have to wait until 2026. Hughes managed to return from Tommy John surgery late last year, throwing 17.1 innings over six starts in the Arizona Fall League. The club will surely be monitoring his workload in 2025.

Colorado didn’t enter 2023 with any real chance at making the postseason, but 100 losses seemed implausible because of a history replete with 63-plus win seasons. All signs point to this rotation not being the same contributor to another 100-loss campaign.

But, hey, anything is possible, right?