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Rockies Make Several Roster Moves

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The Rockies announced a slate of roster moves Tuesday, reinstating young righty Chase Dollander from the 15-day IL and placing fellow right-hander Tanner Gordon on the 15-day IL in his place, due to a strained left oblique. Gordon’s IL placement is retroactive to May 31. Colorado also placed righty Zach Agnos on the bereavement list and recalled right-hander Angel Chivilli. Additionally, infielder Aaron Schunk and outfielder Nick Martini cleared waivers and were assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per the MiLB.com transaction log. Martini elected free agency. Schunk has the right to do the same, by virtue of a prior outright assignment earlier this year, but there’s no indication he’s done so.

Dollander, 23, was the No. 9 overall pick in 2023 and entered the season ranked as one of baseball’s top pitching prospects. He’s had a handful of rough starts since making his MLB debut in April but looked to be righting the ship prior to landing on the IL due to forearm tightness. Dollander held opponents to two runs or fewer in three of his four appearances prior to the injury and had rattled off 10 2/3 innings with three runs allowed (2.53 ERA) and a 13-to-5 K/BB ratio in a pair of road starts against the Rangers and D-backs.

Dollander will slot right back into the Rockies’ rotation and start tonight’s game in Miami, per the team. As one might expect, the right-hander has been far better on the road in his young career than at Denver’s hitter-friendly home park. Dollander has made four starts at Coors Field and four on the road, working to an 8.66 ERA at home compared to a 4.29 mark in other venues. Overall, he carries a 6.28 ERA with a roughly average 22.1% strikeout rate, an elevated 10.5% walk rate and a massive 2.33 HR/9 mark (with six of his ten home runs allowed coming at home).

The 27-year-old Gordon was a sixth-round pick by the Braves back in 2019. He landed with the Rox alongside reliever Victor Vodnik in the trade that sent Pierce Johnson to Atlanta a couple years back. Gordon was rocked for an 8.65 ERA in eight starts during last year’s debut campaign but has provided a more serviceable 4.24 ERA with a 14.1% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 41.4% grounder rate in three starts (17 innings) so far in 2025. The team didn’t specify the severity of Gordon’s strain, nor was a timetable for his return provided.

Martini, 34, was designated for assignment last week. He totaled 111 plate appearances as a Rockie and hit .225/.288/.294 despite being deployed almost exclusively in platoon-friendly situations. Only five of the lefty-swinging Martini’s plate appearances came versus southpaws.

Over a six-year span from 2018-23, Martini batted .268/.362/.412 with an 11.2% walk rate in 412 plate appearances in the majors. He’s always walked at a huge clip and has been an on-base machine in the upper minors, playing parts of eight Triple-A seasons churning out a .294/.399/.454 batting line in that time. He’ll be a depth option for teams looking for left-handed bats, but he’ll probably need to sign a minor league deal after struggling at the plate in both 2024 and 2025.

The 27-year-old Schunk went 6-for-28 with a double in 29 plate appearances in his second year of partial MLB work with Colorado. The 2019 second-round pick hit .234/.265/.330 in 98 big league plate appearances last year. Schunk shows solid contact skills in Triple-A and has played all four infield spots — primarily third base — but doesn’t walk often or provide much power.

Schunk is a career .291/.346/.469 hitter in 880 Triple-A plate appearances, but given the intensely hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League (and Albuquerque’s home park, in particular), that’s actually about 12% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Assuming he sticks with the organization, he’ll give the Rockies some righty-hitting infield depth at multiple positions.

Rockies Designate Scott Alexander For Assignment

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The Rockies announced that right-hander Tanner Gordon has been recalled to start tonight’s game, a move necessitated by Chase Dollander landing on the injured list yesterday. In a corresponding move for Gordon, left-hander Scott Alexander has been designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man count drops from 39 to 38.

Alexander, 35, was signed by the Rockies in the offseason. Colorado gave him $2MM on a one-year deal to serve as a veteran arm in a bullpen that was generally lacking in experience. That hasn’t worked out. His 53.4% ground ball rate this year is above league average but below his usual pace. He’s never been a huge strikeout rate guy but his 8.3% clip is low even by his personal standards. That has led to a 6.06 earned run average in 16 1/3 innings.

That performance has bumped him off the roster. Given his numbers and his salary, no club is likely to claim him off waivers. As a veteran, he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping his salary in place. He will likely be on the open market soon, either by being released by the Rockies or by electing free agency.

If that comes to pass, the Rockies would be on the hook for what’s left of his salary. Any other club could sign him at that point and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Rockies pay.

It’s possible some clubs would be interested in that arrangement, despite this year’s numbers. From 2015 through 2024, Alexander tossed 309 1/3 big league innings with a 3.20 ERA. His 18% strikeout rate was a few ticks shy of par but he got grounders at a massive 67.4% rate. Among pitchers with at least 300 innings pitched in that decade, only Zack Britton kept the ball on the ground at a higher clip.

The numbers in 2025 haven’t been great but it wouldn’t be a surprise if some team thought Alexander could bounce back, especially by getting away from Coors Field. He has a 7.20 ERA at home this year compared to a 4.26 ERA on the road. His 48.7% grounder rate at Coors is far lighter than his 63.2% rate in away games this season.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin, Oncea-Imagn Images

Rockies Place Chase Dollander On IL With Forearm Tightness

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5:00pm: Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post relays that the club doesn’t consider Dollander’s issue serious. Gordon will start tomorrow’s game and they expect Dollander to return after a minimal IL stint.

12:35pm: The Rockies announced that right-hander Chase Dollander has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 19th, due to right forearm tightness. Fellow righty Juan Mejia has been recalled as the corresponding move.

To this point, the Rockies haven’t provided any specifics about Dollander’s injury or how long they expect him to be out. He started for the club on Sunday and everything seemed fairly normal at the time. He tossed 98 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, striking out six Diamondbacks. He allowed one earned run, which came on a solo home run off the bat of Ketel Marte. His velocity was in line with his previous starts.

Perhaps the Rockies are just being cautious with a young pitcher. After all, they have nothing to play for in the short term. Their 8-41 record is easily the worst in baseball and puts them on pace for one of the worst seasons ever. Dollander is one of the best prospects in baseball and only debuted last month. It would make sense for the club to pump the brakes on any minor issue with his throwing arm.

However, there’s always concern when a pitcher’s throwing arm is in the spotlight like this. If Dollander requires any kind of lengthy stay on the injured list, it would further dampen the mood for the Rockies, if that’s even possible with their current status. His 6.28 earned run average through eight starts doesn’t look too impressive but at least his 22.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate are close to average. His .260 batting average on balls in play, 62.8% strand rate and 18.9% home run to flyball rate are all on the unfortunate side of average. Some ERA estimators indicate he has deserved betters results, with his SIERA at 4.35.

Ideally, the one silver lining of this frustrating season would be plenty of opportunity for young players to develop and emerge as key pieces for the next competitive window. If this is just a precautionary breather for Dollander, he could still get a lot of starts under his belt in the remainder of the season. But a lengthier stint on the IL would obviously be unwelcome.

Perhaps the club will provide more information in the coming days. Regardless of the details there, they will have a rotation spot to fill. Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland have three spots. Rookie Carson Palmquist has recently been promoted and will presumably stick around. Ryan Feltner and Austin Gomber are both on the IL with uncertain timelines. Bradley Blalock and Tanner Gordon are both on the 40-man and have made big league starts this year, so one of them will probably get the call.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Rockies Select Luis Peralta

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The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Luis Peralta. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Tanner Gordon to Triple-A Albuquerque and transferred righty Germán Márquez to the 60-day injured list.

Peralta, 23, was just acquired from the Pirates last month in the Jalen Beeks trade. The younger brother of Brewers ace Freddy Peralta, Luis signed with the Pirates out of the Dominican Republic in 2017. He came up as a starter but has been moved into a relief role this year, with some encouraging results.

He has pitched at High-A, Double-A and Triple-A this year between his two organizations. Between all those different stops, he has logged 47 2/3 innings while only allowing five earned runs for a tiny ERA of 0.94. His 11.2% walk rate in that time is a bit high but he’s worked around that by striking out 40.1% of batters that have stepped to the plate.

He was going to be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter and was likely going to get a roster spot in a few months’ time anyway, so the Rockies are jumping the gun and adding him now, which will allow them to get a look at him against major league hitters for a few weeks.

Gordon had been working out of the club’s rotation, so they will now have a hole there behind Cal Quantrill, Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Bradley Blalock. Right-hander Ryan Feltner landed on the 15-day IL on August 8 due to a right shoulder strain but could perhaps be coming back. Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball relayed on X last week that Feltner’s MRI came back clean and he could be back after something close to a minimal stint. He made a rehab appearance for Triple-A Albuquerque on Wednesday.

As for Marquez, it was reported a couple of weeks ago that he won’t be coming back this year due to some elbow inflammation, so this transfer to the 60-day IL was an inevitable formality. He’ll be on the 60-day IL for the rest of the year but will need to be reinstated in the days following the World Series, as the IL goes away until Spring Training.

Rockies Place Nolan Jones On 10-Day Injured List

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The Rockies announced that outfielder Nolan Jones has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a low back strain.  The placement is retroactive to July 12.  With right-hander Tanner Gordon also optioned to Triple-A yesterday, Colorado called up outfielder Sean Bouchard from Triple-A and right-hander Angel Chivilli from Double-A Hartford.

Since Jones was scratched from yesterday’s lineup, it isn’t a surprise to see him head to the IL with what appears to be a recurrence of the same back problem that has already taken a big chunk out of the outfielder’s season.  Jones missed over six weeks in his first IL stint and returned to action almost exactly a month ago.  While Jones’ numbers post-IL stint are better than his rough numbers in April before he was sidelined, he has still produced only a 64 wRC+ from a .202/.311/.313 slash line in 191 total plate appearances.

It has been a big dropoff from the .297/.389/.542 slash line Jones posted over 424 PA last season, as he also marked his first season in Colorado by hitting 20 homers and stealing 20 bases (from 24 attempts).  This production led to a fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting for Jones, making him a bright spot in an otherwise rough season for the Rockies, and a potential building block for the future.

This year’s results don’t necessarily change that path since Jones’ back issues have clearly had some impact on his play, but obviously the Rox wanted to see Jones continue to build on his 2023 breakout.  There’s still time for Jones to return from the IL and have a big enough finish to at least end 2024 on a high note, and re-establish himself as less of a question mark heading into next season.

In other Rockies injury news, Kris Bryant is “highly likely” to start a minor league rehab assignment on Friday, manager Bud Black told Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post and other reporters.  Bryant hasn’t played since June 2, as a rib contusion and then an internal oblique strain are the latest health issues to arise during what has been a nightmarish run of injuries during Bryant’s two-plus seasons in Colorado.  After playing in only 42 games in 2022 and then 80 games last season, Bryant has been limited to 24 games this season due to his current IL placement and a previous IL trip due to a lower back strain.

Rockies To Select Tanner Gordon

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The Rockies are selecting the contract of right-hander Tanner Gordon, according to Luke Zahlmann of the Denver Gazette. Gordon will start the club’s game against the Royals this afternoon in what will be his MLB debut. The Rockies will need to make a corresponding to make room for Gordon on the active roster, but a 40-man roster move won’t be necessary thanks to the open space the club has after Elehuris Montero was designated for assignment last week.

Gordon, 26, was a sixth-round pick by the Braves in the 2019 draft who joined the Rockies as part of the Pierce Johnson trade last summer alongside righty Victor Vodnik. Gordon was struggling badly at the Triple-A level for Atlanta at the time of the trade, with an 8.28 ERA in 29 1/3 innings of work, but looked much better across six starts at the level with Colorado. In those 31 1/3 frames of work, Gordon posted a 4.31 ERA while striking out 24.1% of batters faced and walking 7.1%.

Those solid results offered reason for optimism that Gordon could contribute in the majors sometime in 2024, but the Rockies nonetheless chose to leave the righty off their 40-man roster over the winter. Fortunately for them, Gordon was not selected in the Rule 5 Draft back in December and reported back to Triple-A for the 2024 campaign. The righty’s seven starts this year have not been quite as fruitful as his time in the organization last season. In 33 2/3 innings of work at Triple-A this year, Gordon has struggled to a 5.35 ERA while striking out a noticeably reduced 18.5% of batters faced. While his 5.5% walk rate is impressive, Gordon’s dip in strikeouts and subsequently lessened production are both cause for concern.

Those potential issues won’t stop the Rockies from giving Gordon a taste of the big league level in a spot start today, however. The righty’s first assignment in the majors will be a fairly tough one, as he’ll be matched up against a Royals club that has surged into surprise contention this year while pitching his first game at Coors Field. Gordon will be taking the ball in place of right-hander Ryan Feltner, who was scheduled to start today. It’s not currently clear if Gordon is simply making a spot start to afford the club’s regular starters additional rest or if he’s going to be a more permanent fixture in the club’s rotation, though with rumors swirling around Feltner, Cal Quantrill, and Austin Gomber it’s possible a trade could open up a more permanent spot in the rotation for Gordon in the coming weeks.

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