The Quality Start: A stat that reveals a lot about the Rockies

Fewest team Quality Starts by season since 2010

Through 110 games, the Rockies have 38 total Quality Starts (games in which the starting pitcher goes at least 6 innings and gives up 3 or fewer runs), the lowest in all of baseball, trailing the MLB's current basement dwelling Phillies by 6. Although we are in an era of ignoring Wins and ERAs in favor of xFIPs and wOBAs, the fact that this would be the Rockies' 5th straight year with the fewest Quality Starts in the National League summarizes their abysmal pitching this decade.

If they keep up their current pace, the Rockies will have the second fewest Quality Starts by a team since the 2010 season with 56. Of course, this is still 29 more QSs than the shockingly bad 2012 Rockies (who were hilariously led by Rex Brothers in both wins, with 8, and strikeouts, with 83... more on this later in the week).

Rockies yearly Quality Starts since 2000. *=Projection as
of August 11th, 2015.

One might be tempted to blame their consistent last place ranking on the 81 games a year they play at the best hitters park in the league. Although logical, this is easily refuted by looking at their end of year rank in the statistic for the previous decade. Although near the bottom more often than not, the Rockies were never among the 3 teams with the fewest Quality Starts from 2000-2010; they even finished in the top half of the league three times during that stretch. Since 2011, the Rockies have finished in the bottom 3 every year. Clearly the team has been capable of accumulating a league average number of Quality Starts in recent years, and something systematic beyond the altitude and bad injury luck is going on.

Top 10 Win Percentage in Quality Starts, 2011-2015

Additionally, the Rockies are one of the worst teams in baseball at taking advantage of their pitchers' quality starts. Since 2011, the Rockies have won 65% of their games in which their pitcher gave them a Quality Start, good for the 23rd best in baseball. Absolute Quality Start numbers may be misleading to look at, especially with a team like the Rockies and their embarrassing 2012 numbers, but win percentage in Quality Starts, a number independent of the total Quality Starts a team gets, would likely reveal a combination of which teams perform the best in low scoring games and which have the most reliable bullpen in low-scoring, close games. 

Bottom 10 Win Percentage in Quality Starts, 2011-2015

Naturally, the top 10 from 2011-2015 in QS win percentage are among the teams that have had the most consistent success over that stretch. So, although it is easy for the Rockies to blame their horrible pitching the last 5 years on altitude and bad luck, there remains a clear systematic issue with the pitching all the way through the rotation and bullpen.