Proper-hander Jeff Criswell is ready to bear Tommy John surgical procedure, per an announcement from the Rockies. Criswell will miss your entire 2025 season, and the timing of the damage places not less than the start of his 2026 season unsure as properly.
Criswell, 26 subsequent week, made his huge league debut with the Rockies simply final season. A second-round choose by the Athletics within the 2020 draft, Criswell was traded to the Rockies in December 2022 in a deal that introduced reliever Chad Smith to Oakland. On the time, Criswell was a beginning pitcher, however the right-hander struggled badly in his first season with the Rockies on the Triple-A degree and was torched to the tune of a 7.51 ERA in 121 innings of labor. That led the Rockies to maneuver him to the bullpen for 2024, and the outcomes had been combined however largely trended constructive.
Criswell’s high degree manufacturing numbers at Triple-A final 12 months remained unimpressive, even after his transfer to the bullpen. He surrendered an unsightly 6.24 ERA in 57 2/3 innings of labor with the membership’s Albuquerque affiliate, however a glance beneath the hood reveals a unbelievable 30% strikeout fee in opposition to a middling however not unmanageable 10.1% stroll fee. That largely translated over to his 19 2/3 innings of labor within the majors, solely with a lot better outcomes. On the huge league degree final 12 months, Criswell punched out 31% of opponents whereas strolling 10.3%, leaving him with a sterling 2.75 ERA throughout 13 appearances.
The fitting-hander’s greatest bugaboo final 12 months, each within the majors and minors, was the house run ball. Criswell allowed greater than two house runs per 9 innings within the minor leagues final 12 months, and even in Colorado he surrendered 4 homers in his aforementioned 19 2/3 frames of labor. That 23.5% house run to fly ball ratio is probably unsustainable and will result in constructive regression sooner or later, however a hefty 12% barrel fee leaves loads of room for concern that Criswell’s extra homer-happy nature could possibly be a matter of efficiency relatively than purely luck-based.
Even with these query marks, Criswell appeared prone to be strongly in consideration for a bullpen job with the Rockies this 12 months, significantly after their resolution to position right-hander Justin Lawrence on waivers yesterday. These plans are scuttled now, nonetheless, and Criswell will as an alternative return to motion in some unspecified time in the future within the 2026 marketing campaign and look to choose up the place he left off in 2024. Within the meantime, the membership should flip to different choices within the bullpen similar to Angel Chivilli, Luis Peralta, and Jake Chicken.
