History seems to be repeating itself in the case of the Rockies and Chase Dollander.
Colorado’s No. 1 pick in baseball’s 2023 amateur draft—a talent projected to be the rotation’s ace for years to come once he made it to Coors Field—Dollander was sent back to triple-A Albuquerque 10 days ago “to work on some things,” according to Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer.
The news quickly had me thinking of Jamey Wright.
“The Big Handsome,” as his teammates called him, was the Rockies’ first draft choice in 1993, and the ball club thought he, too, was an ace-to-be.
Colorado had won the first-ever National League Wild Card, in only its third year, in the first Coors Field season in 1995. At the All-Star Break the next July, the Rockies were two games under .500 and in need of more pitching if they were to repeat.
Enter Wright, just 21.
In seven starts at Double-A New Haven, he’d earned a promotion to Triple-A Colorado Springs by going 5-1 with a 0.81 earned run average in 44 2/3 innings.
At the Springs, he’d pitched to a 2.72 ERA in 59 2/3 innings in the notoriously offense-dominant Pacific Coast League.
Wright made his Major League debut in pitcher-friendly San Francisco four days before the All-Star Break, allowing a single run. He was in line to be the winning pitcher until the Giants tied the score in the eighth. Wright didn’t get the win that day, but the Rockies did when Ellis Burks hit a 2-run homer in the ninth.
Wright’s next start, his first at Coors Field, was nothing like the first. In 5 1/3 innings, he gave up nine hits and three walks that generated eight runs. But an 11-run seventh inning produced a 13-12 victory that spared him his first big-league loss.
Finally, he got Win No.1 in his third start, and finished his first season in the majors at 4-4 with a 4.93 ERA in 91 2/3 innings. He would be a starting pitcher for the next 11 years but never have a winning season. And only three were with the Rockies before they traded him.
Unlike Wright, Chase Dollander was the winning pitcher in his first big-league start, a 12-5 victory over the Athletics on April 6. But he threw 79 pitches in five innings (too many), gave up four runs and allowed seven hits, including two home runs.
Of further concern, he made it through five innings only six times in his 14 other starts. And he allowed a homer every 4.58 innings.
When Dollander was sent back to Triple-A, his record for his first season in the Bigs was 2-9 with a 6.68 ERA in 68 2/3 innings.
That’s a far cry from 4-1 (2.83) or 2-1 (2.25), his numbers at Spokane and Hartford, respectively, last summer.
Whether or not those are his final 2025 Rockies numbers depends on his performance in Albuquerque and how the Rockies approach his development.
In his first start after returning to the Isotopes, he threw 90 pitches in five innings (again, too many), allowing five runs on six hits and three walks against the Round Rock Express. One of the hits was a two-run homer.
In both cases, in my opinion, these young pitchers were promoted to Colorado before they were ready, before they had matured.
It takes more than great arms and an impressive assortment of pitches. The mental aspect—pitching, not throwing—is the key to prevailing against major league hitters.
“He just needs to progress with pounding the strike zone, getting ahead in counts and being efficient,” Rockies interim manager Warren Schaefer said after Dollander’s start against Round Rock.
It remains to be seen what becomes of Dollander. But Jamey Wright’s career is well-documented.
Wright pitched 2,036 2/3 Major League innings for 10 teams during a 19-year career. Of his total 719 games, almost two-thirds were relief appearances.
Could he have been that rotation “ace” the Rockies thought he could be?
Maybe, if he had been allowed to develop as a starter before he was thrown into the fire.
In Dollander’s case, there’s still time. And maybe the Rockies are going to give him a chance.
“There’s no rush to say, ‘Hey, one good start and he’s back up here,’” Schaeffer said. “That’s not how we’re handling this.”
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Denny Dressman’s 17th book, a collaboration with Kansas City artist Anthony High titled Black Baseball’s Heyday – Capturing An Era in Art and Words, will be published in late summer. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.