2. Right-hander Cal Quantrill
General manager Bill Schmidt’s most significant offseason move was trading for Quantrill, who brings some know-how to the mound and went 15-5 with a 3.38 ERA with the Guardians in 2022. Quantrill is making $6.55 million this year and is under club control through 2025.
Quantrill’s problematic shoulder stays sound. He gives the Rockies close to 30 starts and masters his split-finger fastball, leading to groundball outs.
His shoulder woes resurface, and he discovers that pitching at Coors Field can quickly spiral into a nightmare. (139) than in any other season in his career. Gomber started out 0-4 with a 12.12 ERA, but if you toss out that terrible start to his season, he posted a 4.62 ERA. He was 2-2 in nine second-half starts with a 3.86 ERA.
He continues evolving into a smart, savvy pitcher who induces weak contact and pitches deep into games.
The lowerback problems that ended his 2023 season in late August resurface, and he continues to struggle against left-handed hitters, who smacked him around to the tune of a .372 average last season. In 2022, lefties hit just .221 against him. the two pitchers with the best raw stuff I’ve seen are (German) Marquez and Feltner.”
Feltner’s arsenal includes an upper-90s fastball, slider, curveball and a resurrected changeup. The problem is that the righthander sometimes tries to do too much. He was hit in the head by a line drive on May 13 last year, suffered a fractured skull, and didn’t pitch for the Rockies again for almost 19 weeks. He appears to have rebounded from that traumatic injury.
Feltner, realizing he doesn’t have to blow the doors off every batter he faces, evolves into a more polished pitcher, reduces his 13.9% walk rates and manages trouble, thus avoiding the big innings that have hurt him.
He continues to struggle at Coors Field, where he’s gone 2-7 with a 7.62 ERA across 13 career starts.
At his best, Hudson induces ground balls, walks relatively few batters, whiffs a fair amount and keeps his team in the game. In his first three seasons with the Cardinals, he had a 57.3% grounder rate and 18.1% strikeout rate, and his fastball averaged 93.8 mph.
Hudson displays why the Cardinals non-tendered him last fall. Namely, diminishing fastball velocity (91.4 mph last year) and a 45.5% hard-hit percentage.
The righthander struggles with his command, something that’s plagued him during an up-and-down career. Also, Lambert could get hurt again. He says his right elbow is sound, but Lambert was shut down late last season because of right biceps tendinitis after a poor start on Sept. 10.