Rockies place top young pitcher on IL with forearm tightness

The Rockies announced that right-hander Chase Dollander has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 19th, due to right forearm tightness. Fellow righty Juan Mejia has been recalled as the corresponding move.

To this point, the Rockies haven’t provided any specifics about Dollander’s injury or how long they expect him to be out. He started for the club on Sunday and everything seemed fairly normal at the time. He tossed 98 pitches over 4 2/3 innings, striking out six Diamondbacks. He allowed one earned run, which came on a solo home run off the bat of Ketel Marte. His velocity was in line with his previous starts.

Perhaps the Rockies are just being cautious with a young pitcher. After all, they have nothing to play for in the short term. Their 8-41 record is easily the worst in baseball and puts them on pace for one of the worst seasons ever. Dollander is one of the best prospects in baseball and only debuted last month. It would make sense for the club to pump the brakes on any minor issue with his throwing arm.

However, there’s always concern when a pitcher’s throwing arm is in the spotlight like this. If Dollander requires any kind of lengthy stay on the injured list, it would further dampen the mood for the Rockies, if that’s even possible with their current status. His 6.28 earned run average through eight starts doesn’t look too impressive but at least his 22.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate are close to average. His .260 batting average on balls in play, 62.8% strand rate and 18.9% home run to flyball rate are all on the unfortunate side of average. Some ERA estimators indicate he has deserved betters results, with his SIERA at 4.35.

Ideally, the one silver lining of this frustrating season would be plenty of opportunity for young players to develop and emerge as key pieces for the next competitive window. If this is just a precautionary breather for Dollander, he could still get a lot of starts under his belt in the remainder of the season. But a lengthier stint on the IL would obviously be unwelcome.

Perhaps the club will provide more information in the coming days. Regardless of the details there, they will have a rotation spot to fill. Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland have three spots. Rookie Carson Palmquist has recently been promoted and will presumably stick around. Ryan Feltner and Austin Gomber are both on the IL with uncertain timelines. Bradley Blalock and Tanner Gordon are both on the 40-man and have made big league starts this year, so one of them will probably get the call.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images