DENVER -- Rookie right-hander Chase Dollander (MLB Pipeline's No. 22 prospect) didn’t let the one pitch that ruined his outing ruin his Monday night -- one that could bode well for the Rockies’ future.
Dollander held the Rangers hitless through 5 2/3 innings, dominating with a fastball that averaged 97.1 mph and breaking off impressive curves. After walking Evan Carter to start the game, Dollander didn’t grant the Rangers another baserunner until Tucker Barnhart drew a five-pitch walk to open the sixth.
Dollander’s chance for a win disintegrated when Wyatt Langford blasted a two-out fastball to the right of center for a two-run homer. The Rockies’ 2-1 loss at Globe Life Field in Warren Schaeffer’s managerial debut ended with Kyle Farmer grounding into a double play with the bases loaded in the ninth.
But if Dollander, 23, is being educated, it’s hard not to give him a glowing grade. His performance, with seven strikeouts in his six innings, was the complete opposite of his last outing -- six runs on five hits and three walks in just three innings of an 8-6 loss to the Tigers. A sounder delivery was the difference.
“Between starts, I was working on my tempo, just being quicker in everything -- I felt I was a little slow out of my back side, and it was causing me to go a little early with my front side,” Dollander said. “That first batter, I was going a little too fast, so I was like, ‘All right, just time to slow down a little bit.’”
Having to pitch out of the stretch in the first and a conversation with pitching coach Darryl Scott after the inning put Dollander in the right frame of mind and body.
In his Major League debut on April 6, Dollander pitched around four runs and seven hits in five innings for a 12-5 victory over the Athletics. After that, he’s been either good (three starts of two or fewer earned runs) or bad (five to nine runs in three starts). But when on, Dollander shows why he was the ninth overall pick in 2023, out of the University of Tennessee.
A thinking man’s pitcher, Dollander figured quickly that the fastball-curve combo worked just fine, so why complicate matters?
“Plans are always fluid,” Dollander said. “You go in with one plan, and you might have a pitch or two so you just figure it out and put it together. The plan was to go in, attack and stay on the attack with these guys. We did pretty good.”
Dollander said in retrospect, the middle-cut fastball to Langford wasn’t the best decision. But he righted himself and ended the sixth by striking out Adolis García.
“It gives you a lot of confidence, for sure,” Dollander said. “Just build off this one. I never once wavered with confidence. I know my stuff plays. It’s just a matter of time.”