Mile High Mystery

    One of the biggest mysteries in Major League Baseball is the situation in Colorado. The Colorado Rockies are a great organization in a great city. However, that organization has been one shrouded in mediocrity.

    In the 22 years since the organization's birth in 1993, the Rockies have only had seven winning seasons, and three playoff appearances. Colorado's best season came in 2007, when the team won 13 of their last 14 games to sneak into the playoffs, and made an improbable run to the World Series before getting swept in four games by the Boston Red Sox.

Helton's #17 was retired in 2014

    Even so, the Colorado Rockies have never won a division title. Each of their three franchise playoff appearances came as a wild card team. One the biggest reasons for Colorado's struggles is their inability to keep star talent long-term. Matt Holiday, Larry Walker, and most recently, Troy Tulowitzki are among the big name bats who have passed through Colorado, only to go ring-chasing with other teams not long after. Getting the big bats to come through town isn't the big problem, as Colorado's Coors Field is known to be a number boosting hitters park. They were lucky enough to house Todd Helton throughout his entire 16-year career. In fact, he is the only Rockies player to have his number retired by the team. The main issue, that has yet to be solved, is the endless revolving door that is the Rockies' pitching rotation. The thin air in Colorado makes it a difficult place to pitch. In the 22 years of the organization, Colorado has never had a bonafide ace at the top of their rotation. They have had a few former aces come through looking to extend their careers to avoid retirement (Oswalt, Moyer), but never a top of the line guy. There was once a time where they thought Ubaldo Jimenez was the long-awaited answer, but that proved untrue, as he punched a ticket to Cleveland after a couple of years.

Jimenez went 56-45 in 5.5 years with the Rockies

    As I said before, Colorado is a tough place to pitch. The thin air makes the ball travel, and often times, carry out of the park completely. Free agent pitchers are quick to avoid the Rockies, and trades often see star players leave Colorado, not come in. This forces the Rockies to grow all of their own talent on the farm. This includes the highly-anticipated debut of the second pick of the 2013 MLB Draft, Jon Gray, who is set to make his ML debut tonight against the Seattle Mariners.

    It remains to be seen if Gray will provide an answer to Colorado's perpetual pitching woes, but there is always something that can be done.Many people think that the answer is to push the walls of Coors Field back to hold the ball in the park better. Actually, this is not the answer. With a 415-foot center field wall, Colorado's Coors Field is already the fifth largest park in the league dimension-wise. Plus with the league's largest park, Minute Maid Park in Houston, announcing the removal of Tal's Hill in center field, and moving that wall in from 435 feet to 408 feet. Coors Field is about to move up that list. It is also the second largest stadium as far as capacity, so moving the walls out even more would be overkill.

2013 1st round draft pick, Jon Gray, makes ML debut tonight vs. SEA

    A possible answer lies in the pitching itself. Since Colorado has to rely almost entirely on it's farm system for talent, that is how the team can improve. A fastball would work in the thin air of the Mile High City, but not everyone can throw 98 mph. Also, most off-speed pitches flatten in that environment, hurting the pitch's effectiveness. This makes it difficult to pitch effectively in town, and calls for less conventional methods.

    The use of pitches like the sinker and the cutter are on the rise in Major League Baseball, as alternative to the conventional four seam fastball, so that pitchers who can't throw 98 mph can have an effective primary pitch. Since both the sinker and the cutter are variations of the fastball, they rely less on air movement, and are less likely to be effected by Colorado's thin air. Plus, these pitches induce more ground balls, which is the way to get outs at Coors. If you keep the ball on the ground you keep the ball in the park.

Coors Field-5th largest field in majors (depth), 2nd largest (capacity)

    Many big names have had success with one or both of these pitches. Mariano Rivera recorded a Major League record 652 saves with ONE pitch-the cutter. He also likely holds the record for most broken bats. Francisco Liriano had two straight seasons with an ERA above 5.00. He developed a sinker, found a home as a solid number two pitcher on a fantastic Pittsburgh Pirates rotation that is bound for the playoffs. Brandon McCarthy and Giants' rookie Chris Heston both throw heavy sinkers that are huge parts of their arsenals. Heston is a right-hander who compensates for a lack of velocity with crafty movement and deception. 

     While these are just a few names that could be on the Colorado watch list, many of price tags might be a little too high for Colorado  payroll. This brings me to my main point: Colorado could go a long way by teaching their young pitching prospects to throw one of these two pitches. At any level in the system, a sinker who prove beneficial and go a long way with the Colorado club.

    I understand that this is not a fix-all, nothing is, but in Colorado, where good pitching is hard to come by, this could certainly provide a fix of some kind. As we have seen in the last couple of years, the Rockies have put some great young talent on the field behind the pitchers mound, and could be a couple of mound pieces away from a championship run. Colorado is a great baseball town, and they deserve great results.