“Gallen and Kelly, the rest are just smelly…”
I think it’s fair to say that Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez can’t get here quickly enough. Over six starts so far, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly have been every bit as good as we expected or hoped, going 4-0 with a combined ERA of 2.27. Everyone else in the rotation though? Across seven starts, Brandon Pfaadt, Tommy Henry and Ryne Nelson have just one win between them, three losses and an ERA of 6.57, in no small part due to eight home-runs allowed over 38.1 innings. While nobody expected them to be up there alongside Gallen and Kelly, there were hopes that the strides Pfaadt showed in the post-season last year, would be able to carry forward. That hasn’t happened so far.
So far, the rotation overall has been kind of middle of the pack: 17th in the majors by FIP, 19th by ERA, But right now, it feels like there can be few teams with such a gulf between the top and bottom halves of their rotation. Henry is almost the only Arizona starting pitcher whose individual ERA is within two runs of the team figure of 4.50 (Pfaadt just squeaks in at 6.48). That isn’t something which can be sustained on a team with playoff hopes, and even if there are reinforcements on the horizon – hopefully, as soon as next Friday – that will still leave questionmarks over two of the spots, with Rodriguez’s recovery potentially back to square one for now.