Rockies Promising Bullpen Arm's Season Done Before it Really Starts

Sometimes baseball is a cruel game that's unforgiving even to its most promising players.

Colorado Rockies relief Welinton Herrera. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Colorado Rockies continue to receive bad news when it comes to the pitching staff.

Welinton Herrera, a top-20 prospect in the Rockies organization who made his MLB debut on May 25, is out for the rest of the season after manager Warren Schaeffer announced that he has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. MLB.com's Jack Janes reported the news.

No recovery timeline or date for surgery has been set at this time.

Herrera made his MLB debut just last week and looked like he had the juice to compete in the big leagues throughout a brief 2 1/3 innings over the course of three games.

In his inaugural outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 25, Herrera set down Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith and Hyeseong Kim in order on just nine pitches. He followed that up with an even more impressive performance the next day, striking out Dalton Rushing and Freddie Freeman and forcing Mookie Betts to fly out. Herrera's fastball was touching 96 mph, and his slider was just as effective as promised. The Rockies might've lost both games, but they had to be encouraged by what they saw from the young lefty.

And then disaster struck.

Herrera lasted just 1/3 of an inning on May 29 against the San Francisco Giants, allowing a single and a walk in the process. His velocity was down several ticks, and it was clear that something was amiss. In the end, it turned out that his UCL was torn. His season is over, and the Rockies are worse off for it.

A Brief Glimpse of Potential Lost to Injury

Welcome to the show, Welinton Herrera (2025 Salt River Rafters).

Herrera made his debut on May 25th against the defending World Series champions and delivered a scoreless frame. In 9.0 IP for the Rafters, Herrera had a 2.00 ERA with 14 strikeouts pic.twitter.com/K9VTtvPG9m

— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) May 26, 2026

On its face, the loss of Herrera doesn't do much to affect how the Rockies were going to perform the rest of 2026. The team was still going to be lousy no matter whether Herrera was an All-Star or if he was just plain mediocre or bad.

What makes this injury so unfortunate is that Herrera was just getting his feet under him. At just 22 years old, he was set to become a staple in the Rockies' bullpen for the foreseeable future if he was able to keep up the production he showed through his first week in the majors. Unfortunately, he's going to have to pick up the pieces, recover from his injury and come back and show the Rockies (again) that he's capable of competing at a high level.

Another Blow to a Thin Pitching Staff That's Gasping for Air

Colorado Rockies pitcher Welinton Herrera. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The injury also continues the unfortunate trend of pitchers going on the shelf for an extended period of time. Chase Dollander, the most promising young arm in the organization, is currently unavailable due to a right elbow sprain. Jose Quintana, whom Colorado signed over the offseason to be the figurehead of the starting rotation, is out at least until the second half of the season. And that's just in the rotation — Jimmy Herget and Victor Vodnik are also sidelined. That's a lot of injuries.

A lot of teams have depth in the organization to handle situations like this. Not the Rockies. While there are some promising pitchers, they aren't going to be ready for years. All told, the 2026 season — at least on the mound — is probably lost, and Herrera's forced absence, while not the nail in the coffin, is definitely a massive bummer.