After the first eight games, the Colorado Rockies have amassed the worst earned run average across Major League Baseball. This, however, does not paint the entire picture for the season just yet.
On Wednesday, former Rockies pitcher Jason Hirsh joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro on Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports AM 1340 to discuss where the team is headed.
“Those numbers are going to work their way down,” Hirsh said. “The quality of the pitching has been kind of spotty. Outside of Chad Bettis and the first start from Tyler Chatwood, the pitching staff has been pretty woeful.”
The 7.61 ERA the Rockies have collected is dead-last in the league, and it is almost a full two runs more than Atlanta who’s allowed 5.79 earned runs on average. Unlike the Braves at 0-8, the Rockies have still racked up 4 wins to overcome the poor pitching performances.
Spectacular hitting from the likes of DJ LeMahieu, Trevor Story and others is keeping Colorado in contention as much as they could, but good hitting can only take a team so far.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint, so early on those numbers don’t look good for the Rockies pitching staff. I expect them to come down a little bit, but its certainly going to be an uphill battle pretty much all year,” Hirsh said.
Other than bright spots Miguel Castro and Jake McGee, the bullpen has struggled to keep the runs off the board.
It is tough for the Rockies especially, because the balls cut through the thin air in Denver and can fly out of the park more easily.
“Nobody is going to want to come here unless you overpay them, and obviously the Rockies are not willing to shell out big bucks for a starting pitcher,” Hirsh said.
This makes it tough for the Rockies to be competitive in the pitching free agency market. However, Hirsh said, “There are a bunch of young prospect arms that are about a year-, year-and-a-half away.”
This is promising news for Colorado, as they need fresh arms as soon as they can find them.
Listen to the full discussion in the podcast below.
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/4-13-16-afternoon-drive-guest-jason-hirsh-says-there-is-hope-in-the-rockies-future
Catch 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.