The Rockies just keep winning thanks to Greg Holland and a much improved bullpen
Led by their new closer, the bullpen has been outstanding for the boys in purple
By
Mike Axisa
•
2 min read
Coming into the 2017 season, I saw the Colorado Rockies as a potential sleeper team that could make a run at a wild-card spot. Unseating the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the NL West probably isn’t going to happen, but a wild-card spot? Sure. It’s doable.
The Rockies lost David Dahl (ribs), Ian Desmond (hand), and Tom Murphy (arm) to injuries in spring training, plus Chad Bettis will be away from the team indefinitely as he undergoes treatment for testicular cancer, but that hasn’t slowed them down yet this season. Colorado beat the Dodgers (COL 2, LAD 1) on Friday afternoon to improve to 4-1 on the young season.
The one constant for Colorado through five games this season, other than Nolan Arenado’s two-way brilliance, has been the bullpen. The Rockies have gotten tremendous work from their relievers. Here is a quick game-by-game recap of the bullpen:
Date | Score | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
April 3 @ MIL | W, 7-5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
April 4 @ MIL | W, 6-5 | 3 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
April 5 @ MIL | L, 6-1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
April 6 @ MIL | W, 2-1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
April 7 vs. LAD | W, 2-1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
TOTAL | 17 2/3 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 24 | |
New closer Greg Holland is 3 for 3 in save chances and has struck out four in three scoreless innings. Statcast says his fastball has averaged 94.1 mph thus far, right in line with his 94.3 mph average velocity in 2015, before Tommy John surgery. Also, Holland’s slider still looks like this:
Yep, that looks like vintage Greg Holland. The Rockies lured him to Colorado with a one-year contract and now it sure seems like they have a real weapon in the ninth inning.
Mike Dunn, another free agent reliever signing, has struck out six of the dozen batters he’s faced. Hard-throwing righty Carlos Estevez has four strikeouts in 3 1/3 scoreless innings so far. Jake McGee, who closed much of last season, struck out the side Friday to record his first save as manager Bud Black opted to rest Holland. (Holland pitched three times in the first four games and he’s coming back from Tommy John surgery, so resting him is understandable.)
Aside from Jordan Lyles, who allowed those two runs in two innings on April 5, the Rockies have been getting shutdown work from their relievers so far. This is a bullpen that pitched to a 5.13 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP last season. It was terrible. No, they’re not going to toss up zeroes all summer -- Coors Field will make sure of that -- but this group is improved. They’ve added Holland and Dunn, and will have full seasons of healthy McGee and Adam Ottavino. Those are big upgrades.
A reliable bullpen appeared to be the missing link for the 2017 Rockies. They always score a boatload of runs, so offense isn’t an issue. The rotation is finally loaded with a young high-upside arms. With some quality bullpen work, the Rockies can be in the postseason mix this year, and through five games they have to be encouraged with what they’ve seen from their relievers.
