Everyone understands that the Colorado Rockies are at the beginning of a full scale rebuilding project. Out with (most of) the old, and in with the new.
As they open their first spring training of the Paul DePodesta “Moneyball II” era, the Rockies have brought in a lot of new age pitching development folks, including a new big league pitching coach, Alon Leichman, who never pitched in the big leagues…or the minor leagues either, for that matter. That’s part of the “new” it appears.
Some Old is Mixed in With the New
One thing that isn’t new at Salt River Fields is the roster presence of veteran right hander Antonio Senzatela. He’s now Colorado’s longest tenured player, having been a Rockie for seven seasons. He did miss a chunk of the 2022 and 2023 seasons after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee. After coming back sooner than expected in May of 2023, he ended up with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. In 2025, he split time as a starter (23 starts) and (seven appearances) in long relief, but never found his footing. His final stats read like a horror movie script: A 4-15 record, a 6.65 ERA and a “WHIP” (which stands for Walks and Hit per Innings Pitched) of an outrageous 1.84. That means the 31-year-old Venezuelan allowed almost two runners on base per inning last season.
By any and every measurement, it was a disastrous year. He looked spent…or better yet, WHIPped.
Still, Colorado management, as they’ve been prone to do for many years, welcomed him back with open arms for 2026. That was probably due mostly to him being under contract already for one more season at $12 mil per, the final season of a five-year, $50,500 contract he signed back in 2022. There’s a club option for next season at $14 mil, but it will take a monumental turnaround for DePodesta and crew to see the value in that a year from now.
By today’s standards, having someone who can stay healthy and log 130 innings, as Senzatela did a year ago, does have value. But yielding 192 hits in those innings to go along with 47 walks and 22 home runs just doesn’t.
Senzatela was a Mainstay on a Pair of Rockies Playoff Teams
When Senzatela first arrived at Coors Field back in the playoff season of 2017, he was basically a one-pitch pitcher with good command who learned how to throw a breaking ball at the Major League level. He’s had a few good seasons in purple pinstripes, especially his rookie year when he went 10-5 with a 4.65 ERA and helped the Rockies reach the postseason for the first of two consecutive seasons under Bud Black. Because he never really has had “swing and miss” stuff, he’s always had a good number of runners on base, but could limit damage because of a lack of walks.
But as injuries and wear and tear have taken a toll, those numbers have declined steadily, including last season’s disaster. After seven seasons, Senzatela has a cumulative WAR of 7.0, or 1.0 per year.
Starting his eighth season, the veteran got the ball for the Rockies first spring training game, a contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields. In his very first at bat, former teammate and future Hall of Famer Nolan Arenado greeted Senzatela with a towering home run to left center. It was the only run the veteran righty allowed, but he did have four runners, counting Arenado, reach base in his two innings of work, so his WHIP for the day was 2.0. More of the same.
Whether or not the Rockies have a roster spot for Senzatela this season remains to be seen. They are already paying disabled star Kris Bryant $28 million not to play this year (although Bryant says he is not retiring.) Paying another guy $12 mil to go home seems unlikely.
For Senzatela to validate the Rockies faith in him he’d need to pitch to a .500 record, a 4.50 ERA and a WHIP south of 1.50. If he can do that out of the bullpen, he might be a candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.
That campaign, however, is off to a…rocky…start.
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