Around 3 or 4 weeks ago, I read a post on X. It’s a post about German Marquez, who spent 10 years with the Rockies. Marquez was the ace of the Rockies. However, this year, he’s going to pitch for the Padres. Marquez inked a one-year deal with the Padres in February. It will be surely interesting to see how well he will pitch in the 2026 season after leaving Coors Field.
Nonetheless, pitching for 10 years isn’t easy. Pitching for the Rockies is quite difficult because you need to pitch at Coors Field frequently. After reading the post, I began to think about Marquez’s career with the Rockies. How important was he in franchise history?
To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.
Firstly, let’s look at wins. Jorge De La Rosa pitched for the Rockies from 2008 to 2016. In those 9 seasons, he earned 86 wins, leading the Rockies. Aaron Cook pitched for the Rockies from 2002 to 2011 and he got 72 wins in those 10 seasons. German Marquez made his MLB debut in 2016. From 2016 to 2025, he got 68 wins for the Rockies. Also, Kyle Freeland now has 65 wins as a Rockie. Freeland made his MLB debut in 2017 and he’s still with the Rockies.
Moreover, let’s see which pitchers ate more innings. Aaron Cook threw 1312.1 innings for the Rockies. In particular, he tossed 200+ innings in 2006 and 2008 each. So far, Kyle Freeland has tossed 1260.1 innings for the Rockies and in 2018, he threw 200+ innings. German Marquez threw 1146.1 innings for the Rockies in 10 seasons. Nonetheless, he never reached 200 innings in a single season. Additionally, Jorge De La Rosa and Jeff Francis are the other 2 pitchers who tossed more than 1000 innings for the Rockies.
Furthermore, let’s look at the number of strikeouts. German Marquez is now the only pitcher who threw more than 1000 strikeouts as a Rockie. In particular, he struck out 230 batters over 196 innings in 2018. Jorge De La Rosa threw 985 strikeouts while playing for the Rockies. And Kyle Freeland now has 944 strikeouts in his career. Nonetheless, he has never reached 200 strikeouts in a single season thus far in his career. Jon Gray pitched for the Rockies from 2015 to 2021 and he struck out 849 batters.
Finally, let’s look at games started. Kyle Freeland has made 231 starts for the Rockies and he's the leader in games started. There are 3 seasons that he made 30+ starts for the Rockies. Aaron Cook made 206 starts and he is the second in games started in franchise history. German Marquez made 200 starts for the Rockies and is tied for 3rd most games started. There are 3 times that Marquez made 30+ starts for the Rockies in a single season. Jorge De La Rosa also made 200 starts for the Rockies. Jeff Francis made 185 starts for the Rockies. Hence, in the Rockies franchise history, there are 4 pitchers who made at least 200 starts for the team.
Looking back at German Marquez’s career with the Rockies, he threw 1146.1 innings with a 4.67 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He also struck out 1069 batters. Those numbers aren’t so impressive. Nevertheless, he pitched for the Rockies and had been a reliable starter. He surely contributed to the Rockies as he’s at the top of the leaderboard on several pitching categories. Well, he will pitch for the Padres in 2026. Nonetheless, as we can see, Kyle Freeland is on the list as well. The 2026 season will be Freeland’s 10th season with the Rockies. As German Marquez spent 10 seasons with the Rockies, it will be interesting to see if Kyle Freeland will surpass Marquez in some pitching categories after spending 10 seasons with the Rockies.
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