Rockies eventually learned frustrating Michael Lorenzen reality that Royals already knew

The Kansas City Royals have had their fair share of issues this season and are certainly among the basement-dwellers of MLB this season. However, they're not at the bottom. There's four teams in baseball worse than them and the Colorado Rockies happen to be one of them. No stranger to poor seasons, the Rockies are 50-75 this year with the third-worst offense in MLB by wRC+ standards, a bullpen with the third-highest ERA and more importantly a starting rotation that sits dead-last in ERA.

When playing in the high altitudes of Denver, pitching will always struggle to a degree more so than anywhere else. This has led to a carousel of pitchers coming in and out of Colorado and a former Royals rotation hand found himself as the latest member to be cast out by the Rockies. On Monday, Colorado designated Michael Lorenzen for assignment amid what's been a terrible debut season for him in the Mile High City.

In 115.2 innings across 26 outings this season, Lorenzen was throwing to a 7.08 ERA, 1.88 WHIP and .331 BAA. For context of any pitcher with 100 innings pitched or more, Lorenzen held the worst ERA, WHIP and BAA by a considerable margin.

Last season was not this bad by any means, but it was no picnic for Lorenzen with the Royals in 2025 either. After holding his own following his arrival to the club at the trade deadline in 2024, Lorenzen looked a lot more mediocre at best the following year. In 27 outings with Kansas City in 2025, the veteran right-hander threw to just a 4.64 ERA with an uninspiring 1.33 WHIP and .266 BAA.

What's also glaring is the amount of homers he surrendered. Since converting back to a starter in 2022 with the Angels, Lorenzen has always surrendered more than one homer per nine innings but has taken things up a notch the past two years. This season his HR/9 total was at 1.48 ranks him in the bottom 15 of all starters under that same 100 inning parameter. Last season, despite not pitching in a mountainous region, his HR/9 total with the Royals was actually worse at 1.59.

When pitching in the Rockies organization, the last thing you want to be is a home-run friendly arm and Colorado learned that the hard way with Lorenzen.

Allowing homers isn't only familiar struggle Royals, Rockies saw with Michael Lorenzen

Now, his Baseball Savant page will understandably look bluer this season compared to last considering he pitched in the hitter friendly confines of Coors Field roughly half the time. That being said, there are still some underperforming similarities that stand out between 2025 and 2026.

Last season, Lorenzen was a below-average arm in terms of barrel rate, with a 43rd percentile mark. This season, he's sporting a 20th percentile barrel rate. This is all but a contributing factor to his high home run rate.

Lorenzen's inability to strike hitters out last season was a problem too. He was sporting a 37th percentile K-rate, 33rd percentile whiff rate and 48th percentile chase rate. This season, it's only gotten worse for him in Colorado with strikeout, whiff and chase rates all sitting below the fifth percentile.

And not to mention, his downfall was statistically telegraphed last season. Lorenzen was sporting a 21st percentile xERA and 19th percentile xBA. This season, his expected metrics have fallen into the second and first percentile, respectively.

The Royals have had plenty of issues with their pitching staff, but they've been centered around injuries more than underperformance. It seems hard to believe that Kansas City has been kicking themselves over their decision to let Lorenzen walk this winter.

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