Rox top arm Chase Dollander surprised about relieving

Chase Dollander’s rookie season didn’t go as hoped and now the big-time arm for the Colorado Rockies is surprisingly starting his sophomore season in the bullpen.

The Rockies set their rotation over the weekend and the right-hander didn’t crack it. Starting will be longtime lefty Kyle Freeland and offseason pickups Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano, along with Ryan Feltner, who won the last spot. Dollander’s move to the bullpen came in the wake of Rule 5 draft acquisition RJ Petit undergoing Tommy John surgery, per Harding.

But an injury to another player impacting the usage of Baseball America’s No. 8 prospect in the game from just a year ago is unusual. Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer explained the club’s thinking.

“We want Chase to develop at the big-league level and feel like facing big-league hitters on a consistent basis is going to lead to his development better than it would at Triple-A at this point,” he told Kevin Henry.

Dollander started 21 games for the big club last year and got shelled. Among players with over 90 innings tossed, he had the fourth-worst ERA in baseball behind an Angels player and two teammates in German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela. Across 98.0 innings, Dollander posted a 6.52 ERA with a 2-12 record.

The 24-year-old Dollander admitted to the Denver Gazette Monday he was “surprised about the decision.”

“I’m still going to prepare the way that I do and make sure I’m prepared for every game that comes my way,” Dollander went on to say. “I’m going to see what some of these guys do in the bullpen, and maybe pick up some new things. I’ll talk to those guys and see what they do for their routines and things like that and then see if I can add some stuff. But for the most part, it’s going to be the same.”

Dollander is part of Colorado’s rebuild which really started to see the youth wave hit the show last summer. There will be more coming this year and the hope is they immediately use their talent to turn the team around a bit.

The issue for Dollander is that his home ball park was unkind to him, with a 9.98 ERA in Denver compared to a rock-solid 3.46 ERA at sea level.

The move seems to be temporary, as the new skipper shared.

“We see Chase Dollander as an eventual front-line rotation guy. That’s what we see,” Schaeffer said. “We believe we have something really good with Feltner as the fifth guy and Dollander in the bullpen. We like that combination.”

It’s a new strategy for a top prospect but heck, anything is better than what the Rockies have tried in the past, and it’s no surprise that a fresh voice in Paul DePodesta may have a different idea.

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