The right-hander had a stellar year in Purple Pinstripes, but was non-tendered at the end
Welcome to the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time 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 lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
★ ★ ★
No. 6, Cal Quantrill: 1.7 rWAR
Cal Quantrill’s journey to Coors Field was circuitous.
The son of former MLB player Paul Quantrill, Cal was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres eighth-overall the 2016 MLB Draft after playing college ball at Stanford. He made his MLB debut on May 1, 2019, going on to make 23 appearances (18 starts) for the Padres that year. The right-hander posted a 6-8 record with a 5.16 ERA.
He was then traded to the Cleveland Guardians alongside Josh Naylor, Gabriel Arias, Joey Cantillo and Owen Miller for Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen and a Player To Be Named Later. Quantrill would go on to pitch three more seasons for the Guardians before being designated for assignment after the 2023 season in large part due to struggling with a nagging shoulder injury. (Also, the Guardians were looking to cut payroll.)
In return, the Colorado Rockies traded catching prospect Kody Huff to Cleveland. Quantrill made the Opening Day roster and was a decent contributor to the rotation for the first half of the season when he pitched 102 1⁄3 innings and posted a 4.13 ERA.
For that reason, Quantrill was considered a good trade chip ahead of the trade deadline for the Rockies as they looked to possibly bolster their roster with this youth movement-in-progress.
However, unsurprisingly, Quantrill was retained and then limited to just 46 innings after spending time on the 15-day IL with right triceps inflammation. Across those 46 innings, Quantrill made zero Quality Starts. He pitched 5+ innings in each of his three starts back in August, but was limited to 10 1⁄3 total innings in his final three starts, where he also gave up 11 runs on 17 hits.
His final start in particular was a 3 1⁄3 -inning stint where he gave up six runs on seven hits with two homers and two walks against the Los Angeles Dodgers (though I don’t think you can really hold that against him).
In total, Quantrill posted an 8-13 record and 4.98 ERA over 29 starts. He struck out 110, but also issued a National League-high 69 walks (not nice).
That said, Quantrill and Austin Gomber in particular served as stoppers in the Rockies’ rotation. That was especially true in the first half, where Quantrill served up 12 Quality Starts over 19 appearances. His best month came in May, where he posted a 1.71 ERA and only allowed six runs over 31 2⁄3 innings.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep Quantrill around for 2025. He was non-tendered alongside Brendan Rodgers on November 22. He was due to make around $9 million, and since the Rox are in the middle of cutting their budget, it’s likely that they could call upon some of their younger and cheaper prospects to take his place. They did keep Austin Gomber, who had a heck of a year, so they still have a “stopper” if they need one. Though they might miss Quantrill’s fiery spirit.
Quantrill started off as just what the Rockies needed in 2024, but finished the year being a little too shaky and a little too expensive for them to retain his services in 2025.