Welcome to the 2025 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we look back at each player to determine playing time for the Rockies in 2025. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizational principle derived from WAR (rWAR) from Baseball Reference. It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll start with the player with the lowest rWAR and end with the player with the highest.
No. 46, Carson Palmquist (-0.8 rWAR)
When starting pitcher Ryan Feltner was sidelined in May with back spasms, the Rockies turned to tricky left-handed pitcher Carson Palmquist to make one of the season’s many big league debuts.
Palmquist – who turns 25 this week – was a dominant reliever in his first two seasons at the University of Miami before moving into the rotation during his junior year. He ultimately had a 2.63 career ERA with the Hurricanes, over 49 appearances and 16 starts with 208 strikeouts. The Rockies selected him in the third round of the 2022 draft.
Palmquist made rapid progress in the farm system, working with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes toward the end of the 2024 season and starting there in 2025. He was ranked No. 9 on Purple Row’s preseason prospect lists.
In his first seven starts with the Isotopes this season, he struck out 45 batters with a 3.82 ERA over 35 1/3 innings of work. After looking calm and comfortable in the hitter-friendly PCL, he seemed an ideal candidate to add to a struggling Rockies rotation amid a historically poor start.
Palmquist was called up to start on May 16 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, the outing did not go as planned. He gave up five earned runs on six hits with a walk over four innings and failed to record a strikeout.
However, Palmquist didn’t let the tough performance take away from how special his debut was for him.
“I mean, I’ve been saying it since it happened,” Palmquist said after the game. “It was the best day of my life so far. Just being able to live out your childhood dream that you’ve been dreaming about since you first started playing baseball, Little League, Tee-ball, and it was just the dream come true, to stand out and take it all in and get started as a pitcher.”
He also felt confident that he belonged and that his pitches – especially his off-speed arsenal – would work at the big league level.
“It was just seeing the off-speed come by and them making bad swings on the off-speed pitches, and knowing that this is going to work here and it’s still going to come out the same way it did at the other levels,” Palmquist told Purple Row. “Just fill in the right places and get out.”
Palmquist was harassed by the Philadelphia Phillies in his next start, giving up seven runs (six earned) on ten hits. He recorded his first two strikeouts in the big league, but walked four and gave up two homeruns.
His next two starts were two of the best of his young career. Against the Chicago Cubs, he gave up just two earned runs on three hits over five innings, and against the New York Mets he recorded a career-high eight strikeouts.
Unfortunately, Palmquist was never really able to find or maintain a rhythm. In his last four big league starts – including his eight-strikeout game against the Mets – Palmquist has failed to get through five innings and has given up at least one home run. He gave up a total of six home runs in those 17 1/3 innings of work.
The Rockies optioned Palmquist back to Triple-A Albuquerque in late June, where he resumed solid work in the Isotopes rotation. However, general manager Bill Schmidt made the decision to move him to the bullpen permanently after the All-Star break.
Palmquist’s first minor league bullpen appearance went well. He threw two hitless, scoreless innings and struckout four batters. His next outing went less well. In 1 1/3 innings, he gave up four earned runs on four hits, including a home run. Luckily, he recovered and pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 inning his next time out.
The Rockies recalled Palmquist to the big league roster in early August and he struggled mightily. In two appearances and 3 2/3 innings of relief, he gave up eight earned runs on ten hits – two of which were home runs – and walked seven batters to go with his five strikeouts.
He continued to wrestle after being optioned back to Triple-A. In his next eight appearances out of the bullpen, he posted an ERA of 11.81 over 10 2/3 innings with 11 walks and 18 strikeouts.
Palmquist’s biggest problem this season has been his fastball. With an average speed of just 90.2 MPH this season, the field is largely uncompetitive unless it is perfect. Relying on guile and a low arm slot, the pitch is at its best when it is at the top of the strike zone to set up its arsenal of breaking throws.
When Palmquist wasn’t perfect with his fastball — which was often the case — he was torn down. Opposing batters hit .397 against with a .781 slugging percentage. Seven of the ten home runs Palmquist gave up came on the fastball.
However, Palmquist (No. 17 PuRP) is still young and shows quite a bit of promise. He has an excellent slider that was effective against Major League hitters with a 33.7% whiff rate and a promising changeup. He also found a groove out of Albuquerque’s bullpen to end the season. He is scoreless in his last five outings, giving up five hits in 8 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and only three walks.
Palmquist finished the season with an 8.91 ERA over 34 1/3 big league innings, striking out 27 batters and walking 25 over nine appearances – seven of which were starts. In Triple-A, he posted a much less unsightly 4.64 ERA over 77 2/3 innings, striking out 94 batters and walking 42 in 26 appearances, ten of which were starts.
Although Carson Palmquist’s rookie debut didn’t go as planned, he still has an opportunity to carve out a role for himself in the organization’s future. With Bill Schmidt gone, we don’t know if his move to the bullpen will be permanent, but due to his pitching mix, it might be the best spot for him. If he stays in the bullpen, he will likely get plenty of opportunities next season.
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