Rockies Notebook: Tanner Gordon, Warming Bernabel and An Improved Defense

DENVER, Colo. –– Tanner Gordon may not have the cult status of “The Dragon Slayer” Josh Fogg from his 2007 run to the World Series, but the start to his career has been notably impactful.

The 27-year-old leads the Colorado Rockies in wins thanks to a victory in his last three starts over the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Astros. The quality start in Houston sank American League Cy Young Award contender Hunter Brown and the one against Los Angeles gave Shohei Ohtani his first loss in over two years.

Coupled with a win over the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals, Gordon is getting the reputation for defeating some of the biggest franchises in Major League Baseball.

Gordon was in line for the win during Sunday’s 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs and All-Star Matthew Boyd, thanks to six innings of two-run ball. He also struck out a career-high nine batters, most for the franchise in over a year. 

“He stacked another game like he’s been pitching, and it’s a good lineup,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said of Gordon. “He stuck heaters away late in the count, good mix, good fastball change, and pitched in well, just commanded. The baseball was calm, collected and six strong innings that we needed. That was big.”

Acquired with closer Victor Vodnik from Atlanta at the 2023 trade deadline for Pierce Johnson, Gordon debuted with Colorado in 2024. He went 0-6 with an 8.65 ERA over eight starts.

The 6th round pick in 2019 out of Indiana University didn’t get many opportunities during Spring Training and opened 2025 in Triple-A Albuquerque. Gordon made three starts in May (4.24 ERA) before re-joining the rotation in a full-time capacity during the first homestand after the All-Star break. 

A three-start stretch from July 29 to August 10 saw the Champaign, Ill. native surrender 23 earned runs. He became only the second pitcher in team history to allow 17 or more earned runs and 23 hits in consecutive outings.

Gordon has managed to turn things around since then and has made himself a strong candidate to be a part of the 2026 starting rotation. 

“The way he’s commanded the baseball, the way he is pitched without fear,” Schaeffer said. “Made the adjustments when he needed to make adjustments early in games where maybe a shift in mentality to ‘I’m just going to attack these guys with what I know I can do.’ For a young player, it’s something that you have to overcome.”

Responding Defensively

Owner Dick Monfort made news in January by saying the Rockies infield defense would be one of the best in the history of the game.

The club featured 2024 National League Gold Glove Award winner Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop and perennial Gold Glove finalist Ryan McMahon at third base. On the right side of the infield was newly acquired Thairo Estrada at second base and first baseman Michael Toglia, a homegrown product the organization believed could replicate the defense of three-time Gold Glove recipient Todd Helton.

Only Tovar is still on the active roster.

And only the Boston Red Sox with 103 errors have made more defensive miscues than Colorado. 

The 101 fielding errors is the most for the franchise since 2016 (110). With a 120-error pace, the final tally could be the most blunders since 122 in 2012.

In the second half though, it seems the Rockies are making less mistakes in the field than earlier in the season when they began 9-50.

“I really like the trend that our defense has been on,” Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer, who entered Monday with a 32-65 record as skipper of Colorado, has praised the new infield alignment (from left to right) of Kyle Karros, Tovar, Ryan Ritter and Warming Bernabel.

In the outfield, two-time Gold Glove winner Brenton Doyle appeared to be a step behind during a difficult first half. Since the start of the second half on July 18, he’s been better on both sides of the ball.

“(Brenton) Doyle has gotten better defensively as the season’s gone on out there, more to the guy we know,” Schaeffer said.

Doyle owns the fourth-highest batting average (.357) in the Majors and the fifth-highest OPS (.999) through this span. His six Outs Above Average in the field is tops on the team and tied for fifth-most amongst NL center fielders. 

Growing Pains

Earning NL Player of the Month in your first week in the big leagues is a pace that’s incredibly difficult to maintain.

For Warming Bernabel, who received the honors by batting .462 (12-for-26) with two homers, seven RBI and a 1.385 OPS, reality is that the greatest pitchers in the world will get the best of you more times than not.

Since the announcement of the award on Aug. 4, Bernabel is batting .181 with a .471 OPS. Despite that lack of production, he’s struck out only 18.4% of the time during the worst stretch of his short career in the Majors.

“I think Warming is going to be just fine,” Schaeffer said of his 23-year-old first baseman. “The big leagues is a hard thing to do. You can’t expect a young guy to come up and be on fire from the beginning to the end of the season. You know he’s going to go through spells like this. That’s baseball.”

Bernabel snapped an 0-for-26 stretch dating back to Aug. 20 during a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Two days before his slump began, he sank the reigning World Series Champs with a walk-off single.

“We are trying to help him along. Give patience to him,” Schaeffer said. “Give him confidence. And just say, ‘If you’re pressing it — which is a real thing that guys do, especially young players — you don’t need to press. You’re good enough to be here. You’ve shown that already.’”