The Rockies announced a series of roster moves today. Most notably, right-hander Chase Dollander has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain. (The Rockies initially said it was a strain but later issued a correction.) Left-hander Sammy Peralta has been recalled to take his spot on the roster. The Rockies also placed infielder/outfielder Tyler Freeman on the paternity list. Outfielder Sterlin Thompson has been recalled for Freeman and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
To this point, not a lot of details have been made public regarding Dollander, but the signs are a bit ominous. Dollander departed yesterday’s start in the second inning, with the team providing a vague diagnosis of arm tightness. Quickly placing him on the IL might not necessarily be any kind of flag, since it makes sense that they would be cautious with their prized young righty. But a sprain, by definition, means there is some degree of tearing or stretching involving a ligament.
Perhaps the team will have more information on his status later. At the very least, they will be proceeding without Dollander in the rotation for the next couple of weeks. Dollander has technically been working as a reliever for the most part this year, but his relief outings have seen him pitch multiple innings behind an opener, effectively a starter’s workload. Four spots in the rotation are taken by Kyle Freeland, Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano. They don’t have an off-day until May 28th, so some kind of solution will be needed for the fifth spot.
Tanner Gordon has been pitching three- and four-inning stints out of the bullpen, including four frames following Dollander yesterday, so he is perhaps the simplest guy to slot in. Ryan Feltner is currently on the IL and doesn’t appear close to a return, though he could be a factor down the line. In Triple-A, the Rockies have Gabriel Hughes, Carson Palmquist, Valente Bellozo and Blas Castaño, who are all on the 40-man roster, so one of them could be recalled.
Thompson, 25 next month, was drafted 31st overall in 2022. He has since been climbing the minor league ladder. The Rockies added him to their 40-man roster in November of last year, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He has a tremendous .344/.491/.496 line in Triple-A this year. That’s surely a bit misleading since he’s been playing in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and also has an unsustainable .419 batting average on balls in play. Still, his 18.6% walk rate is massive and higher than his 17.4% strikeout rate. However, the offensive part of his game has never really been the concern. Some evaluators think he’ll be a below average defender, even in an outfield corner. That means he’ll really have to hit to provide value.
It’s possible this will just be a brief call for Thompson. Stints on the paternity list last for one to three days, so Freeman should be back relatively quickly. The Rockies have Mickey Moniak, Jake McCarthy, Brenton Doyle and Jordan Beck getting playing time in their outfield at the moment. If Thompson doesn’t have a path to regular at-bats, it makes sense for him to go back down when Freeman returns, but he can get a taste of big league life now.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Never ends.
good thing the Astros didn’t trade for him
We need some sort of incentive to keep velocities down below where they are now. It’s getting ridiculous.