Colorado Rockies: Tyler Chatwood has been the ultimate road warrior
By Tim Haberin
Colorado Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood’s dominance away from hitter-friendly Coors Field could allow him to enter some rarefied air for a franchise traditionally lacking good pitching.
It’s a truth that has almost become a cliché in the 21 years since Coors Field opened: the home of the Colorado Rockies is simply not a great place to pitch. That fact has steered away free agent hurlers and largely hindered the franchise’s overall performance, with the exception of three postseason appearances including one National League pennant.
Naturally, pitchers who do put on a Rockies uniform tend to generate far superior numbers away from their home ballpark. Right-hander Tyler Chatwood is taking that to the extreme this season, even by Coors Field standards.
The 26-year-old (who has already undergone two Tommy John surgeries) owns a 5.30 ERA, 1.51 WHIP and 1.75 K/BB ratio in six starts at home this year. During those 35.2 innings of work, he has surrendered six home runs. Those numbers certainly aren’t unusual coming from a pitcher who regularly takes the mound in Colorado. This season Coors Field is seeing 3.12 homers per game, trailing only Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park for the highest rate in the league (3.26).
On the other hand, Chatwood has been virtually unflappable on the road. He boasts a sparkling 0.65 ERA in 41.2 innings over six outings, along with a 0.84 WHIP and 2.55 K/BB. And perhaps most impressively, he has yet to serve up a round-tripper as a visitor.
At no point has Chatwood’s road dominance been more on display than during Monday’s start against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The young hurler held his opponent to just one run on one hit (the second one-hitter in club history) over eight strong innings. He did give out four walks, but his efforts were more than enough to nail down a 6-1 victory, pushing his season record to 7-4.
Obviously, it will be difficult for Chatwood to maintain this level of performance in his road outings throughout the entire campaign. The .209 BABIP to which he is limiting batters away from home is bound to regress to the mean at some point. However, Chatwood still has the chance to do something special among the decidedly checkered pantheon of Rockies starting pitchers.
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On the strength of his superior road form, Chatwood sports a 2.79 ERA thus far on the year. The lowest ERA ever posted by a Rockies pitcher in a full season was the 2.88 mark managed by Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010. That season, in which Jimenez famously collected 15 wins before the All-Star break, is pretty much the gold standard for Colorado hurlers. Over 221.1 innings, Jimenez pitched to a 161 ERA+. Chatwood is currently on pace to toss 219.1 frames and has a 176 ERA+.
However, to Jimenez’s credit, his numbers that year didn’t suffer much in the not-so-friendly confines of his home ballpark. He put up a 3.19 ERA at Coors Field, compared to a 2.63 ERA away from it. It’s probably a bit too early anyway to speculate whether Chatwood could put together the best season ever by a Rockies starter, but if he does want to earn that distinction, he is going to have to get significantly better at home at some point.
Fortunately, he has shown some signs of improvement in that regard. Of his last three outings in Colorado, two have been quality starts. He held the Mets to three runs in seven innings on May 15, and didn’t allow an earned run against the Giants on May 27, before slipping up again to the tune of four earned runs in 5.2 frames opposite the Reds on June 1.
Coors Field will remain an Achilles heel for most Rockies pitchers, but this season’s showings from young arms like Chatwood and Jon Gray (six quality starts in last seven outings) have provided the franchise with some hope moving forward.