Ranking the Rockies: No. 50, Dakota Hudson

It turns out walks (and a lack of run support) will haunt

You’re reading the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at the season had by every player to play for the Rockies in 2024. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the least amount of rWAR and end up with the player with the most.

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No. 50, Dakota Hudson (-0.8 rWAR)

In 2024, Dakota Hudson surely hoped to reinvent himself, a fact reflected in his changing facial hair: sometimes he had a beard; other days, a mustache; and occasionally he was clean shaven.

He must have been hoping to change his luck, something that would take him back to the pitcher he had been and give him a ticket out of the most-challenging pitching environment in MLB.

Actually, let’s go nonlinear with this accounting because it seems like a good way to describe Hudson’s strange time with the Colorado Rockies.

(Think of it as a Mile High “Momento.”)

He was DFA’d, right?

Yes. That happened on Sunday, July 7.

“I think with Dakota, it was uneven,” said manager Bud Black. “I think the walks were troublesome as the as the season unfolded. But, again with Dakota, great on the team, added to the mix. His veteran personality helped a number of guys along the way. I think performance-wise, it was it was time for us to look at somebody else.”

It was time, Black said, to give younger players a chance.

Hudson — surely to his own disappointment — would clear waivers and be assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque, moving from 5280 ft to 5312 ft.

How did he end up in Colorado?

The former 2016 first-found draft pick and St. Louis Cardinal was very good until undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020. Things did not go well upon his return in September 2021.

In 2022, he had a 4.45 ERA and the lowest K/BB ratio in MLB (1.13). This did not improve in 2023 when he sported a 4.98 ERA. Making things worse, his control issues persisted (career 10.7% BB%). In September 2023, the Cardinals DFA’d him.

However, Hudson is a ground ball pitcher (lifetime 55.1% GB%) — and if there’s something the Rockies love, it’s a ground ball pitcher. In January, they signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million “prove it” contract.

Things did not improve with the Rockies, right?

They did not.

During his tenure with the Rockies, Hudson made 18 starts (89.0 IP). He posted a 6.17 ERA with an 12.4% BB% and a 12.1% K%.

In other words, he walked more batters than he struck out. That is not good.

However, he did maintain his high GB% (52.3%), so there’s that.

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

To be clear, my intention is not to persuade you that Dakota Hudson has been a good pitcher because recent data does not suggest that has been the case.

However, it’s worth pointing out that he got precious little help from a sluggish Rockies offense, which is really something that ought be mentioned.

During his 18 starts, the Rockies scored only 28 runs total when he started a game. That’s a 3.1 run support average — you read that right — that ranks the third-lowest in MLB. (Who got less run support? Garret Crochet and Trevor Rodgers.)

Perhaps even worse, the Rockies offense provided no — as in zero — run support in five of his 18 starts and only one in two of his starts. Here’s what that looks like:

• Games w/ 0 runs: 5
• Games w/ 1 run: 2
• Games w/ 2 runs: 2
• Games w/ 3 runs: 2
• Games w/ 4 runs: 2
• Games w/ 5 runs: 2
• Games w/ 6 runs: 0
• Games w/ 7 runs: 1
• Games w/ 8 runs: 1
• Games w/ 9 runs: 0

Compare that with the 5.47 RSA he had with the Cardinals (2018-23), and the contrast becomes clear.

Already, Hudson was pitching with little margin for error; the Rockies lack of supporting offense erased that.

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Plus, Coors Field did not work for him. On the road, Hudson had an ERA of 3.72; at home, that ballooned to 8.79.

Albuquerque did not prove a good fit, either. Hudson started three games (11.1 IP) for the Isotopes where he earned a 9.53 ERA.

In August, he made one last start for the Rockies. He lasted for 2.2 innings against Atlanta, and the Rockies lost the game, 11-8.

Hudson finished the season on the 60-day IL with right elbow inflammation.

So is that it?

Probably.

There’s nothing that suggests either the Rockies or Hudson would be interested in extending the contract.

Here’s hoping Dakota Hudson can find his way through.

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