Colorado Rockies Rookie Pitcher Antonio Senzatela Providing Hope at Mile High

The Colorado Rockies were rocked by injuries this spring and are still without their presumed starters at first and in left in Ian Desmond and David Dahl. Jon Gray was placed on the disabled list last week and is set to miss another three or so. The Rockies shouldn't be winning, but with the production they're getting from relative unknowns like Antonio Senzatela, this team may become a legitimate threat as the season goes on.

After Saturday night's 12-3 romp over a ravaged San Francisco squad, the Colorado Rockies run differential is finally in the positive (+2) for those that care about such things in the early going. What's more important is that the Rockies are 12-6 overall, just a half-game up on Arizona in the NL West, but four games clear of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and six clear of the Giants. As far as hot starts go, the Rockies are looking pretty good.

One of the big reasons for their start, and why many had them as a dark horse pick before the season began (and then saw many back off as the injuries mounted) is because of their improved pitching staff. Heading into play yesterday, the Rockies team ERA ranked 16th in baseball at 3.84, which is a full run less than their end-of-season total from last year.

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More specifically, their relief corps has been one of the best in baseball with a cumulative 2.64 ERA, good for 4th in the majors. Free agent signees Mike Dunn and Greg Holland have been panning out excellently in the first three weeks, holding ERAs of 1.17 and 2.00 while each holds a K/9 rate over eleven.

Right above Holland in terms of ERA, and the best starter in the rotation so far, is rookie Antonio Senzatela. If you haven't heard the name before, that's ok. He has been a favorite conversation topic of the folks at the Purple Dinosaur Podcast, which is the only reason I had heard the name before the season started. Senzatela had tossed a total of 34.2 innings in Double-A, all of which came last season, but that was as high as he'd gone up the organizational ladder.

The reason his inning total was so low last season was partially due to injury, but mostly due to the fact that he went home to his native Venezuela to be with his dying mother. After collecting his first big league win, he said he was going to take the game ball and place it on his mother's grave in Venezuela as a gift for her. The way that he has come out of the gates and helped his team secure a win in each of his four starts has been extremely impressive, given his relative lack of experience in the upper minors, and the recent tragedy that he is still coping with.

After Saturday's win against the Giants, his second such victory in six days, Senzatela sits at 3-0 with a 2.07 ERA, and an extremely impressive 0.85 WHIP. After allowing three runs in seven frames last Sunday in San Francisco, Senzatela backed that up with another seven innings, this time allowing just one earned at Coors. Remember when people used to be afraid to pitch there?

There may be something to this 22-year-old if he is able make the proper adjustments and have an even better outing against a presumably good team in such a short turnaround, while also being in one of the most pitcher-friendly environments around.

Competitor is a word that I've heard tossed around on various outlets to describe the rookie, and if his first four outings of the season are any indication, then the Rockies may have a very nice one-two punch with Gray and Senzatela not only this season, but for many more to come.

A word of warning: The Rockies offense has not gotten going yet, ranking 24th in runs scored so far this season. The last time that the Rockies didn't rank in the top 10 in runs scored was back in 2008, the year after they went to the World Series. Don't expect them to end up there again this season.