Purple Row After Dark: One Stone Too Many?
The Rockies have been loyal to their new pitching philosophy — with tremendous early-season results — but not every experiment looks equally viable.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 18: Pitcher, Tanner Gordon stands for a photo during media day at spring training for the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 18, 2026. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) | Denver Post via Getty Images The Rockies’ new pitching philosophy is no longer a secret. They promised to leave no stone unturned, and one month in, the results have been genuinely impressive.
Depending on your preferred WAR metric, Colorado has had one of baseball’s most valuable pitching staffs — at altitude, no less. That story has been covered well, including here at Purple Row. So here’s the next question: When does experimentation become refinement?
I started thinking about that while watching Tanner Gordon on Tuesday. The shapes of his fastball, changeup and sinker all looked…. similar.
So, naturally, I spent my Tuesday night in a Baseball Savant rabbit hole. While looking at Gordon’s movement profile, the arm angle caught my eye: He is up from 43° last year to 46° this year . The slot and the sinker That arm-angle change makes the curveball experiment logical.