Jimmy Herget’s season looks ordinary until you start pulling it apart.
The ERA says middle relief. The whiffs, strike-throwing, pitch shapes, and post-IL work suggest something more useful. That does not make Herget a hidden star. It makes him a strange, practical bullpen arm with enough deception and control to make the Rockies’ deadline question more complicated than it might look.
Herget does not overwhelm hitters with velocity. He creates discomfort by making different pitches come out of the same unusual window and then move into different lanes.
The pitch-tracking data helps explain how it works. From a flat 5-degree arm angle, Herget’s 85.9 mph slider stays tight, with just 1.6 inches of lateral break. His 77.9 mph sweeper comes from the same look but moves much farther across the plate, with 15.6 inches of horizontal break. Against left-handed hitters, the changeup gives him a third direction, fading 9.6 inches to the arm side at 85.3 mph. He has thrown the changeup 17% of the time against lefties and just 1% of the time against righties.
Right-handed hitters mostly have to separate the tight slider, bigger sweeper, and sinker from the same low-slot look. Left-handed hitters also have to account for the changeup fading the other way. The result is not overpowering, but it is uncomfortable: the ball starts from a similar visual place and then refuses to behave the same way twice.
That still has value, even if the results have backed up from last year.
Herget is still useful for the Rockies
Herget’s 2025 season was one of the few clean bullpen wins for the Rockies. He appeared in 59 games, threw 83.1 innings, struck out 81 batters, and finished with a 2.48 ERA.
His 2026 season has been harder to read, but it is also more encouraging than the surface line suggests.
The full line is mixed, but hardly broken: 19.1 innings, a 4.19 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, 23 strikeouts, and three walks. His whiff rate is up from 26.9% to 31.2%, his strikeout rate has climbed from 23.3% to 28.0%, and his walk rate has dropped from 7.5% to 6.1%.
For context, MLB pitchers this season have a 22.1% strikeout rate and a 9.1% walk rate.
Usually, that is the kind of underlying improvement that points toward a cleaner season. But Herget’s 4.19 ERA is nearly identical to the league average of 4.18, and his 1.40 WHIP sits above the league average of 1.31.
Herget has not gotten the cleaner season suggested by the whiffs and command because the contact has gotten louder. His hard-hit rate has jumped from 39.1% to 45.3%, and his barrel rate has climbed from 7.3% to 11.3%. In other words, he is missing more bats and walking fewer hitters, but the mistakes have carried more damage.
The run prevention is ordinary. The baserunner prevention is a little messier. The strikeout-to-walk shape is still strong.
Herget’s season looks better under the hood
Three outings are doing almost all of the earned-run damage. On April 29 against the Reds, May 3 against Atlanta, and May 8 against Philadelphia, Herget combined to allow nine hits, seven earned runs, one walk, five strikeouts, and two home runs over three innings.
Those three appearances account for seven of his nine earned runs and both home runs he has allowed this season.
| Split | G | IP | H | ER | BB | K | HR | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 |
| Overall | 19 | 19.1 | 24 | 9 | 3 | 23 | 2 | 4.19 | 1.40 | 10.71 | 1.4 | 0.93 |
| Rough outings | 3 | 3.0 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 21.00 | 3.33 | 15.00 | 3.00 | 6.0 |
| All other outings | 16 | 16.1 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 1.10 | 1.04 | 9.92 | 1.10 | 0.00 |
That is not an argument to erase the bad outings. They happened, and relievers are often judged by the innings they cannot contain.
But this has not been a slow leak. It has been a mostly functional season interrupted by one loud stretch.
Across those three rough outings, Herget still had five strikeouts against one walk, including three strikeouts and nine whiffs on 16 swings on April 29 against Cincinnati.
The problem was contact quality and timing. Will Benson’s homer on April 29 left the bat at 103.1 mph. Eli White singled at 101.7 mph on May 3. Bryson Stott hit a 106.3 mph two-run double on May 8. Justin Crawford tied that same game with his first career homer.
The mix was still creating empty swings. The walk rate was still under control. But when the mistakes got hit, they did not stay harmless. For a reliever, three loud innings can reshape an entire season line.
There is also a transaction-log layer to all of this, and it should be handled carefully.
Herget was activated from a paternity/restricted-list stretch on April 27. His three loudest outings came on April 29, May 3, and May 8. He went on the bereavement list May 9, returned May 12, and then landed on the injured list May 14 with a right shoulder impingement.
That does not explain everything. It should not be treated like a decoder ring. We do not know the private details behind every absence, nor should we need to. A paternity-list stint, a bereavement-list stint, and a shoulder issue are not things to flatten into a baseball excuse.
The baseball line says Herget hit a rough stretch. The transaction log suggests life was happening in full around it.
In his first three appearances after returning from the injured list on June 17, Herget looked much more like himself. He threw 3.1 scoreless innings, allowed two hits, walked one, struck out six, and picked up a save.
This has not looked like a reinvention. It has looked like Herget with the damage turned back down.
On June 17 against the Cubs, he allowed two hits, but none of the three balls in play were hit harder than 83 mph. On June 20 against Pittsburgh, he mixed six sweepers, six sliders, and six sinkers over 1.1 scoreless innings. On June 24 against Boston, he tightened the mix even more, leaned on the slider, and struck out two in an 11-pitch save.
Friday night’s loss in Minnesota technically ended the scoreless post-IL run, but it did not change the read much. In his fourth appearance back, Herget entered the bottom of the 10th with the automatic runner already on second and issued an intentional walk. After Royce Lewis fouled off a sinker, Herget yanked a sweeper for a wild pitch, moving the winning run to third and forcing the infield in. On the next pitch, Lewis reached out and rolled a slider off the plate through the drawn-in infield. The contact was not especially hard — 89.3 mph off the bat with a -12 degree launch angle — but it was enough to end the game. Herget was charged with an unearned run and the loss, but it does not tell us nearly as much as the larger post-IL trend.
The Rockies have a real question
That is what makes Herget a real deadline question.
He is striking out more hitters, walking fewer, and still getting whiffs. His rough stretch was loud, but also short and concentrated. Since coming back from the injured list, he has been sharp.
On the Rockies, that creates a real roster question: is Herget more valuable to Colorado on the team, or traded off of it?
He is not a pure rental. Herget is making $1.55 million this season, avoided arbitration for 2026, and can be retained through arbitration again in 2027 before reaching free agency. That gives the Rockies some control and some flexibility.
That is why this is not a “trade him just to trade him” situation. The Rockies still need bullpen innings, and they will need functional relief arms again next year. Herget is affordable, flexible, and experienced.
There are reasons to listen, too. Antonio Senzatela is the more obvious bullpen trade piece, and Brennan Bernardino has left-handed supply-and-demand appeal. But Herget may be one of Colorado’s better practical relief pieces beyond that group: a weird right-hander with strikes, whiffs, role flexibility, and another year of arbitration control.
If the market sees a 4.19 ERA and a useful middle-relief depth arm, the Rockies may be better off keeping him. If another team sees the 31.2% whiff rate, 28.0% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate, concentrated three-outing damage, sharper post-IL return, and extra year of control, the conversation gets more interesting.
Herget is useful enough to trade, but also useful enough not to give away.
For now, the better read is simpler. Jimmy Herget had a loud, messy stretch in the middle of an interrupted season. Outside of that stretch, he has looked much closer to the pitcher who gave the Rockies real value a year ago.
Do not adjust your screens.
The Human Glitch is still working.
Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 6, Albuquerque Isotopes 0
The Salt Lake Bees improved to 41-37, while the Albuquerque Isotopes dropped to 41-38 after being shut out 6-0 at Isotopes Park.
Ryan Miller opened with 2.0 scoreless innings before exiting, and Eiberson Castellano kept Albuquerque in it for a while before the game got away from him. Salt Lake broke through for five runs in the seventh, helped by a throwing error from Richie Martin Jr., and Castellano finished with 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K in the loss.
The Isotopes managed just three hits, went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and left six on base. Conner Capel had two hits, Adael Amador added a single, Jordan Beck went 0-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, and Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Albuquerque turned three double plays, but the offense never found a way back into the game.
The Hartford Yard Goats improved to 41-31 with a late 4-3 comeback win over the Portland Sea Dogs, who fell to 37-35.
Hartford trailed 3-1 after Portland built its offense around a pair of solo homers, but the Yard Goats answered with two runs in the seventh and the go-ahead run in the eighth. Zach Kokoska delivered the key hit, a two-run single in the seventh to tie the game. Kokoska finished 2-for-2 with a double, a walk and 2 RBI, pushing his season line to .290 with a .932 OPS and 30 RBI.
Dyan Jorge helped set up the winner in the eighth, singling, moving to second on an error, advancing to third on a wild pitch, and scoring on an Andy Perez sacrifice fly. Jorge went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Perez added his 28th RBI of the season.
Connor Staine gave Hartford length, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits over 7.0 innings with 4 strikeouts, bringing his ERA to 4.06. Fidel Ulloa was sharp behind him, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings with 2 strikeouts to earn the win and lower his ERA to 2.63.
The Spokane Indians improved to 32-41 with a 3-2 win over the Tri-City Dust Devils, who fell to 39-34.
Tri-City jumped ahead in the first on a two-run homer from Adrian Placencia, his third of the season, but Spokane chipped away from there. Jacob Hinderleider tripled in the third and later scored, Jacob Humphrey tied the game with his ninth double of the season in the fourth, and Ethan Hedges (No. 29 PuRP) supplied the difference with a solo homer in the sixth, his eighth of the year. Hedges finished 2-for-4 with the homer, while Jack O’Dowd went 2-for-4 and is now hitting .364 with a 1.129 OPS.
Everett Catlett settled in after the early damage, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits over 7.0 innings with 6 strikeouts, improving to 5-4 with a 4.63 ERA. Hunter Mann handled the final two innings, allowing just one hit with 2 strikeouts to earn his third save and bring his ERA to 4.99. Spokane went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, but the pitching staff held Tri-City scoreless after the first inning.
The Fresno Grizzlies improved to 40-33 with a 10-4 win over the Lake Elsinore Storm, who fell to 40-33.
Fresno built an early lead and kept adding on, scoring twice in the second, twice in the fourth, twice in the sixth, three times in the seventh and once more in the ninth. Kyle Fossum led the way, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, 2 RBI and a hit-by-pitch, raising his season line to .285 with an .868 OPS. Wilder Dalis (No. 24 PuRP) also had a big night, finishing 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored, while Jesus Freitez went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.
Tanner Thach opened the scoring with his 22nd double of the season and finished 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, pushing his OPS to .959. Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) added his seventh triple of the year, and Carlos Renzullo drove in a run while adding his sixth stolen base.
Ethan Cole gave Fresno a strong start, allowing just 1 unearned run on 2 hits over 6.0 innings with 4 strikeouts, improving to 4-5 with a 5.45 ERA. Manuel Olivares allowed three runs over the final three innings but still earned his third save. Fresno finished with 13 hits and went 5-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
Weekly Pebble Report: Ethan Hedges got the hard part out of the way | purplerow.com
In this week’s Weekly Pebble Report, Eli Whitney checks in on Ethan Hedges (No. 29 PuRP), Colorado’s 2025 third-round pick who has turned last year’s rough Spokane introduction into something useful. Hedges is still settling into his first full pro season, but the early lesson is encouraging: he already met the slump, learned from it, and looks more like the polished USC bat the Rockies drafted. The report also runs through a busy week across the system, including big performances from Nic Kent, Conner Capel, Jack O’Dowd, Tanner Thach, and more.
Ryan Boman at Sports Illustrated looks at Brody Brecht’s (No. 3 PuRP) path toward becoming a real part of the Rockies’ rotation picture. Brecht is still more upside than finished product, but the early shape is easy to see: premium velocity, big strikeout totals, and enough starter intrigue to make his command the developmental question that matters most. If the control keeps moving forward, could Colorado have one of its more fascinating young arms pushing toward Denver in 2027?
MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Brendan Samson take their latest run through the 2026 mock draft, and the Rockies land on a familiar draft lane at No. 10: a college outfielder. This time it is LSU’s Derek Curiel, with Callis noting that Colorado appears to be looking strongly at college hitters.
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