Michael Lorenzen Has Thought ‘For Years’ About Pitching for Rockies

Pitching at Coors Field is one of baseball’s great mysteries. Trying to figure out how to effectively pitch in the thin air has eluded even the best pitchers in the game.

So, naturally, Michael Lorenzen wants to figure it out.

The right-hander doesn’t have a notable tie to Colorado like Kyle Freeland, who was born in Denver and went to Thomas Jefferson High School. Lorenzen was born in Anaheim, Calif. He played his college baseball at Cal State-Fullerton. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and has played in the Majors for the Reds, the Los Angeles Angels, the Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals.

Yet the thought of pitching at Coors Field on a regular basis has intrigued him his entire career, he said to MLB Network during an interview last weekend.

Why The Rockies?

"I've always wondered what it would take to pitch at Coors... it's exciting."

Michael Lorenzen chose the @Rockies in free agency for a new challenge in his 12th season in the Majors!

📺 30 Clubs, 30 Camps pic.twitter.com/8k5i4nHT0x
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) March 4, 2026

For Lorenzen, it’s a challenge. He’s tackling it head-on and taking his cues from a new pitching coaching room that includes Alon Leichman, the team’s new pitching coach. The emphasis in spring training and this offseason has been interesting.

“I'm learning more about pitch shapes and how to finish hitters, and even though this deep in my career I'm still figuring stuff out which is constant, right?” he said. “I've always wondered what it would take to pitch in Coors Field. How the ball moves, the ball flight, all that stuff. What would be the best pitching staff? How would you build a pitching staff? I've thought about that for years now. So just to be able to put it into practice and see what works and what doesn't is exciting.”

Lorenzen is talking like a pitching coach, or even franchise leadership. Everything is new in Colorado. Paul DePodesta is the president of baseball operations and Josh Byrnes is the general manager. The pair opted to keep interim manager Warren Schaeffer as the full-time manager, in part due to his connections with many of the younger players he managed in the minor leagues.

DePodesta recently said the Lorenzen was one of the veterans brought in to help “raise the floor” for the Rockies and to help take the heat off younger players and have them win job as opposed to getting them by default.

Lorenzen seems to be a kindred spirit with the Rockies. When he made his Major League debut in 2015 with the Cincinnati Reds, he was a starter. But for the successive six seasons, he was mostly a reliever for the Reds.

It took leaving for the Los Angeles Angels in 2022 as a free agent to become a starter again. In 2023 he went to the All-Star game for the Detroit Tigers, was traded at the deadline to the Philadelphia Phillies, and threw a no-hitter in his second start for his new team. He’s used to doing things the hard way. And pitching at Coors Field is perhaps baseball’s hardest job.