Due to a rash injuries in the pitching rotation and plenty of room for improvement in the standings, the Colorado Rockies have been open to experimenting with a four-man pitching rotation. Although typical sabermetric wisdom states that starters are more valuable than relievers and should pitch as many innings as possible, Brian Kenny of MLB Clubhouse Confidential loves the idea of a four-man starting rotation with added reliance on the bullpen.
The Rockies have been limiting starters to 75 pitches and relying on their bullpen more often than most teams, but Kenny says it may actually help the team improve upon their league-worst ERA and batting average against marks. Here's why ...
Kenny points out that over the last three seasons, relief pitcher ERA has been lower than starter ERA each season across the MLB over that span. Furthermore, he notes that Rockies relievers have been outperforming their starter counterparts since the start of this four-man rotation experiment. The final point from Kenny is that the Rockies could go even further by using shorter stints to avoid ever having a pitcher hit in the lineup. Why? He says that if a team can avoid having the pitcher hit, it's the equivalent of adding an all-star hitter to the lineup.
Here is the full video breakdown of Kenny's analysis.
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