The Rockies, especially manager Warren Schaeffer, insist they aren’t looking at the 2025 season through their rearview mirror. The past is the past. That 119-loss team is not relevant to the current team.
If that were really true, then it would make no sense to point out that after 55 games last season, the Rockies had a 9-46 record. Or to note that after 55 games this season, the Rockies are 20-35 — an 11-game improvement.
But, in the real world, you can’t separate the two seasons. We need a measuring stick to gauge the state of the Rockies. So, using Memorial Day as a traditional baseball milestone, here is an assessment of the club with one-third of the season in the books:
Won-loss record: Colorado entered Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles with the lowest winning percentage (.364) in the majors and the worst run-differential (minus-65). The woeful Angels (20-34, .370, minus-62) are competing with the Rockies as the worst team in baseball.
At their current pace, the Rockies would finish the season 59-103 and become the first team since the 1961-64 Washington Senators to suffer four consecutive 100-loss seasons.
Starting rotation: Paul DePodesta, the first-year president of baseball operations, spent $19.1 million to sign veteran pitchers Michael Lorenzen ($8 million), Jose Quintana ($6.0), and Tomoyuki Sugano ($5.1 million). The theory was that adding the trio would stabilize the rotation and give Colorado’s young pitchers time to develop. It’s a solid plan.
But after a relatively strong start, the plan is falling apart. Rockies starters had a 5.67 ERA entering Tuesday night’s game. That’s the worst in the majors, and although it’s not as bad as the historically bad 6.65 ERA the rotation posted last season, it’s heading in that direction.
The Rockies have a 6-17 record in May, and the starters’ failures are the chief culprit. They are 2-13 with a 7.11 ERA, though right-hander Tanner Gordon gave Colorado five solid innings on Monday night to stop the bleeding.
Sugano’s excellent start on Friday night in Arizona (6 2/3 innings and two runs allowed) was an anomaly. It provided Colorado with its first quality start since Quintana (six innings, one run) on May 1 against the Braves. Sugano’s outing snapped a streak of 18 consecutive starts without a quality start by a Colorado pitcher, the third-longest drought in franchise history and the longest since a 21-game stretch June 5-28, 2012.
Injuries, coupled with a lack of quality depth, have played a major role. Quintana left Sunday’s start in Arizona in the second inning with elbow pain and is now on the 15-day injured list. Right-hander Chase Dollander (right elbow sprain) won’t even begin throwing for another two weeks. At least right-hander Ryan Feltner (right ulnar nerve inflammation) will return to the rotation this week. He’s been out since April 24.
While Sugano has been solid (4-3, 3.86 ERA), Lorenzen has been one of the worst pitchers in the majors with a 7.21 ERA, 1.90 WHIP, and a .353 batting average against.
And home-grown lefty Kyle Freeland has struggled since coming back from the IL (left shoulder tightness) on April 28. In five starts since his return, he’s posted a 10.32 ERA.
What’s especially concerning is that the Rockies’ pitching prospects seem a long way away from helping out.
Of the Rockies’ top 10 prospects (MLB Pipeline), only three of them are pitchers: right-handers JB Middleton and Brody Brecht, and lefty Griffin Herring. None of them is expected to debut until 2027, at the earliest. Lefty Sean Sullivan (No. 11) and Gabriel Hughes (No. 16) could be in the rotation sooner, but neither projects as an impact starter.
Colorado needs more talented young pitching in the system, perhaps via trades.
Power outage: Colorado entered Tuesday’s game with 46 home runs, tied for the fifth-fewest with Arizona, Detroit and San Francisco. In May, the Rockies have slugged only 15 homers, tied with the D-Backs for the third fewest. The Rockies have hit only 21 homers at Coors Field, the fourth-fewest at home among big-league teams. The Blake Street Bombers are not on deck.
Though Schaeffer loves homers, he says he’s not overly concerned by his team’s lack of power.
“You don’t need to win by hitting home runs,” Schaeffer told reporters on Saturday night in Arizona. “You win by doing a lot of different things. We won a game (Friday) night without hitting a homer. I’ll take that 162 times.”
Poor execution: The Rockies brass won’t say it publicly, but there is a huge talent gap between the Rockies and most of the teams they play. Add in the lack of power and bad starting pitching, and it’s easy to see why they are heading for another 100-loss season.
Schaeffer and the front office want a fast, athletic team that pushes the action. The Rockies have done that, at times, this season. But Schaeffer’s style of baseball requires sharp execution and precision. That’s been lacking in May. Too many walks by the pitchers and too many empty at-bats and poorly executed bunts have frustrated Schaeffer.
“Both of their leadoff walks scored, and we had eight free passes; that’s not good enough,” Schaeffer told reporters on Thursday night after a 2-1 walk-off loss to the Diamondbacks. “We can’t do that. And (there was a) lack of execution. They execute, we don’t execute tonight, and we lose. Story of the game.”
