Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela had an unfortunate end to his 2022 season. The right-hander tore the ACL in his left knee while attempting to track down a grounder in mid-August. He underwent surgery that initially came with a six-to-eight month recovery timetable.
Six months removed from the injury, it seems things are mostly on the expected course. Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette writes the Rockies anticipate Senzatela returning to a big league mound in May. He’s certain to start the season on the 15-day injured list but seems unlikely to land on the 60-day IL barring a setback.
Once healthy, Senzatela will surely reclaim his old spot in the rotation. Colorado placed a strong show of faith in the Venezuelan-born hurler last offseason, inking him to a five-year, $50.5MM extension. The deal, which bought out as many as four free agent years, kept him around on the heels of a 4.42 ERA showing over 28 starts in 2021. That was respectable production for a pitcher who spends half his outings at Coors Field, his second consecutive season of solid output towards the middle or back of a starting staff.
Last year proved more challenging even before the injury. Senzatela gave up a little more than five earned runs per nine innings across 19 starts. His 49.4% ground-ball rate was down a couple percentage points from his peak, albeit still better than average. Senzatela’s strong command and pitch-to-contact profile mostly remained intact, but last year’s .383 batting average on balls in play against him inflated his ERA despite generally similar underlying marks to seasons past.
The Rockies are hoping for bounceback years from the bulk of their rotation after doing very little over the offseason. Germán Márquez and Kyle Freeland each posted down seasons last year. Senzatela is typically their #3 rotation option, though that’ll probably fall to José Ureña to open the season. The back of the rotation spots are especially uncertain.
Left-hander Austin Gomber looks to have the inside track on of those jobs. Allentuck writes that Colorado will move Gomber back into the rotation mix after kicking him to the bullpen for the second half of last season. The 28-year-old southpaw’s results weren’t much different in either role. Gomber posted a 5.75 ERA with an 18% strikeout rate as a starter and a 5.11 ERA with a 17.8% strikeout percentage out of the bullpen.
Given Colorado’s need for innings at the back of the rotation, moving Gomber back into a starting role makes sense. He’d pitched reasonably well over 23 starts in 2021, posting a 4.53 ERA with a solid 23.2% strikeout rate over his first 115 1/3 innings in Colorado. That’s the only season in which Gomber has started at least 20 big league games, though he still has a more established track record than other back-end candidates like Connor Seabold, Ryan Feltner, Ryan Rolison and Peter Lambert.
Career whip 1.44, career era 4.88, really serious injury.
Scary thing is, in that rotation he will be good enough to reclaim his spot.
But he’s getting 12 million per year in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Why was he given an extension? Him and Freeland.
“We NEED to lock up anyone that can pitch to a mid-4 era as soon as possible!”
-Rockies FO (probably)
Not a rockies fan but who else are they gonna have pitch for them? These are guys they drafted. Do you think any number 1 or 2 free agent pitchers are going to sign there? They gotta keep there own guys and take what they can get.
Just out of curiosity, what can the Rockies FO do to please people? For years, everyone kept saying the Rockies needed to get pitching. Well, German, Freeland, and Senza all came up at the same time, who have all looked great at times, and the Rockies locked them up in extensions. Now people are complaining that they shouldn’t have done that.
I’m sure some people would have found fault with signing Clayton Kershaw to a long term deal 10 years ago. BTW, Kershaw’s lifetime Coors ERA is 4.82, so maybe people would have complained about him as well.
hiflew: I agree. The altitude issue is a huge factor when it comes to pitching in Colorado. I’m interested in seeing if the 2 Ryan’s (Feltner & Rolison) can succeed.
I am not very high on Feltner to be honest. I just didn’t see enough to be impressed by last season. He just always looked confused on the mound. Maybe it was rookie nerves or something that he can get past, but it just wasn’t there most of the time in 2022.
The only pitchers that have ever excelled in Coors were Ubaldo, German and Mike Hampton for half a season. When these guys can consistently keep it between 4.00 and 4.50, you can figure that if they were pitching anywhere else, you could knock a point of that ERA. The Rockies play .500 ball at home. On the road, it seems the hitters fail more than the pitchers.
They were not the ONLY pitchers. The best pitcher ever in Coors was Jorge de la Rosa. He was better at Coors than on the road most of the time. Aaron Cook also thrived there.
The reason hitters fail so often on the road is because breaking balls work so differently at altitude and Rockies hitters are often out of practice against them. If you notice, they often hit the worst on the first game of a road trip. By the time they get 2-3 games into a road trip, they are usually adjusted. The key for success is longer road trips and longer homestands, but that usually doesn’t happen so you get inconsistency.
Ubaldo definitely pitched with the highest level of success, but it was short lived. I would say Jorge De La Roas, Jeff Francis, Aaron Cook, and Jhoulys Chacin all had multiple years and career success for the Rockies (including Coors Field success). It ain’t easy being a Rockies pitcher, and they’ll never have an elite staff, but with the right guys there can be success.
Rockies biggest issue is ownership and organizational management. There is no consistent plan or strategy that produces consistent success. Monfort and company are just happy to have a big league team, and have big league talent. Regardless of how well it all fits togetether,
Jorge De la Rosa
The Rockies should go back to paying for offense. Pitching there is going to be rough no matter who they get. A mid 4 era in Coors should be good enough to win most games.
Sure there will be a low scoring game here and there but the Rockies to me were at their best when they slugged.
They were the most fun to watch when they slugged, but they were at their best when they had an ace starting pitcher or at least a pitcher that had an ace-like season. 2007 Jeff Francis, 2009 Ubaldo/Marquis/JDLR, 2017 the whole staff 2018 Freeland. The only playoff year where they depended on offense was 1995 and that offense was just so ridiculously good it is probably not going to be matched for a long time, if ever.
When I first saw the headline, I wasn’t sure if it meant he MAY return or he’s returning in MAY.