Baseball Savant says he throws seven different pitches. Paul DePodesta counts six. What do you say, Michael Lorenzen? How expansive is your repertoire?
“It’s big, and you can actually add another one on there that I will bring out this year,” the Rockies’ new right-handed starter said.
Lorenzen, who turned 34 on Jan. 4, officially signed his contract with Colorado on Thursday. The deal guarantees Lorenzen $8 million for the upcoming season, and the club option is worth $9 million in 2027.
According to Lorenzen, he currently throws three different fastballs, two kinds of changeups, a slider, a sweeper, and a curve. That makes eight.
‘He ran toward this challenge’
Impressive, but how will that versatility play at mile-high Coors Field, where scores of pitchers have arrived with big-and-bold plans only to end up being humbled?
“I feel like I own the shapes (of my pitches) … I just know what I’m trying to do, I know what the feel is I’m looking for and the shape I’m trying to create,” he said during a Zoom session with Rockies reporters from the backyard of his Southern California home.
“But, obviously, being in Colorado is going to have its challenges, so I’ll be making my way up there soon to throw a few bullpens and just see exactly how these shapes are going to move,” he continued. “That will give me an idea of how I can use each (pitch). Do I pick three of them? Do I lean on certain pitches more than others when I’m pitching at altitude?”
He hinted that his changeup could be his go-to pitch at Coors.
“I know my changeup will get better,” Lorenzen said. “The fact that that’s my best pitch and I’m going to be able to leverage it even more, that’s a big deal.”
DePodesta, Colorado’s new president of baseball operations, is intrigued by Lorenzen’s ability to play his pitches off one another.
“I would say we’re intrigued by the mix as a whole, because we think there are times where you may have an individual pitch that, by itself, doesn’t necessarily have the best metrics,” DePodesta said. “But by having that pitch, it actually makes the other pitches better because the hitter has to account for that pitch. So I think it’s really about how they all fit together, more so than just sort of one go-to pitch.”
DePodesta also said that Lorenzen is pumped to join the Rockies.
“We didn’t have to convince him of anything; he ran toward this challenge,” DePodesta said. “Michael definitely wanted to pitch here. … I don’t think he’s afraid of anything. This is a challenge that he was actually (eager) to take on.”
The coaching connection
Still, Lorenezen, who has pitched for six different teams in his 11-year career, had to know that he signed on to a team that lost 119 games this past season, and joins a rotation that posted a 6.65 ERA, the worst in history since ERA became an official statistic in 1913. He said that those ugly numbers never gave him pause.
“No, not at all,” he said. “I fought with the Reds all of the time to be a two-way player. I love the challenge. I like trying to make things happen. And it seems like there is a ton of untapped talent on this team.
“You can look at the word ‘problem’ in a negative way, or you can look at the word ‘problem’ from the perspective of opportunity. “That’s always intrigued me about Colorado.”
He was also enticed to come to Colorado because he has close ties with several of the Rockies’ pitching coaches and coordinators, especially new pitching coach Alon Leichman.
“I have known a lot of them for a really long time, and it just seemed like the perfect fit to where we are all going to be on the same page,” Lorenzen said. “I have known Alon since 2017, before he was in pro ball.
“We have kept in touch throughout the years, so when he told me he was interviewing for the job, I was stoked for him. And he mentioned that he was going to try to bring me in if he ended up getting the job.”
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Lorenzen’s last two seasons have been a mixed bag. In 2024, after being traded to Kansas City from Texas, he was excellent, appearing in seven games (six starts) and posting a 1.57 ERA over 28 innings after the trade deadline.
His 2025 season wasn’t nearly as good. He appeared in 27 games, making 26 starts over 141 2/3 innings, putting up a 4.64 ERA. Although he struck out a career-best 8.1 batters per nine innings, he also allowed a career-high 25 home runs.
Lorenzen was selected by Cincinnati in the first round of the 2013 draft out of Cal State Fullerton. He’s a terrific athlete and played 34 games in the outfield for the Reds from 2018-21. In 2018, he hit four home runs and batted .290 in 34 plate appearances.
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