Tuesday Rockpile: Checking in with Tanner Gordon one month into his MLB career

Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Back in July, Tanner Gordon made his MLB debut, which he discussed here.

But rookies are like kids: They grow up so fast.

On Friday, Gordon will have started five games for the Colorado Rockies, and currently has a 6.15 ERA (5.34 FIP) with 23 Ks in 26.1 IP. Add to that three walks, and it’s a solid start. Gordon’s still got to work on not giving up home runs (a 2.39 HR/9 isn’t going to cut it), but the 26-year-old rookie is on the right track.

Last week, he provided an updated on his time with the Rockies, discussing the differences between MLB and MiLB pitching, his slider, and a pitch he’s trying to develop.

Pitching with intention

Gordon noted that the biggest lesson he’s learned so far is the importance of having a strategy, or “pitching with intention.”

“You’ve got to have a plan for each pitch,” Gordon said. “There’s no pitches that you can throw that’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll just kind of get it over right here.’ Everyone hits mistakes here. That’s kind of the biggest thing that I’ve noticed is one-through-nine, everyone can do damage. So, like, I said, just can’t take a pitch off.”

And the biggest difference he’s noticed from the minor leagues? The quality of an MLB lineup.

“I think the strength of the lineup through and through,” Gordon said. There’s no breaks in the lineups.”

He explained, “In Triple-A, there maybe one-through-four-or-five hitters could maybe hurt you. As you go down, there’s a select few — let’s say Single-A, Double-A, it’s like, maybe there’s one or two guys in the lineup that can do damage. But obviously, up in the big leagues, everyone here can hit.”

In addition to the lengthened lineup, Gordon is also learning to navigate pitching at elevation.

“Honestly, I a lot of guys talk about it,” Gordon said. “I try not to think about it too much.”

Still, there’s no denying the Coors Effect is real.

“Obviously, it affects the pitches. At the end of the day, you’ve still got to throw strikes, and still got to be around the zone and get guys out. I think it just when I’m in elevation, I just kind of change my sights, change where I’m going to start the pitch, knowing that it’s not going to move as much.”

A season highlight — so far

Gordon doesn’t hesitate in pointing out his favorite pitch of the season: His first strikeout back when the Rockies faced the Kansas City Royals on July 7.

Here’s how he remembers it.

“So I started out with two balls in a row, and then ended up coming back, evened up the count. And then I think there’s a slider. Yeah, I think that’s going to be one of the pitches that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Gordon had a lot going on.

“I don’t even remember who I struck out,” he said. “I was so blacked out at the moment. I struck him out. And I kind of froze. And then I said, ‘Oh, wait. I I struck him out.’ So I did my strikeout strut after, and everything kind of settled in.”

It was an important moment.

“I got the first one out of the way, which is good,” he said.

By the way, that first K? Adam Frazier.

Talkin’ sliders

A key part of Gordon’s arsenal is his slider, a pitch he began throwing during Spring Training of 2023. It was the result of dropping his curveball.

“I have a pretty high release point,” Gordon said, “and I stay behind the ball pretty well, so it’s not a sweeper. It doesn’t have a lot of horizontal movement. It’s more of a ‘gyro.’ It has more vertical down movement, which I kind of like.”

His slider is a mainstay of his pitching repertoire.

“It plays off my fastball pretty well,” Gordon said, “and plays off of all my pitches. I don’t have any wipeout pitches per se, but I’d say each pitch works off of each other pretty well.”

Renee Dechert

Dreaming of knuckleballs

I’ve started asking pitchers whose pitch they could steal if they could take one.

Tanner Gordon had to think for a second before citing Matt Waldron’s knuckleball.

“I think throwing a knuckle ball would be awesome,” Gordon said. “I throw a knuckleball every day, just messing around with my catch partner. But I think to actually have that as a true pitch that gets swing and misses, and it’s, what, like 80 miles an hour, too, so it’s dancing everywhere? I think that would be a cool pitch to throw.”

Renee Dechert

Still learning

Even though Gordon has only made five starts for the Rockies, he continues to make steady improvement as shown in his outing against the Padres and more recently against the Atlanta Braves.

As the Rockies plan for 2025, Tanner Gordon will be looking to make a name for himself.

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The first episode featured Jaden Hill, and I’ve gotta say, it ruled.

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