Help us Dol-Lander Kenobi, you’re our only hope
Early last week, the team at Baseball America hit the Colorado Rockies in their annual farm system preview system leading up to the 2025 Cactus and Grapefruit League seasons. It was a fascinating insight to the Colorado system, namely focused on the Rockies’ two most recent top selections: RHP Chase Dollander from the 2023 draft and slugger Charlie Condon in 2024.
While there is plenty to be said about Condon’s place and impact on the future of the Rockies’ organization, there’s no load heavier than the one placed on Dollander’s shoulders. This was clear from the perspective of Geoff Pontes and J.J. Cooper, both of whom spent time tabbing him as the best Colorado pitching prospect in a long, long time – if not ever.
As far as expectations go, “best ever” is a high bar to clear, but Dollander’s collegiate history with Tennessee against other powerhouse SEC programs and a sterling debut season are reasons for optimism. Although Dollander slipped in his last year on campus with the Volunteers, his 2024 campaign showed why he was in consideration for the top overall selection of the 2023 draft as he posted a 2.59 ERA with 169 strikeouts over 118 innings — finishing the year with a 2.25 ERA in nine starts with Double-A Hartford.
This has merged Dollander’s development into the fast lane, pushing him to the brink of the big league rotation -– a spot management plans to give him every chance to win this spring.
But the former ninth-overall selection is not the only arm with sights on landing in Coors Field in 2025.
Carson Palmquist, a third-round selection in 2022, has put himself in Colorado’s future rotation plans. Palmquist has a 3.92 ERA in 211 minor league innings, headlined by his 11.9 K/9 in three seasons.
Also attending camp this spring will be that year’s first-round selection Gabriel Hughes, who threw 17 ⅓ innings in the Arizona Fall League last year after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery in 2023. There’s also Sean Sullivan, a Wake Forest graduate that dominated to a 2.11 ERA in his first full pro season in 2024.
These four players largely represent the next wave of Rockies pitching, a wave that is set to replace a pitching core in place that led to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018, but has slowly been eroding. Gone are the likes of Tyler Anderson and Jon Gray; however the Rockies still employ Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez and Antonio Senzatela – ⅗ of the old guard, a point Skyler Timmins made earlier this week.
The cracks in the old foundation have been widening for years, though.
On top of the losses of Anderson and Gray, Freeland has evolved into a far different pitcher than the one he showed at the start of his career — posting an even 5.00 ERA over the past six seasons after holding a 3.39 mark in his first two years — while also being the most durable of the group.
Márquez and Senzatela are on the mend from TJ surgeries of their own – both underwent surgery around the same time as Hughes.
As the once-formidable rotation has aged, the reinforcements from the minor leagues have simply not been produced to replace production lost from the veterans.
Ryan Castellani, Ryan Feltner, Jaden Hill, Chris McMahon, Peter Lambert, Helcris Oliveraz, Joe Rock, Ryan Rolison and Sam Weatherly have been names long pegged as the promising young hurlers that were supposed to be the first generation of depth, filler and eventual replacements for the old guard.
Fast-forward to 2025, and the luster on most of the names has diminished, whether through injury, moves to the bullpen, performance or dismissal from the organization entirely – leaving just Feltner and perhaps Hill as the only commodity with any noteworthy baseball pedigree.
In 2019, one year removed from consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history, the Colorado Rockies still had the nucleus of their young rotation intact, cost controlled and in/entering their prime. Anderson and Gray were the elder statesmen of the rotation while still being on the right side of 30 with Freeland, Márquez and Senzatela all headlining a more youthful group 26 years-old or younger that accounted for 109 of 162 games started and 562 ⅓ innings.
As the rotation continued to age, the cracks in the foundation became more evident. As lapses in performance and/or injuries occurred for each member of the rotation at various times, the depth of the organization failed to materialize to help fill the voids created. After Márquez and Senzatela reached 27 years old in 2022, just Feltner was the lone starter under 26 to make a start while he and Lambert combined for the only tallies the rest of the way aside from three games from Karl Kauffmann in the 2023 season.
The lack of young pitching depth hasn’t been the only problem for a franchise the struggling Rockies’ franchise in recent seasons, though it has certainly been a contributing factor for a franchise that has posted a 40.7% win-percentage this decade.
A heavy burden has been placed on rentals in that time, mostly acquired through the waiver wire. The results have not been pretty, with virtually all of management’s attempts to patch the hull breaches with cheap veterans resulting in below-league-average production.
The story of the rotation remains much the same heading into the 2025 season.
Gone are the previous filler options — this time namely Cal Quantrill and Dakota Hudson, acquired after getting designated for assignment following the 2024 season by their previous clubs -– and the management’s hopes are tied to a new group of young arms to start balancing out a veteran-heavy pitching core.
Austin Gomber and Márquez may hit the open market after the season, and last year’s buffers were already sent packing after their lone season at Coors. Fortunately, the Rockies’ brass is indicating that less veteran fodder will be needed this year, signing just former St. Louis Cardinals RHP Jake Woodford to minor league deal in the off-season.
The rotation is begging for an influx, in need of change — a youth movement akin to the one that birthed the pitching core of consecutive playoff teams. Colorado management believes it has the right players ascending to become the new blood of the rotation, headlined by arguably the most talented mound prospect in franchise history with Dollander with talented top-of-the-class talent behind him.
But to some, it’s the same story with new names. Whether through their own flaws or no fault of their own, the Rockies franchise has largely flopped in the pitching development in recent years. The team’s record in recent seasons tells how that has already gone with veterans leaned upon in recent seasons showing cracks in performance, durability and one step closer to the open market.
They may have the next generation in Dollander, Hughes, Palmquist and Sullivan. But as recent seasons have shown, the best laid pitching plans rarely work as expected. Whatever the outcome, Colorado will need to start giving the kids their chance in 2025. If they don’t, the list of veteran fodder on the mound will surely grow for yet another season.
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