Rockies Designate Dakota Hudson For Assignment

The Rockies announced this morning that they’ve designated right-hander Dakota Hudson for assignment. The move clears a space on the active roster for right-hander Tanner Gordon, whose contract selection was previously reported ahead of his start against the Royals this afternoon. Colorado’s 40-man roster stands at 39.

Hudson, 30 in September, was non-tendered by the Cardinals back in November but signed with the Rockies on a one-year deal in early January. A first-round pick by St. Louis back in 2016, he made his big league debut with the club in 2018 and looked to be an impressive young arm and enjoyed notable success early in his career with a 3.17 ERA that was 31% better than league average in 241 innings of work during his first three years in the majors. Despite that success, there were some red flags evident in Hudson’s profile has he struck out just 18.1% of batters faced and walked 11.6%, leaving him with a lackluster 4.74 FIP. Hudson’s ability to generate grounders was his most valuable tool, and his 57.3% groundball rate during that period led all qualified major league hurlers.

Tommy John surgery wiped out almost all of Hudson’s 2021 campaign, and upon his return Hudson was unable to garner the same impressive results he had posted earlier in his career. In 221 innings of work with the Cardinals during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Hudson struggled to a below-average 4.64 ERA with a nearly matching 4.60 FIP. He walked 10% of batters while striking out a meager 12.9% of his opponents, and with the results now matching the peripherals St. Louis opted to part ways with the righty rather than tender him a contract this year.

That led him to Colorado, and Hudson ultimately made 17 starts for the Rockies this year, pitching 86 1/3 innings. The results of those outings were nothing short of brutal. The right-hander’s ERA ballooned to 5.84 this year as he walked (11.8%) nearly as many batters has he struck out (12.3%) in 86 1/3 innings of work. While Hudson’s 52.4% grounder rate this year was still elite, that figure is a far cry from the aforementioned 57.3% rate that he posted prior to his surgery. Given the ghastly results and his overall diminished profile, it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Rockies have decided to pull the plug on Hudson’s tenure with the club. They’ll now have one week to either attempt to work out a trade for Hudson’s services or pass him through waivers, although the righty has enough service time that he would have the opportunity to reject an outright assignment should he clear waivers.