On paper, this Colorado Rockies’ bullpen was arguably the best in franchise history. So far this season, they have delivered on that promise. That is not a high bar to clear, as the Rockies’ bullpen has routinely finished near the bottom of the league due to half their games being played at Coors Field every season. But whenever the Rockies have made the postseason, their bullpen has finished more towards the middle of the pack. Not saying this Rockies club is anywhere near postseason contention. But for a franchise that has experienced numerous heartbreaking defeats due to the bullpen throughout its history, the performance so far this year has been very refreshing.
Stellar Long Relief
The Rockies’ front office and coaching staff emphasized this offseason that there was going to be a new way of doing things in Colorado. Finally making outside hires in the President of Baseball Operations, Paul DePodesta, and general manager Josh Byrnes have paid dividends in the offseason and the regular season. Often on Major League Baseball teams, the long reliever feels like a throwaway piece, to put it bluntly. It’s a low-leverage former starting pitcher that can eat up innings when your starting pitcher only lasts two innings in a 6-0 rout.
The Rockies were instead innovative in their approach; yes, the “Rockies” are being innovative. 2026 is weird. Right-hander Chase Dollander showed flashes of his promise as a starting pitcher this spring, but there was still enough inconsistency to make him a perfect candidate for long relief. He was joined by fellow RHP Antonio Senzatela, who had the worst season of his career last season in the Rockies’ rotation. To be fair, until seeing their performances this season, they seemed like the prototypical long relief candidates every team utilizes.
But Senzatela came out of the gates firing and has been a completely different pitcher. Get your bets in now on Senzatela as comeback player of the year in baseball because holy cow! Senzatela was arguably a couple of bad outings out of the gate away from being designated for assignment. Instead, Senzatela went to work this offseason on his pitch mix, and the results have been exemplary. Last season, he utilized his cutter and sinker just 2% and 1% of the time, respectively. This year, he is using his cutter and sinker 27% and 12% of the time. The velocity on his sinker is up from 91.2 mph to 95.9 mph. Additionally, he lowered his four-seam fastball usage from 57% to 40%.
The New Senza
Per Statcast, Senzatela was in the bottom one percent league-wide with a -41 pitching run value and -25 fastball run value. Following his offseason adjustments? He’s in the top three percent league-wide with a seven pitching run value and six fastball run value! Talk about being innovative and proactive. His xERA is 1.33 (98th percentile), .143 xBA (97th percentile), and 34.9% K rate (93rd percentile). Until this season, Senzatela has been a pitch-to-contact pitcher, adept at forcing groundouts. His K rate had never been above 18.1%, which was in his rookie season. He hasn’t had a K rate above 15.7% since 2021. Last year, his K rate was a career-low 11.8%!
The 31-year-old veteran has completely reinvented himself, and it’s paying off in a major way. Oh, he’s also still great at forcing groundouts. His 56% GB rate is in the 86th percentile league-wide. Quite frankly, Senzatela wasn’t even in the equation when talking about the potential of this Rockies bullpen. It was more a question of how long he’d stick around in the bullpen on the last leg of his career. Last year was that bad. This year, he’s leading the Rockies’ bullpen, and the longest-tenured Rockie alongside teammate LHP Kyle Freeland has been the story of the season so far for Colorado. But that’s far from the whole story when it comes to this Rockies’ bullpen.
Another Day, Different Dollander
It got loud for Dollander during his rookie season last year. The Rockies’ ninth-round pick in 2023 out of the University of Tennessee had a 9.98 ERA at Coors Field and experienced multiple demotions to Triple-A Albuquerque. The questions about Dollander being able to succeed at Coors Field were being asked. It was no doubt frustrating and a long season for the young pitcher. But like Senzatela, he has turned a new leaf out of the Rockies’ bullpen to begin 2026.
His debut was less than ideal. In mop-up duty against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 30, Dollander allowed four runs on three home runs over four innings in a 14-5 Rockies’ win. Like last season, the strikeout stuff was very exciting as Dollander notched five Ks. But it came with the inconsistency too, the homers allowed and the two BBs. Once the calendar turned to April, Dollander hit a different gear.
Houston, You Got a Problem
Covering 15 innings across four outings, Dollander has allowed just three earned runs on 10 hits. With a whopping 18 Ks to just four BBs. The best outing came against the Houston Astros on Thursday, April 16. When Dollander helped the Rockies salvage a seven-game road trip with an all-time relief performance for the Rockies. Pitching 5 1/3 shutout innings with nine Ks and just one hit allowed. It had been a while since the Rockies saw a performance like that out of the bullpen. You have to go back to their inaugural season in 1993 when reliever Bruce Ruffin pitched four shutout innings with nine Ks and zero BBs in a 9-4 Rockies win over the Astros.
Take a bow, Chase!
9⃣ strikeouts (a career high) pic.twitter.com/wpcCKGarGs
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 17, 2026
He routinely reached 100 mph, showcasing the velocity that made him a top ten draft pick. Per the Rockies.TV broadcast, Dollander is in the top five this season with 26 pitches of 100+ mph thrown. He spoke about the strong outing postgame and how confident he is right now.
Feeling Confident
“You know, I’m constantly working, always trying to get better, and it’s just like, just now starting to show up,” Dollander said.
“So it’s a great feeling, for sure, after talking to some of the veteran guys, it’s just go after them.” He continued, “You know, don’t be scared, don’t be intimidated.” “No matter who’s in the box, just go after him.” “I have really good stuff, and it needs to be in the zone, so it’s exactly what they told me to do.” “And I feel like I’ve been able to do that pretty good so far.”
Also, he’s already had a solid outing at Coors this season. On April 4, in a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, he allowed just one earned run on four hits with six Ks to just one BB over 4 1/3 innings. Two of his best outings this season have come against elite lineups. He’ll look to follow it up with another solid home outing as the Rockies begin a seven-game homestand against division foes, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, on Friday, April 17.
Don’t Forget About Tanner Gordon
Not to be outdone in long relief, RHP Tanner Gordon had a sterling 2026 debut. Continuing his stellar end to 2025, in which he was the most consistent option in a hapless Rockies starting rotation. In four innings on Wednesday, April 15, in a 3-1 loss to the Astros, Gordon pitched four shutout innings with just two hits allowed and four Ks to one BB. Gordon very well could have been in the Opening Day starting rotation. But utilizing Dollander, Gordon, and Senzatela this way has been invaluable for the Rockies.
Pitching depth will always be a major issue for the Rockies, and this is an excellent way to combat that. Injuries have already been an issue with Freeland and Jose Quintana, both dealing with IL stints already. With their stable of long relief options, those injuries to the starting rotation are not as backbreaking as they once were. But that’s just the long relief guys, there’s more!
High-Leverage Options
Two of the shrewdest moves by DePodesta this offseason were trading with the Boston Red Sox for LHP Brennan Bernardino and re-signing RHP Jimmy Herget. Bernardino, in three seasons with Boston, pitched to a solid 3.38 ERA. Last season, he was great at limiting hard contact and forcing ground balls. That has continued this season as Bernardino has posted a stellar 1.29 ERA in nine games this season. Per Statcast, he is in the top three percent league-wide, limiting opposing lineups to an 80.9 average exit velocity and 19 hard-hit%, respectively.
The formula to succeed at Coors has worked out great for Bernardino so far. Meanwhile, Herget is continuing his lights-out performances from last season. In nine games of his own, he has posted a 1.80 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP. He is in the 95th percentile league-wide with a miniscule 2.9% BB rate. A true sight for sore eyes when it comes to the Rockies’ bullpens of recent memory. Last but not least, RHP Jaden Hill, who had an important performance of his own on Thursday against the Astros.
Hill, a RHP who was drafted in the second round, 44th overall, out of Louisiana State University in 2021 by the Rockies, is showing out this year. He’s posted a stellar 1.17 ERA across nine outings and has been great at forcing ground balls, avoiding the barrel, and limiting hard contact, per Statcast. That’s three Rockies pitchers with an ERA below 2.00.
The Rockies now have a plethora of relievers that can limit walks, limit home runs, and get that huge strikeout pitch with high velocity. That’s hard to fathom and a true credit to the Rockies’ front office, pitching development, and, of course, the players themselves.
The Closer
Victor Vodnik, a 26-year-old RHP who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves in the Pierce Johnson trade in 2023, has had a solid start to the year in the closing role. The season began in concerning fashion for Vodnik as he blew a save in his first appearance in a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins. But he has rebounded in a major way with five straight scoreless outings. Including a save in a 4-1 win over the Phillies on April 5. Like Dollander, his 98.9 fastball velocity is in the 98th percentile league-wide, per Statcast.
Hill is right behind both with a 97.7 mph fastball velocity. The Rockies had very few high-velocity options just a couple of seasons ago. Now they have multiple effective ones, and it is one of the highest velocity bullpens in the league, per the Rockies.TV broadcast. Yet another thing that is hard to fathom about a Rockies’ bullpen.
Stellar Road Trip
The Rockies’ bullpen is currently on an 18-inning scoreless streak, not relinquishing a single earned run in three games against the Astros. They allowed 16 earned runs over four games against the Padres. Eight of which can be attributed to RHP Valente Bellozo, who has since been demoted to Triple-A Albuquerque. Five more of them can be attributed to righties Zach Agnos and Juan Mejia. Both of whom have plenty of potential themselves, but have had shaky starts to the season.
Mejia was especially shaky opening the game against the Astros on Thursday. Allowing a Jose Altuve single followed by a wild pitch to advance Altuve to second. Yordan Alvarez followed with an RBI single to give the Astros a quick 1-0 lead. Mejia followed with two Ks of Isaac Paredes and Carlos Correa. But he could not escape the inning as he hit Christian Walker with a pitch and allowed an RBI single to Joey Loperfido. Dollander relieved him, retiring Cam Smith to end the inning. Going on to pitch 5 1/3 innings, picking up his second win of the season while at it.
Dollander helped the Rockies avert disaster and a winless road trip. He is just the latest Rockies reliever to have a stellar outing out of the bullpen. The Rockies may be 7-12, but this team is already a lot more fun than last season. As manager Warren Schaeffer mentioned postgame, the Rockies were in every game this road trip. The offense has to improve hitting with RISP, as it almost cost them on Wednesday. But the Rockies’ pitching is proving they can keep the Rockies in ball games. The bullpen is delivering on the offseason hype. If the offense figures things out, the pieces are there for the Rockies to surprise a lot of people.
Main Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy- Imagn Images
