The Colorado Rockies haven’t always been known for their pitching, mainly due to playing their home games at Coors Field. Lurking through the minors, however, are a few exciting arms currently mowing through the competition. One such exciting prospect for the Rockies is left-hander Carson Palmquist, who is dominating at Double-A in the Eastern League with the Hartford Yard Goats.
A former third-round pick out of the University of Miami (Florida), Palmquist immediately stands out on the mound for his funky delivery, including a lower arm slot nearly coming in from the side. He doesn’t throw the hardest, sitting around 90 mph, but the arm slot adds an additional amount of deception and creates a lot of horizontal movement, making it hard for batters to make solid contact. Along with the fastball, he also throws a slider, curveball, and change-up, all tunneling well off of the fastball due to the arm angle.
Rockies Prospect Carson Palmquist Dominating Double-A
Carson Palmquist’s performance this season has been nothing short of impressive. He has maintained a 1.88 ERA in eight starts and recorded a staggering 64 strikeouts in just 44 innings pitched. Despite a slightly high walk rate, his history as a capable strike-thrower suggests he has the potential to improve.
Carson Palmquist, the @Rockies‘ No. 14 prospect, lowers his ERA to 1.84 with a stellar outing for @GoYardGoats:
6 IP
2 H
0 R
2 BB
12 K (career high) pic.twitter.com/5KFuS8hhxL— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 19, 2024
His latest outing on Sunday saw him strike out 12 batters in six shutout innings against the New Hampshire Rumble Ponies. The 64 strikeouts he has recorded is the third most in the minors through the games on Sunday.
Palmquist doesn’t get many hitters to chase out of the zone (15.5% out-of-zone swing rate) but is still able to generate an overall whiff rate of 35.9%. That’s mainly because hitters only manage an in-zone contact rate of 66.2%. He picked up 20 whiffs on April 13 and has averaged around 14 per start or 2.5 per inning.
There is always a concern about pitchers with Palmquist’s delivery, whether it be consistency in the zone or health-wise. He’s been able to avoid both to this point and has been excelling at the first real test most prospects will encounter in Double-A.
Along with Chase Dollander and Sean Sullivan, the Rockies have a very intriguing group of pitching prospects, all doing well this season. Colorado also has some hitting prospects either breaking in with the major league team or very close, but they could use a boost from a pitching staff among the bottom in baseball.
Photo Credit: © Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
