In the past couple of MLB drafts the Colorado Rockies have moved from drafting pitchers that throw to contact to drafting pitchers that hurl in the upper 90s and blow the ball past opposing hitters.
“They used to go for pitch to contact guys,” said Ryan Edwards who joined Benjamin Allbright on The Big Show on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7. “They need to miss bats, the pitch to contact is just a bad formula for Coors Field.”
The mindset for the past five to ten years in Colorado is that pitchers that are able to get ground balls will work at Coors Field, but obviously that strategy hasn’t really worked. Over the past five seasons only twice has the Rockies home ERA been below 5.00 (and they were barely below that mark).
A great example of a pitch to contact guy is Jorge De La Rosa. His fastball has an average speed of 92.5 mph for his career, and as Rockies fans know his fastball does not fool guys. Despite being the winningest pitcher in Rockies history, he has a career ERA of 4.61 at Coors Field.
Apparently the front office has taken note of this because the Rockies first three draft picks this year (Riley Pint, Robert Tyler, Ben Bowden) are pitchers that throw in the upper 90s.
“Major League Baseball is now, especially bullpens, is mid-to-high 90s guys, some that touch three digits, that can blow by batters and that’s what you need,” said Edwards. “The first three pitchers, that’s exactly what they did with Pint, with Tyler, with Bowden. They went after guys that touch mid-to-high 90s.”
Some Rockies in the current rotation are starting to fit the mold of the mid-to-high 90s pitcher and are finding success. Jon Gray is in contention to be the Rockies’ future ace and his average fastball speed is 94.9mph and Carlos Estevez, who is a rookie and is looking to solidify his roll as the closer, has an average fastball speed of 96.7mph.
“Jon Gray is a blow torch kind of guy,” said Edwards. “Carlos Estevez is another guy, they have these guys that are blow torch kind of guys and it’s the direction they need to be going.”
An old baseball saying is “the harder he throws the further it goes,” so hopefully this new trend doesn’t mean even worse pitching for the Rockies future.
Listen to the full discussion in the podcast below…
Catch The Big Show with Benny Bash, Kent Erickson and Benjamin Allbright
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