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Rockies' Bernardino Was Bright Spot Among Poor Pitching
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- Rockies' Bernardino Was Bright Spot Among Poor Pitching
(© Matt Marton-Imagn Images)
Even though the Colorado Rockies just finished up logging their fourth straight season of more than 100 losses, there are reasons to be excited about the future.
Chief among those reasons are an exciting young core of players, headlined by All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman , and a strong offense that finished in the top five in multiple categories this season. However, pitching is the Rockies' Achilles' heel, and they cannot consistently win baseball games until the staff is overhauled.
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However, that does not mean everyone who stepped on the mound for Colorado this season was bad. In fact, left-hander Brennan Bernardino had a productive year.
Reaching career-high marks
Bernardino, 34, joined players such as Jake McCarthy and Troy Johnston as the newcomers to the organization this season, and like McCarthy and Johnston, Bernardino had a productive year.
Bernardino appeared in 74 games, two of which were starts, and posted a 4-3 record with a career-best 2.81 ERA over 64 innings of work. His 1.16 WHIP was also the best he had achieved in a season since making his MLB debut on July 31, 2022.
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For many pitchers on the Rockies' roster, ERA's north of 5.00 and losing records were common, but that was not the case for Bernardino. When his numbers are broken down further, it is easy to see why he has been productive.
According to Bernardino's Baseball Savant profile, his average exit velocity sits in the 84th percentile. His walk percentage is in the 92nd percentile, his barrel percentage is in the 82nd percentile, and his strongest metric of all is hard-hit percentage, which is in the 95th percentile.
Bernardino is also capable of using six pitches, with a sinker being his first choice at a 42% usage rate. Bernardino signed a one-year deal worth $925,000 with the Rockies to avoid arbitration, and given the type of production he provided at that price point, Colorado should make it a priority to retain him.
It is not going to be easy to overhaul the pitching staff, so whatever positive production the Rockies get should be retained.
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President of baseball operations Paul DePodesta has made the right decisions to maintain an upward trajectory for the franchise in his first year at the helm. For example, when speculation was running rampant ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline about the franchise moving Goodman, DePodesta chose to retain him.
No matter how incremental the steps, they are steps nonetheless, and Bernardino can be a positive asset in that process.
