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Rockies Young Pitcher Performing Like All-Star After Brutal 2025 Season

It has been a long time since the Colorado Rockies have had much to get excited about with its pitching staff.
Maddy Dickens|
Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer (34) looks on from the bench before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field.
Colorado Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer (34) looks on from the bench before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

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Colorado Rockies

There wasn't a person with access to the internet during the 2025 baseball season who didn't know of the struggles that the Colorado Rockies had as they barely finished ahead of the worst team in MLB history.

The 119-loss Rockies were led by a horrific pitching staff that was inferior to the rest of the majors, specifically the starting rotation. That being said, the '26 Rockies are telling an entirely different tale, led by 24-year-old Chase Dollander.

It would be easy for someone to assume that Dollander simply wasn't a part of the organization last season. But that isn't correct, as his debut came in April of 2025, and he went to take on the lion's share of the reps in the rotation last season.

In his first year in the majors, Dollander threw nearly 100 innings and posted a 6.52 ERA. He has now made appearances in seven games this season and is holding his ERA to an impressive 2.25 while surpassing his win total from last year.

Dollander's latest game was a seven-inning masterpiece to secure the series sweep of the New York Mets on Sunday, his first start of the year. Before his outing against the Mets, Dollander had been used as a long reliever after an opener. A strategy that is clearly paying off.

Dollander Shining in 2026

Dollander throws a baseball in a white Rockies jerse
Colorado Rockies pitcher Chase Dollander (32) pitches during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field. | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

When the year kicked off, Dollander kept the ball rolling from 2025, which isn't a compliment, as he threw a trio of home run balls to the Toronto Blue Jays, but he has been a man on a mission ever since.

Dollander allowed four earned runs in his season opener in Toronto in a measly four innings. But since that dreary day, he has added only four to his total for the year in over 28 innings, and as he continues to gain confidence, he continues to retire batters.

In Dollander's last three games, he has pitched in over 18 innings. By the time he walked off the mound against the Mets, he had a combined 25 strikeouts over the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and, of course, the Mets.

It is hard to fathom how well Dollander is doing after a less than ideal year to begin his major league career. Regardless of how it happened, Dollander is here to stay, and since the season is well underway, nobody can say it is a fluke.

Since Dollander's last start came against the Mets in the finale, it will likely be a few days before fans get to watch him pitch again. When it happens though, everyone should turn the television on, because this kid can really throw the ball.

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Maddy Dickens
MADDY DICKENS

Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.

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