September 13: The Rockies today officially announced Dollander’s placement on the injured list with a left patella tendon strain. Blalock was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move.
September 12: The Rockies will place Chase Dollander on the injured list with a knee injury, reports Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. The 2023 ninth overall pick would have been lined up to start Saturday’s game in San Diego.
Instead, it appears his rookie season will come to a slightly premature end. Dollander will technically be eligible to return in the final five days of the season, so it’s possible he makes one more start, but there’s no incentive for him to pitch through any kind of discomfort. He’ll likely finish his debut campaign with a 6.52 earned run average across 21 starts.
Dollander had a very difficult time pitching at Coors Field. He allowed nearly 10 earned runs per nine innings during his 11 home starts. His road numbers are much better. The 6’2″ righty pitched to a 3.46 ERA in 10 starts outside Denver. Dollander held opposing hitters to a .200/.297/.324 slash in his road starts. His strikeout (22.2%) and walk (11.3%) rates on the road aren’t as strong as the ERA or slash line, but there are at least some encouraging signs. That included a solid final appearance in Los Angeles on Monday, as Dollander held the Dodgers to one run on a lone hit with five strikeouts in as many innings.
The 23-year-old Dollander is the Rox’s most talented young pitcher. He’ll obviously need to be far more competitive at Coors Field to have long-term success. There’ll be plenty of opportunity to do so in a Colorado rotation that doesn’t project to be much better in 2026 than it was this season. Germán Márquez is likely to walk in free agency. Neither Tanner Gordon nor McCade Brown has pitched well enough to merit an Opening Day rotation spot. Antonio Senzatela performed so poorly this year that the Rox have demoted him to long relief. Dollander and Kyle Freeland should be joined by three offseason acquisitions.
Colorado will need to call up a fifth starter or run a bullpen game in Dollander’s place tomorrow. Bradley Blalock is on the 40-man roster and would probably be the choice if they recall a starting pitcher from Triple-A Albuquerque. Former first-round pick Gabriel Hughes could also be a consideration. He’s not on the 40-man but would need to be added this offseason if the Rockies don’t want to expose him to the Rule 5 draft. That could lead them to give Hughes a couple starts down the stretch, as they’re doing with Brown.
This team is going nowhere fast.
This team is going nowhere. Ever.
It’s really sad. Can’t identify talent, can’t draft talent and certainly can’t develop talent either. If it weren’t for fan support, I’d say the Rockies should move.
Tanner Gordon has been better than his ERA projects. A few of his starts he allowed like 6 or more runs but the others he’s been atleast competing for a Rockies pitcher. Marquez is definitely gone and I don’t blame him. He’ll probably have a high 3 era somewhere next year. As a Rockies fan since the beginning, we can only hope the Waltons purchase them because they are actually spending money and putting the right people in charge and on the field for the Broncos.
Dollander’s last start in LA was fantastic giving up 1 hit through 5 IP. He had several pitches 100+ MPH well located and then the issue with his knee took him out of the game. It’s obvious the team needs pitching but who’s willing to come to Denver and pitch? jramey1 you mentioned it would be nice if the Waltons bought the team because they spend money to put the right people in charge. Stan Kroenke has done the same with the AV’s, Rams and several other teams. The Monfort’s won’t sell because they have a cash cow and the seats are filled due to other entertainment than a baseball game. They couldn’t care less about the fans as long as the money keeps coming in, filling their pockets.
I agree with your points but their attendance is trending down. They used to be in the top half of the NL attendance no matter how they did but now they’re starting to be at the bottom half of the league. At a certain point you would think one of the team or his financial executives would explain that he’s not taking advantage of his asset. Maybe he’s just banking on transplants coming out for LA, SD, and SF games at Coors.
Last I looked, Tanner Gordon led Rockies pitchers in wins with FIVE. I know pitcher wins don’t mean as much these days, but I have to wonder if that would set a record for fewest wins by a team leader in a full season.
Ethan Holliday should have said no to being a Rockies draft pick and went to college. Being drafted by this org is setting yourself up to fail.
Throw away $9 mill and the top pick in the draft to commit 3 yrs to college because you hope COL won’t have the top pick again. Yeah, makes sense.
Throw away $9 million. No way.
College NIL money is no joke. Bet he could make way more money than that committing to LSU or Vanderbilt
Big programs barely spend $1 mill per year total in nil money.
Ethan Holliday is a hitter. Being drafted by the Rockies is only setting you up to fail if you are a pitcher. Like Dollander…
Aren’t the Rockies the same org that developed Charlie Blackmon, Troy Tullowksi and Nolan Arenado plus other hitters.
There’s no way he’s making $9 million in a year guarenteed in NIL money.
Marquez is definitely gone unless the Rockies are stupid enough to issue him a qualifying offer. Marquez is looking at a one year pillow deal somewhere next and i can’t see anyone ponying up a multi-year deal until he pitches a full season out of that environment
Dollander has the stuff to be good
Do the Rockies have the development staff to get 50% of his potential? 75? 90?
You hit the nail on the head. A lot of the failures fall on the shoulders of the developmental staff. The Rockies are also one of the weakest in analytics and to be playing at altitude they should be one of the strongest. Again Front Office failures.
Ownership doesn’t even really seem to care about winning at all. They know the fans will keep showing up, no matter how bad they are. Rockies fans deserve better for how loyal they are.