Colorado Rockies bullpen could be led by Sam Howard and Yency Almonte

The Colorado Rockies made it to the playoffs for the second year in a row but failed to make it far. Next season, the team might be even better thanks to their bullpen.

Yency Almonte and Sam Howard combined to throw just 18.2 innings in 2018 for the Colorado Rockies and have been showing a lot of progress in their debut seasons.

Howard came up in June and pitched in one game, then he pitched three more games near the end of the season. He gave up one run over his four innings. He didn’t do great in the minors this year but overall has a good track record in the minors.

Last year he pitched to a 3.32 ERA and in 2016 his ERA was 3.35. His K/9 has consistently been above 7 beaning that he should be able to be a solid pitcher when it comes to striking batters out.

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Almonte has a little more experience having played in 14 games. Like Howard, he made his debut in June but he never really went back down. He played in a couple games per month before playing consistently in September.

Through 14.2 innings, Almonte has pitched to a 1.84 ERA and he’s thrown 14 strikeouts. Last year he played 14 games with Hartford, starting all of them and pitched to a 2 ERA.

Almonte has a lot of experience as a starter, even this year in the minors. As a result, it’s possible that he might be looked at as a major league starter down the road but for now the best option for the Rockies would be for him to stay in the bullpen.

If the Rockies give them both enough chances throughout 2019, the two could really boost the teams bullpen and bring down their ERA. In 2018, the Rockies has a 4.33 team ERA, which was the 11th highest in all of baseball.

Part of the reason is because of playing at Coors Field, but the added help from both Almont and Howard could help the team finish with a better ERA and could help them close out a few extra games.

When you look at the rest of the Rockies bullpen, the players that round them out have also been amazing and can really cause some damage heading into the new season. Take a look at Wade Davis. He saved 43 games and Seunghwan Oh had a 2.53 ERA since joining the Rockies. Both players will be on the team for at least a few more seasons.

Together, the addition of the young pitchers can help the Colorado Rockies get even further next season and maybe make it past the NLDS.