Too often, he’d throw his 95-mph fastball over the heart of the plate. “Thwack!” Baseballs sizzled off the bat. Full Charlie Brown mode. Duck and cover. It was hard to watch.

Opponents had a .352 batting average against Senzatela’s fastball. It was one of the most hittable pitches in the majors. He posted a 6.65 ERA and served up a career-high 22 home runs. In 108 innings as a starter, Senzatela posted a 7.48 ERA and 1.91 WHIP. Manager Warren Schaeffer was forced to demote him to the bullpen as a cleanup reliever.

“Senza,” as everyone calls the Rockies’ veteran right-hander, has never come close to being a star, but he was a serviceable back-of-the-rotation pitcher. But, in retrospect, it seemed like a mistake to sign him to a five-year, $50.5 million contract extension in October 2021.

He’s been through a lot. He sustained a torn ACL in August 2021, worked his way back, blew out his elbow, and underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2023. Through it all, Senzatela has been a complete pro. He’s beloved by his teammates and is always friendly with the media.ĚýMost of all, he put in the work.

But Senza looked done. The $12 million he’s making this season looked like dead money.

But now, he’s one of baseball’s best stories in the early going. How many pitchers reinvent themselves at 31?

Entering the weekend, he had yet to give up a run over five games (12 1/3) innings as a long reliever. His 0.568 WHIP is ridiculously low. He’s struck out 15 and walked just three.

Schaeffer never gave up on Senzatela, but knew the right-hander had to change if he wanted to thrive as a long reliever under the Rockies’ new game plan, in which long relievers play a critical role.

“One hundred percent, he could have gone one of two ways — the other way or the way he’s going now — which is a credit to the way he went about it,” Schaeffer told MLB.com in San Diego last weekend. “None of us doubted that this was going to be the case. I’m extremely proud of the way he goes about his business, attacking it every single day.”

During the offseason, Senzatela trained at Push Performance, a Phoenix-area training facility. Under the tutelage of new Rockies pitching coach Alon Leichman and new assistant pitching coach Gabe Ribas, Senzatela honed his craft during spring training. He experimented with different grips, adjusted his position on the pitching rubber, and changed his mentality on the mound.

Now, Senza looks like a different pitcher. His average four-seam fastball velocity has increased from 95 mph to 97.2 mph. More importantly, he’s become a less predictable pitcher. Last season, he threw his four-seam fastball 59.6% of the time. This season, he’s using it 39.6% of the time,

Last season, he threw his cutter 1.8% of the time. This season it’s up to 26.6%. Senzatela’s slider, a pitch he’s never commanded particularly well, has been put in the back pocket (18% in 2025, 3% in ’26). He threw a sinking fastball hardly at all last season (0.5%), but he’s throwing it at 95.9 mph this season (12.4%) and getting groundball outs with it.

Senza said that once he made adjustments to his pitcher repertoire and his daily routine, he’s come to like coming out of the bullpen.

“I feel really good,” he said Friday before the Rockies hosted the Dodgers. “I can feel my adrenaline when I come into a game. So it feels really good (coming out) of the bullpen and having that experience.

“It’s different knowing you have to be ready almost every day. It¶¶Ňőap different for me now, but it¶¶Ňőap going good.”

Actually, better than good. In April, he’s been praise-worthy, not cringe-worthy. Good for him.

Colorado entered the fifth inning of the series opener against the Astros down 3-0, and got two runs the honest way when Edouard Julien singled home a couple to cut the score to 3-2.

Then came the help from the LoDo heavens in a 9-7 win, marking the Rockies’ first consecutive victories this season.

“We put the pressure on the Astros today,” said right fielder Troy Johnston, who led the way with three hits, two RBIs, two runs scored and a mega homer. “They had a spot starter, and some trouble in the bullpen, and we took advantage.”

The Rockies plated six runs with two outs in the fifth, and Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena was at the center of three plays that extended the inning when it should’ve been over.

Pena took a bad first step off the bat on a Hunter Goodman grounder to the shortstop’s left, turning a likely out into a single. The next batter, Johnston, hit a chopper up the middle. Pena was shifted perfectly up the middle to field it and step on second for the third out, but the grounder careened off the bag into the outfield for an RBI double.

When Johnston got to second, he let out an animated shrug.

“I thought Pena made an error on the play,” Johnston said. “(Houston second baseman Jose) Altuve told me it was a double, and I didn’t believe him until I looked up at the board and saw the replay. (Sometimes) it’s better to be lucky than good.”

After T.J. Rumfield cashed in on that fortuitous home-field bounce with a two-RBI triple the next at-bat, Willi Castro roped an RBI single to make it a taco’s inning. Pena then committed an error, booting an easy grounder by Brenton Doyle, that enabled Kyle Karros to hit an RBI single a couple batters later.

All that gave Colorado an 8-3 lead, the most runs the club’s scored in an inning this season, and left the Astros visibly relieved when they jogged off the field following Julien’s lineout to left that ended the frame after 14 batters.

“It was nice to see the boys passing the baton, getting the next guy to the plate any way they could,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “We took balls and we looked a lot more comfortable tonight.”

The 14-batter inning was the most for the Rockies since 2018, when they did so in a game against the Cardinals in Denver.

It was Houston that had all the momentum prior to that at-bat parade. The Astros scored twice in the opening inning off right-hander Ryan Feltner via a double by Carlos Correa and a single by Christian Walker. Then, the visitors made it 3-0 in the fourth when Cam Smith blasted a 462-foot tank to dead center off a piped Feltner fastball, the longest homer in the majors this season.

Feltner still ended up getting the win, his first such decision since September 17, 2024, in what Schaeffer called “an outing to build on.”

But after the Rockies put together their big inning off the combination of Houston pitchers Cody Bolton (making his first career start) and Ryan Weiss — a frame that also featured three walks and a sacrifice bunt — the Colorado bullpen ensured the Astros weren’t able to fully rally. Through 10 games, relievers have been a strength for the Rockies (4-6).

Houston scored one in the sixth after Feltner loaded the bases, resulting in the end of his night, but Jimmy Herget escaped the jam with only a sacrifice fly. Colorado got that run back in the bottom of the frame thanks to Johnston’s no-doubt homer to right, and the right fielder was greeted with a new celebratory purple fur coat in the dugout following the 407-foot mash.

Johnston was sitting slider on his first-pitch homer off Weiss, and the pitcher put one right in his wheelhouse. That capped a strong night for Johnston, who started out the evening with a surprise bunt single to lead off the second inning, when the ball stopped right on the line just short of third base.

Even with the Rockies in command following the fifth, in typical Coors Field fashion, the game wasn’t over until it was over.

The Astros ripped Zach Agnos in the eighth to make it 9-7, and Agnos was pulled with one out and two men in scoring position, including the tying run at second base. But Juan Mejia induced a flyout and a groundout to end the threat, then set Houston down in order in the ninth for his first save of the season and second of his career.

“That was two huge outs in the eighth inning, and then (Mejia) came back out and did the same thing in the ninth,” Schaeffer said. “His stuff is nasty and he’s got a low heartbeat, so it’s a good combo.”

Of note, the Rockies had starter Michael Lorenzen warming up in the ninth should Mejia have gotten into trouble. Schaeffer said that will be a staple for the Rockies moving forward on the right-hander’s bullpen days.

“Instead of him throwing a bullpen, he’s going to be available for an inning out of the ‘pen,” Schaeffer said. “He’s come out of the ‘pen many times in his career. He wants to help the team, and we’re going to let him.”

The three-game series resumes on Tuesday night when southpaw Kyle Freeland takes on Houston right-hander Mike Burrows.

It was a get-right game for Philadelphia, which arrived for the Denver baseball holiday following an uneven start to 2026. The Phillies blitzed Colorado starter Michael Lorenzen for a touchdown in the first inning en route to a dominant 10-1 win.

The seven runs yielded by before the Rockies had a chance to bat were the most runs allowed in the opening frame in 34 years of Colorado home openers. It was 3-0 before Lorenzen even got a single out, and by the time Brandon Marsh stepped to the plate with two men on, the game felt like it was about to spiral out of the Rockies’ reach.

That’s exactly what happened when Marsh blasted the longest homer of his career,

“I know (Lorenzen’s) stuff likes to fade to the outer half to lefties, so I was just pulling (my hands) in and pulling them up, and got the pitch right where I was looking at it,” Marsh said. “It was one of those ones where I didn’t feel it, so it was a good feeling. Credit to all the guys in front of me who got the whole inning jumping.

“… I definitely smelt a little blood in the water (when I stepped up).”

The Rockies, who have now lost eight straight to Philadelphia dating back to last season, looked like a team that should be relegated compared to the two-time defending National League East champs, who have made four straight playoff appearances.

In the most lopsided home opener loss in Colorado history, Lorenzen — who pitched for the Phillies in the second half of 2023 following a deadline trade from Detroit — got rocked. He allowed a career-high 12 hits, also a record by a single pitcher in a Rockies home opener, and his three innings pitched was the shortest start in the club’s home opener history.

“I mean, 76 pitches in the first three innings, 44 in the first — that’s having good at-bats by those numbers,” Phillies manager Rob Thompson said. “I know Michael, he’s a gamer, he’s a good teammate. He’s going to take the ball and keep going, and he sucked it up for them today (by pitching the second and third innings). I love the kid, but we did have good at-bats today.”

After Trea Turner led off the game with a double, the Phillies got a pair of patient at-bats from their two sluggers, as both Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper walked.

Those were key to Philadelphia opening the floodgates in an inning puncuated by Marsh’s homer. Harper also homered off Lorenzen, a 421-foot shot to right-center to lead off the second, and the Phillies manufactured another run off Lorenzen in the third to make it 9-0.

“We waited it out well (against Lorenzen),” Harper said. “When he threw it over the plate, we hit it hard.”

All three of the Phillies’ homers on Friday

Marsh’s was 106.1 mph off the bat, while Harper’s was 108.9 and Schwarber — who went deep to right off long reliever Valente Bellozo in the fifth — hit the hardest (110.7) and longest (460 feet) ball of the game as extra salt in the wound.

Meanwhile, Phillies ace turned in a “vintage Nola” performance, shortstop Trea Turner said. In a quality start that went six-plus innings, the right-handed veteran allowed one run and walked one while scattering five hits and notching nine strikeouts. With that, he lowered his career ERA against Colorado to 3.05 in a dozen starts.

Nola said he was unfazed by taking the mound with a huge lead.

“I enjoy this stadium — it’s really beautiful and it’s one of my favorites,” Nola said. “Home openers in the opposing stadium are awesome to pitch in. (A seven-run lead in the first) does take pressure off, but I try my hardest not to lose my focus one bit. I tried to pitch like it was a 0-0 ballgame.”

It was the final year of playing in 2013, when he pitched briefly for the independent Amarillo Sox in the American Association. After several shoulder injuries, the right-hander’s arm wasn’t what it once was, and his passion for the preparation the game required was waning.

At that point, Hirsh had recently gone through a spell of being angry with the game, and with himself. But when his younger teammates asked for his advice, a new light flipped.

“Some of my teammates in Amarillo were fresh out of college or had only played a year or two of indy ball, and they’d be like, ‘Hey, can you come watch a bullpen and help me out?'” Hirsh recalled. “So we’d go down there together and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I see this or I see that.’

“And they would fix those things I was seeing. They’d go out in the game, they’d have success. And from that, I started to get that same sense of joy and fulfillment that I used to have as a player. And so that’s when my mindset really started to switch and I thought, ‘Maybe I should put on a different hat here.'”

So that’s what Hirsh did.

From player to coach

Out of the highs and lows of his professional career, Hirsh’s next phase in the game came as a coach. He started the Jason Hirsh Pitching Academy in 2013 by renting a tunnel in a hitting facility in Aurora. Over the last 13 years, his business expanded significantly, and he’s worked with hundreds of high school baseball pitchers across the state. The growth led to his own player development facility, in Lakewood.

And this year, Hirsh took over as the head coach at Mullen after four years as an assistant. The totality of his coaching endeavors marks a full-circle moment from the advice he offered to other pitchers in American Association bullpens while hanging on to the final remnants of his own career.

“Very few people get to leave the game the way they want,” said , Hirsh’s Rockies teammate in 2007 and ’08 who also coached with him at Mullen. “Because of that, a lot of guys can develop that animosity towards it. But for a guy like Jason, his passion was the game, not necessarily playing the game.

“Coaching (at FAST Performance) and at Mullen, I think this is Chapter 2 in a seven- to 10-chapter book. I don’t think he will stop at coaching at the high school level. There will be opportunities for him to coach at the professional level or the collegiate level if he wants it because Jason’s very driven when it comes to the changes in the modern game (via analytics).”

At his facility, Hirsh has made a name for himself in the spheres of arm care and pitching mechanics. One of the pitchers he worked with throughout high school, Columbine graduate is now up to 98 mph with his fastball at Nevada after coming back from elbow surgery earlier in his college career.

Hirsh was there for Brainard before and after his surgery, and never made chasing velocity a sole focus.

“The first time we went to his facility, I asked, ‘What do you think we should be doing to maybe get noticed a little bit more by college scouts?'” recalled Aidan’s father, Jeff Brainard. “And his response was, ‘Eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in-between every meal, and eat another peanut butter and jelly sandwich during the meal you’re having.’ Basically just telling Aidan that the most important thing he can do right now is gain weight and sleep.

“There’s a lot of people who are willing to blow smoke, especially when you’re hoping your kid gets noticed by colleges. But Jason has always been incredibly authentic, and he was a great sounding board for Aidan during his recovery from surgery.”

The 6-foot-8 Hirsh started his career as an under-recruited pitching prospect in his native Southern California. He emerged as a star at California Lutheran University, where he became one of the highest-drafted Division III players ever when the Astros selected him in the second round in 2003.

He zoomed through the minors, earning Texas League Pitcher of the Year and then Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year He debuted that August in a stacked Houston rotation that featured Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens.

But Hirsh’s excitement about being part of that cast in his first full big-league season the next summer was dampened when he was traded to the Rockies in December 2006. The deal sent Rockies ace Jason Jennings and pitcher Miguel Asencio to Houston in exchange for Hirsh, pitcher Taylor Buchholz and outfielder Willy Taveras.

“That was a huge gut punch,” Hirsh said. “I was like, ‘Really? The Rockies?'”

Hirsh’s professional high

Little did Hirsh know that he would be a key piece of the most memorable Colorado roster ever assembled, as the played in the first and still only World Series in franchise history. Hirsh turned in his signature season, with a 4.81 ERA in 19 starts, before it got derailed when he broke his leg after being hit by a line drive in August.

Hirsh broke his right fibula off a comebacker from the second batter of that game, but kept pitching, turning in a quality start with six innings and two earned runs in a win over Milwaukee. After that, his leg didn’t heal in time to rejoin Colorado for its torrid stretch run that culminated in being swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.

“I had just missed a month with a rolled ankle, and I was determined that they were not going to take me out of that game,” Hirsh said. “… After (realizing it was broken), I tried to just become the best teammate I could. I’d do the bucket. I’d go shag in the outfield, break down opponents with our other pitchers, and contribute in any way that I could.”

A shoulder injury cost Hirsh most of the ’08 season, and by midway through ’09, the Rockies traded Hirsh to the Yankees. Hirsh briefly rediscovered his mojo for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following the trade, but never made it back to the majors. He concluded his career with a stint in the Australian Baseball League and then in the American Association.

Now, as a coach, Hirsh says he “enjoys the game more than I ever did as a player.” And while he won’t be at the Rockies’ home opener on Friday at Coors Field, with the club’s front office under new direction, Hirsh is again willing to come out to watch his former big-league team that he became disinterested in over the past three 100-loss seasons.

“I look back on my playing career and I wish I took it in a little bit more,” Hirsh said. “I felt like I was always trying to prove myself, trying to work towards something. And I never really fully grasped or appreciated the process that it took me to get to there.”

The next Hirsh to watch

That’s why Hirsh is preaching process over outcome with his and especially his son, sophomore first baseman/pitcher Brady Hirsh.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pounder has a sweet, power-laden left-handed swing that is replicated from the swing of the Yankees’ Cody Bellinger. And on the mound, he’s already showing promise, with a mid-80s fastball plus a curveball and changeup.

Brady Hirsh has been one of Mullen’s best players so far this spring in his debut season on varsity. He’s batting a team-best .484 with a .526 on-base percentage and three homers through 10 games, plus a 2.00 ERA on the mound.

The younger Hirsh said he’s relishing the dad-son coaching dynamic, even as his dad was visibly nervous ahead of Brady’s first varsity pitching start on March 14. Brady threw three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in

“We were looking at the game charts afterward and in the first inning, his handwriting was so messy and so scribbly,” Brady Hirsh said with a laugh. “He said his heart rate was so high and his hands were shaking, because he was so nervous for me in my first start. As the innings went on, (the handwriting got better). That’s got to be my favorite moment so far this year.”

While the Mustangs are looking to rebound from a 9-16 record in 2025 — the program’s first losing season in seven years — Hirsh, ever the hammerer of proper technique, wants to see his club play fundamental baseball. That will be even more critical when Mullen’s tough Centennial League slate begins next week.

“I told our guys that I want boring baseball,” Jason Hirsh said. “I don’t need flash. I don’t need flare. I don’t need fancy footwork, fancy glove work, flips from a running position. I need them to catch the ball with two hands. I need good approaches in the box. I need them to field ground balls properly and make nice throws over to first. When we stick to our process, we are really good.”

No matter what happens, Hirsh, 44, is also focused on enjoying every moment in a game he’s learned to never take for granted.

“I’m doing what I do now with the same level of tenacity that I once had as a player,” Hirsh said. “But now, I love watching other people go out there and do it and have that same success, and chase their dreams the same way I chased mine.”

Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer announced the club’s starting rotation on Sunday. Native southpaw Kyle Freeland will get his franchise-record fifth opening day start on Friday in Miami, as announced last week. After that, right-hander Michael Lorenzen, left-hander Jose Quintana, right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano and right-hander Ryan Feltner round out the rotation.

Right-hander Chase Dollander, the club’s first-round pick in 2023 who debuted last season, begins the season as a reliever. As a rookie, Dollander flashed signs of dominance, but also scuffled and posted a 6.52 ERA in 21 starts. He figures to be the first man into the rotation in the case of injury or poor performance over the first couple months.

Schaeffer also announced the position players on the opening day roster:

Catchers: Hunter Goodman, Brett Sullivan

Infielders: 1B T.J. Rumfield, 2B Edouard Julien, 3B Kyle Karros, SS Ezequiel Tovar, MIF Willi Castro, MIF Ryan Ritter

Outfielders: CF Brenton Doyle, LF Jordan Beck, RF Mickey Moniak, OF Jake McCarthy

There are no surprises among that group of positional players. Of note, Rumfield grabbed ahold of the vacant first base job with Kris Bryant again on the injured list with ongoing back issues. Rumfield, acquired by Colorado on Jan. 28 in a trade with the Yankees in exchange for right-hander Angel Chivilli, has hit .286 with a team-high four homers this spring.

One positional roster spot is to be determined this week, as utility Tyler Freeman has been hampered by a back injury during spring training. If he’s not ready for Friday, first baseman/outfielder Troy Johnston will likely take his place on the roster.

Decisions on the Rockies’ bullpen for the opening day roster beyond Dollander are expected on Monday,

In addition to Schaeffer’s announcements, Colorado made several roster moves on Sunday. The Rockies optioned catcher Braxton Fulford to Triple-A Albuquerque and re-assigned infielder Nicky Lopez, left-hander Parker Mushinski and utility
Chad Stevens to minor-league camp. The club has 36 active players remaining in big-league camp, including four non-roster invitees.

Following the Rockies’ first road trip in Miami and Toronto, Colorado comes to Coors Field for its home opener on Friday, April 3, against the Phillies.

Under Paul DePodesta, the new president of baseball operations, and with the tutelage of new pitching coach Alon Leichman, the team is adopting a different strategy.

“We want big arsenals,” Leichman said last month. “We think big arsenals will be harder to game-plan against. You know, if a guy has six, seven pitches, that¶¶Ňőap harder to game-plan for than if a guy has two or three, right? So we think that¶¶Ňőap an advantage.”

Why not give it a try? After all, the Rockies lost 119 games last season, and the starters posted a 6.65 ERA, the highest in baseball history since ERA became an official statistic in 1913.

It’s an intriguing idea. So intriguing, in fact, that I made a call to London, Ontario, to chat with former Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis to get his thoughts. He’s a smart, articulate guy and one of the better starters in franchise history. In eight seasons in Colorado, he was 64-62 with a 4.96 ERA. During the Rockies’ 2007 World Series season, he went 17-9 with a 4.22 ERA.

More from Mr. Francis in a moment, but first, a mini-history lesson.

The Rockies have tried all sorts of things to solve the Rubik’s Cube that is pitching at Coors Field:

• In 2002, the humidor was installed, and by all accounts, it has made baseball at altitude more manageable.

“Yes, of course, the humidor made a difference,” former Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings told me in 2022 on the 20th anniversary of the baseball storage unit that the club originally called “an environmental chamber.”

“It 100% made a difference,” Jennings continued. “For pitchers, it was about surviving.”

• In 2012, the club experimented with the so-called “piggyback pitching system.” The four-man pairing rotation — as the Rockies called it — paired starters with three “piggyback” relievers. The experiment failed.

• In 2014, Colorado wanted its pitchers to throw as many groundball-inducing sinkers as possible.

“As I always say, I’ve yet to see a groundball that can jump over the fence,”Ěýsaid George Frazier, the late Rockies’ TV analyst, who used a sinker as his primary pitch during a 10-year big-league career.

Now that the next chapter is upon us, what does Francis think?

“I was in Colorado last summer, and I got to watch Shohei Ohtani pitch,” Francis said of the Dodgers’ superstar two-way player. “I remember just being so blown away by how much different stuff he threw. And how hitters weren’t really seeing more than one pitch in an at-bat.

“I mean, how hard is that? Right? That’s very, very difficult. But it’s also very, very difficult to be Shohei Ohtani.”

Francis chuckled as he said that, then contemplated his own experience at Coors, where he was 34-92 with a 4.92 ERA over 97 games (91 starts).

“In my experience, it was tough for me to have three major league pitches,” said Francis, who threw a fastball, changeup and curveball before adding a slider when he became a reliever late in his career.

“So I can see both sides to the Rockies (new strategy),” he continued. “In the years when I was one of the older guys in Colorado, I saw that the young pitchers had trouble with just one pitch.

“It’s hard. And it’s hard to have seven pitches. It’s not easy. So, for me, it sounds a little bit overwhelming to have four, five, six, seven pitches, especially if you want them to be big-league level. But I completely understand the idea of wanting a lot of variety because you see it in some of the best pitchers in baseball.”

Francis also pointed out that the Rockies pitchers are not looking to throw a half-dozen “distinct” pitches, so much as they are throwing variations of their basic pitches.

“A pitcher might have different shapes for his slider, and now they have different names for that, like a sweeper or a cutter,” he said. “So one pitch becomes two or three pitches.”

But that takes time and experience.

“I’m thinking about my curveball toward the end of my career,” he recalled. “I was able to throw it in different places, at different speeds. That in itself became two or three pitches, even though I was getting a sign to throw a curveball. It was a matter of experience and feel and being able to repeat my delivery.”

Francis said that during his time in Colorado — 2004-10 and 2012-13 — he didn’t dwell on the altitude that much.

“It wasn’t a big elephant, though it was an element,” he said. “I don’t remember it being this big thing where we had to talk about it that much.”

But he thinks it might be different now, at least from the outside looking in.

“I still follow the Rockies, and it hurts me to see them struggle so much,” Francis said. “But now that I’m a fan, it seems like attitude has become a bigger elephant. But maybe just from a fan’s perspective.”

Francis, who graced the Oct 15, 2007, cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “Out of Thin Air,” when the Rockies advanced to the World Series, is eager to see how that latest pitching exploration plays out.

“I’ll be watching, and I am curious,” he said.

But now, with a new front office and coaches in place, the players insist there is a new direction and a new energy at Salt River Fields. For Rockies fans, hope might finally be a worthy investment.

But now comes the hard part. All of the talk, strategy, meetings, and optimism must transfer to the baseball field. Work begins in earnest on Tuesday with the Rockies’ first full-squad workout.

Here are 10 questions that need to be answered:

1. Will the latest approach to solving the Rockies’ pitching pay off? After a torturous 2025 season that featured one of the worst team pitching performances in major league history, the pitching think tank was overhauled. The revamped staff features pitching coach Alon Leichman, assistant Gabe Ribas, bullpen coach Matt Buschmann, and Matt Daniels as the director of pitching.

They will be working on pitch sequencing, pitch shaping and expanded repertoires — all being steered by analytics. The emphasis will be on pounding the strike zone.

2. Do the three veteran, free-agent starters acquired during the offseason — 34-year-old right-hander Michael Lorenzen, Tomoyuki Sugano (35), and lefty Jose Quintana (37) — have enough left in the tank to stabilize Colorado’s wobbly rotation? At least in the short term, to buy some time? If they can, it will give the Rockies’ young pitchers more time to develop.

3. Was prized right-hander Chase Dollander able to shake off his sometimes nightmarish rookie season? Spring training will provide some hints.

Dollander made several mechanical tweaks during the offseason, hoping to make his sizzling fastball more effective and his slider more dependable in the zone. It’s a huge spring training for Dollander, but, of course, the true test will come at Coors Field. Last season, he had a 3.40 ERA in 10 road starts compared to a 9.98 ERA in 11 starts at Coors Field.

4. Right-handers Seth Halvorsen and Victor Vodnik figure to compete for the closer’s job during camp, but will Halvorsen’s elbow pass the stress test?

He finished last season on the injured list after pitching his final game on Aug. 2. Initially, there were fears that Halvorsen would have to undergo Tommy John surgery. However, tests showed there was no damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow. Halvorsen, who turns 26 on Feb. 18, had Tommy John surgery as a freshman at the University of Missouri in 2019, so his health will be a question mark until it isn’t.

5. Can outfielder Zac Veen overcome his personal demons and become the player Colorado envisioned when they drafted him ninth overall in 2020 out of Florida’s Spruce Creek High School? that he’s struggled with marijuana and alcohol abuse and that it affected his performance. Colorado’s outfield is filled with candidates battling to make the roster. Veen has the most to overcome and the most to prove.

6. The Rockies have a plethora of outfielders, and Colorado is eager to see what it has in newcomer Jake McCarthy, the former Diamondback. They want to see Brenton Doyle rebound. But could a spring training trade be in the works? Don’t rule it out.

7. With strikeout king Michael Toglia now in camp with the Reds, who plays first base for the Rockies? Free-agent acquisition and utility player Edouard Julien could have the inside track, in part because he’s out of options.

The most intriguing first base candidate is prospect T.J. Rumfield, acquired from the Yankees in a trade for right-hander reliever Angel Chivilli. Rumfield was blocked in the Bronx by the likes of Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt.ĚýRumfield slashed .285/.378/.447 with 16 home runs, 31 doubles in 2025 at Triple-A last season.

Troy Johnston, claimed off waivers from the Marlins, will also be in the mix.

Don’t be shocked if the Rockies platoon a number of players at first base.

8. Will Charlie Condon, the third overall pick of the 2024 draft out of Georgia, and the projected first baseman of the future, prove he belongs? The Rockies are sure the answer will be a unqualified yes, but there will be plenty of scrutiny on Condon during his first big-league camp.

Chances are that Condon, just 22, will begin the season at Double-A Hartford, advance to Triple-A Albuquerque, and debut with the Rockies late this season. But could be on the fast track to the majors?

“I’d say never say never on our players,” Paul DePodesta, president of baseball operations, said in December. “He did have a chance through the second half of last year to stay healthy, and then had a really nice Fall League. He’s obviously a very talented player.

“At the same time, we want to create a discussion where he has to go out there and make it happen. But certainly he’ll have some opportunities to do so.”

Condon played through a right-hand injury that marred his first professional season and sustained a fractured left wrist during last spring training. Once healthy, however, Condon made strides in the minors, finished the season at Double-A Hartford, and played well in the Arizona Fall League.

9. What surprises are in store at Salt River Fields? Manager Warren Schaeffer has only hinted at how he’ll run camp, but said it will be unlike the Rockies’ recent spring trainings. Expect plenty of experimentation. At Rockies Fan Fest, DePodesta said fans should expect to see players at spring training playing positions that might be unexpected.

10. Who will be the breakout star of camp? Don’t be surprised if it’s third baseman Kyle Karros. He’s an under-the-radar player, but he’s mature and knows himself. Karros played 43 games with the Rockies last season, starting 41. He slashed .226/.308/.277 with just one home run, but he’s capable of much more. As a defender, he has Gold Glove potential.

That’s a big change for the cerebral right-hander, who’ll be counted on to return from injuries and provide stability to a rebuilt rotation coming off the worst season in major league history.

“He has what it takes to be an All-Star in this league,” new Rockies pitching coach Alon Leichman said Wednesday, a day before pitchers and catchers were scheduled to hold their first official workout of spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona. “He has some really cool pitches, and once he puts it all together, he will be a force in this league.”

Rockies’ starting rotation competition bolstered by three veteran free agents

But "putting it all together" has been a challenge for the 29-year-old Feltner, whose career has been derailed by injuries and subsequent rehab stints. Those injuries overshadowed the second half of his 2024 season when he was one of the best pitchers in the National League.

Showing excellent command with all of his pitches, he finished the season with a 2.98 ERA over his last 15 starts, the first Rockies starter with a sub-3.00 ERA through a 15-start span since German Marquez during his All-Star campaign in 2021. Across five starts in September, Feltner posted a 1.78 ERA, walking 10 and fanning 23.

Back to basics at the gym

Feltner is the thinking man's pitcher. In 2023, when Feltner was working his way back from the fractured skull suffered on a horrific comebacker to the mound, he turned to his artistic side as part of therapy. He created vivid, abstract paintings.

But this winter, Feltner went Paleolithic. As he worked his way back from back and shoulder injuries that wiped out most of his 2025, he packed away his easel and paint brushes and picked up the dumbbells.

"Painting probably would have been good for me, but I took my anger out in the weight room this offseason," Feltner said with a laugh. "I went a little more caveman."

Feltner, a Florida native, spent his offseason living in a small Quonset hut-style home next to the Intracoastal Waterway in South Florida.

"It was small and pretty shabby," Feltner said. "But it was OK. I knew I wasn't going to be at home much. I knew I was going to be at the gym doing PT, weight training and throwing. I kind of went back to my roots. That was kind of my therapy."

Feltner's routine was pretty simple. He got up, made breakfast, and walked over to the water.

"Then I'd spend the next six hours at the gym," he said.

He trained under the watchful eye of Eric Schoenberg, a personal trainer at the in Palm Beach Gardens. The goal was not simply to make Feltner physically stronger, but to understand how his body moved and what he needed to do to stay on the mound and pitch at a high level for a full season.

"We wanted to find out, 'What happens to my body after so many starts? This gets tight, that gets tight. Why? This gets out of whack. Why is that?' " Feltner explained. "I feel like we put our finger on a bunch of things. Plus, we did a lot of the traditional strength training stuff, which I did a ton of, so I put on some muscle."

Added Leichman: "He worked hard and got himself ready. He's put himself in a good spot."

Moving past a frustrating 2025

Feltner doesn't like looking back on the 2025 season, when he mostly watched from the trainer's room while Colorado lost 119 games. He hates talking about it, saying that his interview with The Denver Post might be his final word on '25.

"Last year was the most frustrating of my career, for sure," he said. "Once this spring training kicks off, this might be the last time I talk to anybody about all of this stuff."

Freeland made just six big-league starts, going 0-2 with a 4.75 ERA. The problems begin early in the season, with lower back pain. Still, on April 22, he pitched an excellent game, allowing one run on three hits over seven innings at Kansas City. But the pain reached a crescendo in his next start, on April 28 vs. the Braves at Coors Field. He gave up five runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.

"I was in pain the whole time," he recalled. "We kind of knew, going out there, that I probably wasn't going to make it through my start. But I wanted to try anyway. But that was the nail in the coffin."

Once his back settled down, Feltner began throwing bullpen sessions, only to have pain flare up in his shoulder.

"I just don't think my back was able to rotate properly, and because of that, something else was going to take the stress," he said. "That was the shoulder. It was all so frustrating."

Now, Feltner said, his back and shoulder are "totally fine ... I'm 100% healthy."

Leichman is excited to see what the right-hander can do when his back is not seizing up and his shoulder's not barking.

"He's got what it takes," Leichman said. "We are big believers in him, and I'm sure the league will find out how good he is. The main thing is being physically and mentally ready to take the ball when it's his turn."

Feltner throws six pitches — four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball, and two types of slider — and he likes the Rockies' philosophy of utilizing expanded pitching arsenals to keep hitters offbalance.

"They have stressed to me that that's my superpower, to be able to throw all of my pitches," he said. "I can shape my sliders. So the slider I throw to lefties, you can call a cutter, and the slider I throw to righties, you can call a true slider. I have a plethora of pitches."

Feltner likes the direction the Rockies are headed under a new front office and pitching staff as camp opens.

"I'm very excited," he said. "Right when I walked into the meeting room last month at Fan Fest at Coors Field, I told somebody that the energy felt different, right away, when I was walking in.

"It's so cool to see the guys have those conversations about our new approaches. It's been a very forward-looking, stimulating environment. I'm going to make the most of it."

Stock Shot Up

—ĚýColorado added Herrera to the 40-man in November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. A crafty southpaw reliever with a low-three quarters arm slot who has a mid 90s fastball paired with a slider and changeup, he dominated High-A in ’25 (0.49 ERA in 15 games) and did well in Double-A (3.50 in 37). He also got the save for the NL in the Futures Game.

— The versatile Carrigg, Colorado’s second-round pick in 2023, is a switch-hitter with speed. In 2025, Carrigg turned in a decent season at Double-A Hartford even though his strikeout rate jumped up to 27%. If he can cut down on his Ks in ’26, and continue to improve upon his power (15 homers last season), he might fast-track himself to Coors Field.

—ĚýThe 2022 second-round pick got off to a slow start when his first full pro season was cut short by Tommy John, forcing him to miss all of 2024. But he returned to Low-A Fresno in ’25 and pitched well, with a 3.71 ERA in 23 starts. If he can keep that momentum up in ’26 across High-A and Double-A, he could be on track to be a mid-rotational starter in the bigs.

—ĚýThe 2024 second-round pick has played mostly left field and center field, and looked good in the Arizona Fall League with a .302 average in 17 games. That followed a solid ’25 that saw him hit .300 across High-A and Double-A, showcasing gap-to-gap power plus speed on the bases to compliment above-average bat-to-ball skills that can play in LoDo.

—ĚýAnother outfield prospect with an intriguing bat, the No. 31 overall pick in 2022 is knocking on the door of his debut after slashing .296/.392/.519 in a full season in Triple-A in 2025. Colorado added him to the 40-man in November, and he projects as a left-handed-hitting left fielder. He’ll surely get a chance to make a big-league mark in 2026.

Prove-It Time

—ĚýAfter debuting last season, the speedy and athletic Veen struggled in the bigs with a .118 average in 12 games. After that stint in April, the 2020 No. 9 overall pick spent the rest of the season in Triple-A Albuquerque, which was telling of how the Rockies believed he needed more seasoning. Can Veen turn his cup of coffee into a regular MLB roster spot in 2026?

—ĚýThe No. 10 overall pick in 2022 was added to the 40-man in November to protect him ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, so the right-hander is obviously in the club’s future plans. He had Tommy John surgery in 2023 and returned to pitch in the Arizona Fall League in 2024. In ’25, he had a 5.11 ERA in Triple-A. This year is his chance to prove he’s ready for a debut.

—ĚýCheck out the most recent Rockies’ and Montgomery is conspicuously absent. The No. 8 overall pick in 2021 has been plagued by health issues, including a groin injury in 2022, a knee injury in ’23, and season-ending shoulder surgery in ’24. He needs to stay on the field, and put up solid numbers, in 2026.

—ĚýAfter the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft had a rocky debut as a pro that summer while he battled a bone spur in his finger, his ’25 was slowed by an early-season wrist injury. When he came back, he made it to Double-A and then the Arizona Fall League. But he’s only had 15 homers in 124 games; in 2026, the pop in his bat needs to come back.

Ěý— If there’s any reason for hope that the Rockies can be competitive again down the road, Holliday must live up to the hype. Colorado’s first-round pick at No. 4 overall last summer has the skillset and pedigree to be a major-league star — now it’s time to start to prove it in his first full professional season. The goal should be to tear up the Class-A levels.

Colorado selected Tigers on Wednesday with the first overall pick of the draft. Petit, a 14th-round pick out of Charleston Southern University in 2021, has a 3.40 ERA over five minor-league seasons.

Petit is coming off a strong 2025 performance in which he posted a 2.71 ERA in 47 games (two starts) across Double-A and Triple-A. His selection indicates that Colorado sees him as a piece to its bullpen in 2026. Petit is capable of racking up strikeouts, as he averaged 12.9 Ks per nine in his 20 games in Triple-A last season, and has a 10.4 K rate in his Minor League Baseball career.

The 6-foot-8 Petit has a fastball that can run up to 98 mph, plus a changeup and a slider. Petit had a 51% ground-ball rate in his time in Triple-A in 2025, which was also surely attractive to the Rockies.

The order of the Rule 5 Draft, which is designed to get prospects whose path to the majors is blocked in their current organization a shot with a different club, is determined by the reverse order of last season’s standings.

Teams must have room on the 40-man roster to make a pick, and pay $100,000 to select a player in the major-league phase of the draft. If that player isn’t on the active roster for the full upcoming season, he must be offered back to his old team for $50,000. Players selected in the minor-league phase of the draft aren’t subject to roster restrictions.

With the top pick in the minor-league phase of the draft, the Rockies selected Mets right-handed pitching prospect TJ Shook. A starter-turned-reliever in New York’s organization, Shook had a 3.24 ERA in 33 Double-A games last season. Like Petit, Shook is also a high-strikeout pitcher with 10.3 Ks per nine in five minor-league seasons.

The Rockies entered Wednesday’s draft with 37 players on its roster, and now sit at 38 with the addition of Petit.

Of the Rockies’ top 30 prospects as ranked by six Colorado minor-leaguers were eligible for this year’s Rule 5 Draft. Players who turned pro at 18 or younger in 2021, or at 19 or older in 2022, are eligible for selection if they aren’t on a club’s 40-man roster.

The Rockies protected three of those six eligible top prospects by placing right-hander Gabriel Hughes, outfielder Sterlin Thompson and left-hander Welinton Herrera on their 40-man roster on Nov. 18. They left right-hander Yujanyer Herrera, left-hander Michael Prosecky and shortstop Andy Perez unprotected.

Colorado had three minor-league pitchers selected by other teams in the minor-league phase of the draft in right-handers Luke Taggart (Tigers), Brady Hill (Nationals) and Bryan Mena (Pirates).

Prior to Wednesday, Colorado had selected 12 players in the Rule 5 Draft but none of those players made a significant impact. Of note, they got right-hander reliever Anthony Molina from the Rays in 2023, right-hander Tommy Kahnle from the Yankees in 2013 and infielder Luis A. González from Cleveland in 2003.

Molina had a 6.96 ERA in 52 games across 2024 and 2025 before being waived at the end of the season, and then claimed by the Brewers. Kahnle had a 4.41 ERA in 90 relief appearances in 2014 and 2015 before being traded to the White Sox that winter. And the utilityman González batted .283 with the Rockies from 2004 to 2006.