What Austin Gomber's Placement on Outright Waivers Means for Rockies

The Colorado Rockies are looking to move on from one of their struggling pitchers.

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The Colorado Rockies were on a heater for the past week.

After snapping an eight-game losing streak with their win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 12, the Rockies have gotten red-hot, winning six out of their last seven and four in a row coming into Tuesday's contest with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Following an electric walk-off win on Monday, the Dodgers wasted little time getting after their NL West opponents, scoring two runs in the first inning, two more in the second and three in the third, getting out to a comfortable 7-0 lead.

That was all Los Angeles needed to put Colorado away in the second contest of their four-game set, with the reigning World Series champions taking advantage of what has plagued the Rockies throughout the season; poor starting pitching and quiet offense.

Rockies Place Austin Gomber On Outright Waivers

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Austin Gomber was the starting pitcher on Tuesday, and it's safe to say he didn't have his best stuff.

The left-hander was touched up immediately, and by the time he was pulled from the contest, he had given up seven earned runs on nine hits, striking out two and walking two in just three innings of work. That now puts his season-long numbers at 0-7 with a 7.49 ERA in 12 starts.

This performance combined with how he's pitched all year has caused the Rockies to place Gomber on outright waivers, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, which gives every team around Major League Baseball the opportunity to claim him and add him to their roster.

The Colorado Rockies place struggling left-handed starter Austin Gomber on outright waivers. He’s earning $6.35 million.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 21, 2025

If a team does that, then they would assume the rest of the contract he's owed for the remainder of the year. For the Rockies, it makes complete sense to do this move, hoping someone takes him off their hands so they can avoid paying him the rest of his salary.

However, he likely will go unclaimed, meaning Gomber will remain with Colorado's organization. If that does happen, they can assign to the minors. But since he has more than five years of major league service time, he could reject that assignment.

This would be a disappointing way for Gomber's tenure to end, especially since he was the headliner of the return package that sent Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals back in 2021, with four minor league players also getting sent to the Rockies alongside the left-hander.

Gomber didn't have an extensive track record at the big league level before the trade, but at one point he was a top 15 prospect in St. Louis' organization and seemed to be on the rise in his career with a 1.86 ERA across 14 appearances (four starts) in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

That has not translated to is time in Colorado, though, with his ERA being 5.23 across 124 total appearances (104 starts) before Tuesday's disaster.

In all likelihood, Gomber's time with the Rockies is over, whether that's because he gets claimed off waivers or he becomes a free agent when he goes unclaimed, giving this organization a clean break from what was a bust of a trade acquisition.

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