The education of Rockies rookie pitcher Chase Dollander: “Struggles now will pay off down the line” ...Middle East

Chase Dollander sat in solitude in the Rockies dugout Wednesday night, lost in thought, staring out at the diamond.

Out of sync from the beginning of his start, the rookie right-hander squandered a lead, giving up six runs on five hits and three walks. He was pulled with no outs in the fourth inning after walking two and hitting a batter.

To add insult to his lousy evening, the Rockies lost 8-6 to the Tigers in 10 innings, tumbling to 6-29 in a season that’s on track to be the worst in franchise history.

Dollander said afterward that he was not discouraged, “just frustrated.”

It was another hard lesson in a big-league education that has been tougher than many expected.

The next morning, Dollander was in a reflective mood. He might not like the early results, but said he came in prepared for the hard knocks of big-league baseball.

Asked if it’s been a tougher road than expected, he replied, “No. I felt like I was prepared, and I still am. I am just going through a little thing right now. But it’s nothing to worry about. I’m definitely going to come out of it on the other side. It’s going to be fine this year, I promise you that.”

After six big-league starts, however, Dollander’s bottom line is ugly.

The 23-year-old has a 7.71 ERA, 1.643 WHIP and has served up eight home runs. By comparison, lefty Kyle Freeland posted a 2.65 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP with one home run over the first six starts of his 2017 debut season.

But Dollander has experienced success, too. In Colorado’s 2-1 win over the Braves on April 30 at Coors Field, he allowed just two singles, struck out four and walked three over 5 2/3 innings. He held his own against Braves left-hander Chris Sale, the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner.

Dollander helped Colorado snap an eight-game losing streak, embracing the role of stopper.

“One-hundred percent,” said Dollander, who left the game with two outs in the sixth inning due to a bloody, cracked fingernail on the middle finger of his pitching hand. “I prepared a lot for this start, knowing I had to give the team a good few innings.”

But his next start, mirroring the up-and-down nature of Dollander’s rookie year, was a different story on Wednesday.

Manager Bud Black and pitching coach Darryl Scott said that his mechanics were slightly off and that Dollander was rushing his delivery.

Dollander offered his own explanation for his poor performance.

“I definitely beat myself, more than anything,” he said. “I lost my attack mode when I got a little frustrated with how things were going. I don’t feel like they hit the ball that hard, I just beat myself.”

Dollander, the ninth overall pick of the 2023 draft, arrived in Colorado with mile-high expectations. Farm director Chris Forbes said the Rockies were building a “top-of-the-rotation guy.”

Dollander’s talent tantalizes. In his big-league debut on April 6 vs. the Athletics, he unleashed a 99.3 mph fastball, the fastest pitch thrown by a Rockies starter since German Marquez’s 99.5 mph heater on Aug. 17, 2022. In Dollander’s start against Washington on April 19, his fastball topped out at 100.1 mph, the fastest pitch by a Rockies starter in the Statcast Era (since 2015).

The Tennessee product employs a four-pitch mix — four-seam fastball, cutter, curve and changeup — that gives him the best overall stuff on the Rockies staff. He can blow a hitter away or twist them like a pretzel with his breaking ball — but only if he properly locates his pitchers.

His 13 walks were tied for the most on the team entering Colorado’s weekend series against the Padres.

“What Chase has shown is the ability to get out of trouble, with a strikeout,” Black said. “He’s got strikeout stuff. But Chase is realizing now that the ability to throw strikes is important. It’s hard to work from behind in the count — consistently.

“He’s realized that the location of the fastball is more imperative in the big leagues. You can get away with fastball misses in the minors, but you don’t get away with it up here. That’s the thing that, more than anything, he’s quickly learning.”

Of the eight home runs Dollander has given up, seven have come on four-seam fastballs. The other homer came off his cutter.

Right-hander Ryan Feltner, 28, currently on the injured list with a back strain, has become Dollander’s confidant. The two frequently discuss pitching strategy, mechanics and philosophy. Feltner’s a huge fan, but understands that Dollander is still relatively raw.

“Everybody knows he’s going to have a long career, and everybody knows he’s got great stuff,” Feltner said. “And I think everybody believes in him as well.

“But for Chase, there are little intricacies to the game that don’t show up in the minor leagues. Things like knowing what the hitter might be looking for, knowing what kind of hitter they are.”

Failure was one of Feltner’s best teachers.

Through his first 21 career starts, the right-hander was 4-10 with a 6.37 ERA. His ERA ranked as the fourth-highest in franchise history through a pitcher’s first 21 starts. Feltner missed the majority of the 2023 season after suffering a fractured skull on May 13 when he was hit in the head by a comebacker to the mound.

He yo-yoed between success and failure until he finally discovered a winning formula in the second half of last season when he posted a 2.98 ERA over his final 15 starts.

One of the most important lessons he learned was to stay on the attack. He’s drilled that mantra into Dollander.

“I’ve told him to be aggressive in the zone early because his stuff is plenty good enough,” Feltner said. “There are times when he gets a little bit too caught up with trying to be too perfect with location. He doesn’t have to be. I have made that mistake, time and time again. He’ll learn that quickly.”

Ask Dollander about things he’s learned since his debut, and he ticks off a list.

“I’ve learned that I have to set up hitters in order to strike them out,” he said. “I also know I have to feel comfortable throwing all of my pitches in all counts. I’m learning that when I get behind in the count, I can’t just try to blow the ball past guys with my heater, like I did in the minors.

“It’s a matter of learning how to use my pitches to the best of my ability and be able to execute on a day-to-day basis.”

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Surprisingly, perhaps, Dollander says he welcomes the hard knocks.

“It’s about getting comfortable being uncomfortable, if that makes sense,” he said. “I’m grateful for all of the struggles. I’m in a good place with it. I think it’s going to make me a better pitcher down the line. I’d rather go through it now than later in my career.”

As impressed as Feltner is by Dollander’s pitching prowess, it’s the rookie’s attitude that blows him away.

“He has a spectacular balance between caring a lot and not letting it affect him,” Feltner. “He’ll get beat up a little bit by a bad start, because he cares. But he flushes very quick and he’s on to the next game. He does that better than I did as a rookie, so I’m learning from him as well.”

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