The Colorado Rockies have made quite a few moves to improve their bullpen this offseason, acquiring veteran relief pitchers Chad Qualls, Jason Mott and Jake McGee. But Rockies catcher Nick Hundley has his money on the youngest of the three to nab the role of closer.
“Based on things now I’d probably say Jake McGee if everybody’s healthy and ready to go,” Hundley said.
Hundley joined Les Shapiro and James Merilatt, sitting in for Eric, on the Afternoon Drive to discuss the state of Colorado’s bullpen and what they need to do to turn things around.
“We need to step up and pitch better. We need to play better behind guys,” Hundley said. “We need to catch better. We can’t sit there and say that last season was acceptable.”
The Rockies went 69-94 last season, marking their fifth consecutive losing season, but that number can be deceptive. Oftentimes, the Rockies would have the lead and lose it in the final innings.
“If you look at last year, if you guys had been a softball team playing seven inning games you would have had a pretty decent record,” Merilatt said.
The addition of veteran relief pitchers could go a long way in improving Colorado’s record.
“Those are three high quality arms, back end of the bull pen guys,” Hundley said. “It matches up with we’re seeing on other quality winning teams of guys who throw hard on the back end and get strikeouts.”
Even with Adam Ottavino on the 60-day disabled list, the Rockies bullpen is in a good position with three veterans competing for the closer role. Though all three players are quality, Hundley isn’t the only one who thinks McGee will get the job.
Ian Malinowski of draysbay.com described McGee, via purplerow.com, as, “The surest thing the Rays had by a long shot.”
McGee went 1-2 with a 2.41 ERA over 39 games last year, and, according to Fangraphs, McGee’s two-seam fastball averaged 94.9 mph.
Regardless of who gets the job, Hundley is crystal clear on his goals for the season.
“There’s only one goal and that’s to win. I need to be better behind the plate getting our guys strikes, Hundley said. “We have a lot to prove. We need to go out and prove that we can win.”
Listen to the full discussion in the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/2-18-16-afternoon-drive-guest-nick-hundley-says-rockies-pitching-rotation-is-underrated
Catch Goodman and Shapiro on Afternoon Drive every weekday from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
