Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, August 19th, 2024
As the Colorado Rockies are barreling towards their second-consecutive 100-loss season, there’s no doubt that a struggling bullpen has been one of the key factors of yet another lost season.
For the third-straight season, the Colorado bullpen is the worst in Major League Baseball. With a month and a half left in the 2024 season, the Rockies’ relievers carry a league worst 5.61 ERA with opposing batters hitting 2.87 against them.
There are bright spots, though.
Young right-handed reliever Victor Vodnik has the makings of a franchise closer with a very successful season so far.
Rockies’ general manager Bill Schmidt isn’t quite prepared to name Vodnik the closer, but likes what he’s seen so far.
“Victor’s shown some growth, but he’s still learning,” Schmidt told the Denver Post this weekend.
Meanwhile, left-handed Colorado native Lucas Gilbreath has returned to the mound for the first time since August 2022 after Tommy John surgery, and 22-year-old rookie Angel Chivilli has now pitched 7 1⁄3 scoreless innings and seven appearances out of his nine innings pitched and nine appearances in the month of August.
The Rockies also have several young relievers in the upper levels of their farm system that should have fans excited. Schmidt is high on them as well.
“All of those guys have back-of-the-game stuff,” Schmidt said. “But as Buddy [Black] would tell you, there are a lot of guys who have no trouble pitching in the eighth inning, but they have trouble pitching in the ninth. We’ll have to see how they react at the major league level.”
Schmidt is referring to a trio of right-handed relievers: Zach Agnos with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, and Seth Halvorsen and Jaden Hill of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.
Zach Agnos
Agnos—a 10th-round pick in the 2022 draft—was originally a two-way player in college with East Carolina. He largely played shortstop in college and only had five total appearances on the mound prior to his breakout season in 2022. That season he made 21 appearances with a 2.31 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 23 1⁄3 innings.
Now a dedicated reliever, Agnos has been impressive in his young professional career. In 2023—his first full professional season—he made 47 appearances with the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies, earning a 2.06 ERA while striking out 68 batters over 52 1⁄3 innings. Agnos led all of Minor League Baseball in saves with 27 and was named a California League All-Star.
This season Agnos has risen all the way to Hartford with a combined 1.10 ERA across High-A and Double-A in 36 outings with 51 strikeouts. He has also made the Rockies’ top 30 prospect list per MLB Pipeline at no. 30.
Jaden Hill
Meanwhile, down in Albuquerque the Isotopes have two young relievers that could make their MLB debut as soon as this season.
Jaden Hill (pre-season no. 19 PuRP) was originally a starter but has completed his conversion to the bullpen this season. The Rockies’ second round pick in 2021 out of Louisiana State University, Hill had a slow start to his professional career as he rebounded from Tommy John surgery. He’s on pace to hit a career-high for innings pitched in 2024.
Hill started the season with Double-A Hartford and made 34 appearances out of the Yard Goats bullpen, turning in a solid 3.52 ERA with 56 strikeouts over 38 1⁄3 innings thanks to his excellent fastball and slider.
After being promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque, Hill does carry a bloated 14.40 ERA in five appearances, but struck out three batters in three of those outings for a combined ten strikeouts in five innings. Unfortunately, Hill was placed on the 7-day IL over the weekend, but will hopefully return to get more work in before the end of the season.
Seth Halvorsen
Rounding out the trio is the 24-year-old Seth Halvorsen, another former two-way player drafted in the seventh round last year out of the University of Tennessee where he also played center field.
Halvorsen has had a meteoric rise through the Rockies’ farm system, starting with the Arizona Complex League last season and finishing the year in Double-A Hartford. He started 2024 with Hartford, posting a slightly higher than expected 4.84 ERA over 33 appearances and 35 1⁄3 innings, but he also struck out 41 batters with his high-velocity four seam fastball and a powerful slider/changeup combo of breaking pitches.
Halvorsen now finds himself in Triple-A just over one year after being drafted and already has ten strikeouts over five appearances and six innings of work. He was ranked no. 42 in our Mid-Season PuRPs Rankings and could be on the Rockies’ big league roster as early as September with the roster expansion.
The Rockies’ big league bullpen has definitely been disappointing over the last few seasons, but like much of the organization hope is fast approaching. Thanks to a solid farm system recently ranked no. 12 by MLB.com, the Rockies have help on the way to hopefully bring them to better days. Even a bullpen desperately in need of a fix has a potential bright future ahead of it.
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On the Farm
Triple-A: Round Rock Express 16, Albuquerque Isotopes 5
The less said about the pitching in this one, the better. The Isotopes gave up two six-run innings to the Round Rock Express while starter Peyton Battenfield gave up seven earned runs on ten hits while lasting just 2 2⁄3 innings. The only pitching of note was a three-up, three-down, three-strikeout eighth inning from Seth Halvorsen. Yanquiel Fernandez, Willie MacIver, Connor Kaiser, and Jameson Hannah all hit doubles while MacIver had a 3-for-5 night with two RsBI.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats vs Somerset Patriots: Cancelled due to inclement weather
High-A: Vancouver Canadians 9, Spokane Indians 4
The most important part of this game was the rehab start for Rockies right-handed starter Antonio Senzatela. It was nice to see Senzy healthy in the bright yellow Los Cafecitos jersey, but he pitched like someone who hadn’t done so in basically two years. Senzatela gave up two earned runs on two hits—including a home run—and two walks while striking out one batter. 21-year-old lefty Alberto Pacheco took over for Senzatela to make his High-A debut and pitched 4 2⁄3 innings. He struggled with his command and issued four walks in addition to the three hits he allowed.
Low-A: Modesto Nuts 4, Fresno Grizzlies 3
The Grizzlies almost had a walk-off in order with runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth inning, but failed to capitalize to end the series against their rivals in the Modesto Nuts. Jake Madden struck out two batters in his two innings of work, but starting pitcher Bryan Perez gave up 11 hits to the Nuts and walked two batters. He also had five strikeouts and was lucky to have only given up four earned runs. Andy Perez and Felix Tena both had two hits but the Grizzlies went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and had no extra base hits.
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Rockies’ Nolan Jones returns, looks for rebounds in final six weeks | Denver Post ($)
It’s not been an easy 2024 for outfielder Nolan Jones. He’s spent much of the year off the field due to injury and has struggled to perform up to his impressive rookie campaign when on it. The new father is back with the Rockies after a lengthy rehab assignment with the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies and Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes and looks to right the ship in the waning days of the season.
“I didn’t know how long it was going to take to get back and I didn’t know if I was going to play again this year,” Jones said. “There was a lot I was going through, so to be back among the guys has been awesome.”
On his night, Helton lobbies for Blackmon in exclusive Rox club | MLB.com
Todd Helton has never been good at making things about himself throughout his lengthy and impressive time with the Rockies. On his special night over the weekend where his no. 17 was encircled in gold to celebrate his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Helton turned the focus to his former teammate Charlie Blackmon.
“I was doing TV last night, and they threw up his stats, organizationally, where he ranked,” Helton said. “How can you not put him up there? And if you throw on top of that the type of guy he was, or is, and what he has meant to his teammates, he deserves to be up there.”
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