Rocking The Rockies
It's been a little crazy in the real life of Johnny Archive, so I haven't been able to spend as much time in fantasy land. Here's an article Hack put together about the Rockies. Make sure you catch us at our new time for the podcast, every Sunday 6-7pm ET.
I'm making a road trip to check out the Mariners as they take on the Rangers this weekend. Scheduled to pitch for Seattle is King Felix, so it should be a good game.
Reconstructing the Rockies' Pitching Staff
Since their inception in 1993, the Colorado Rockies have had a difficult time finding pitchers that can consistently get outs. This has been a particular problem because of the conditions of playing in the rarified air of Denver, Colorado. The ball carries farther and this has lead to the Rockies continually having the worst pitching staffs in baseball. Also, the thinner air depresses the break in a curveball and slider. Well, obviously, if there isn't a break in a breaking ball, it is going to be hit very hard. But in 2009, the Rockies made an effort to find pitchers that had the ability to succeed in Coors Field.
In the past to solve this problem, the Rockies went after and signed high profiled free agent pitchers. They signed Darryl Kile in 1998. Then in 2001, the Rockies agreed to pay Mike Hampton 10.5 million dollars a year and Denny Neagle 7.2 million a year. With those two signings, the Rockies' front office thought they had solved the curse of the Mile High air. Despite spending all that money, the Rockies' staff struggled. Hampton and Neagle had reoccurring injuries and even when they were healthy, they didn't justify their contracts. The struggles of Kile, Hampton, and Neagle scared off other starting pitchers from signing with Colorado because all three of them had been effective pitchers prior to coming over to the Rockies.
If the Rockies couldn't attract starting pitchers to Colorado, they decided to try something else. At the beginning of the 2002 season, Rockies began storing game balls in an atmosphere-controlled climate, known as "the humidor," to keep them from shrinking, hardening and losing friction in Colorado's unique environment. This would, in theory, make the ball react the same in the Coors Field air as it does at sea level stadiums. From the 1995 to 2001 seasons, National League pitchers at Coors Field had an ERA of 6.50, more than two runs above the league average. Since installing "the humidor," National League pitchers lowered that ERA to 5.44 at Coors. The Rockies' front office thought that this was the answer to their pitching problems, but many Rockies pitchers complained that these new "humidor baseballs" were slippery and hard to grip, still making breaking balls difficult to throw. Even though the organization was heading in the right direction, most of their pitchers were unable to use all of their pitches successfully.
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Chart I. Pitch Type |
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Fastball % |
Two Seam % |
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Jason Marquis |
64.6 |
13.3 |
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Aaron Cook |
85.2 |
9.5 |
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Ubaldo Jimenez |
66.1 |
1.2 |
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Jason Hammel |
62.3 |
0.6 |
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Jorge de la Rosa |
58.7 |
2.0 |
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Chart II. Rockies' Pitching Staff |
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GB% |
FB% |
K/9 |
HR/9 | |
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Jason Marquis |
58.3 |
26.7 |
4.18 |
0.62 |
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Aaron Cook |
54.7 |
25.1 |
4.98 |
0.97 |
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Ubaldo Jimenez |
53.0 |
27.1 |
8.11 |
0.42 |
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Jason Hammel |
46.6 |
30.9 |
6.20 |
0.86 |
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Jorge de la Rosa |
47.0 |
33.7 |
9.12 |
0.88 |
Starting the 2009 season, the Colorado front office made bold moves in the construction of there pitching staff. The Rockies top five starters-Jason Marquis, Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Hammel, and Jorge de la Rosa-all feature sinking fastball as the main part of their repertoire. Using the pitch type statistics from Baseball Info Solution, we can see in Chart I. what percentage the Rockies starters throw their fastball and more importantly, how often they throw the two-seam fastball. The pitch type statistics does not differentiate between a fastball and a sinker, but the more fastballs a pitcher throws, the more likely they are actually throwing a sinker. By doing this, they are inducing more groundballs and giving up fewer home runs. It is a staff that does not concentrate on racking up strike outs, but rather getting quick outs and letting the defense make plays behind them. As an entire staff, the Rockies throw a fastball 65.2% of the time. Compare that to one of the better pitching staffs in baseball, the Boston Red Sox, only throw their fastball 57% of the time.
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Chart III. Home/Road Splits |
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Home ERA |
Road ERA | |
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Jason Marquis |
3.79 |
3.23 |
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Aaron Cook |
4.58 |
3.41 |
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Ubaldo Jimenez |
3.99 |
3.73 |
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Jason Hammel |
7.20 |
1.93 |
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Jorge de la Rosa |
5.81 |
3.88 |
The new emphasis on ground balls is evident in many areas of the staff. This philosophy has allowed the Rockies to not only pitch well at home,
but on the road as well. In the past, they would have had a significant home/road split for there staff. So far in the 2009 season, however, other than Hammel none of the Rockies pitchers have that extreme home/road split. The Rockies' staff as a whole is one of the better ones in the National League. They do two important things that are a key components for a team to win games: not walking batters and not allowing home runs.The 2009 Colorado Rockies are a far cry from the slugging Rockies teams of the mid-90s. The front office should be commended for knowing the ballpark in which they play and building a pitching staff that can succeed in that environment. Not only have the Rockies have supported their pitchers by fielding an excellent defense behind them, especially up the middle. Catcher Chris Iannetta, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, second baseman Clint Barmes, and centerfielder Dexter Fowler are all above average defenders that can cover a lot of ground. Many organizations struggle with this concept and they can't find the right combination to field a winning team. Credit the Rockies for learning from their past mistakes and build a pitching staff that gives the team a good chance of winning ball games.
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