Rockies hope Carson Palmquist becomes strikeout pitcher they need in rotation

Carson Palmquist’s big-league career began with a wicked twist.

Last Wednesday, the lefty starter was called into the office of Triple-A Albuquerque manager Pedro Lopez, who met him with a stone face.

“He said, ‘The good news is you’re getting an extra day of rest,’ “Palmquist recalled Monday before the Rockies hosted the Phillies. “The bad news is you’re going back to Double-A to pitch.’ ”

For a moment, Palmquist was dumbfounded.

“I was, like, really confused,” he said. “I didn’t know what I did that could have been so wrong that I was going backward. I just sat there for a second and looked at him. Then he said, ‘I’m just kidding, you’re going to the big leagues.’ ”

Palmquist, 24, debuted last Friday night at Arizona.

“It was the best day of my life so far, getting to live out your childhood dreams,” he said. “(These are) things that you’ve dreamed about since Little League and tee-ball.”

The box score describes a rocky outing: He pitched four innings in the Rockies’ 8-0 loss to the Diamondbacks, giving up five runs on six hits and a walk. Surprisingly, for a pitcher who arrived with the reputation as a strikeout artist, Palmquist did not strike anybody out.

The Rockies’ rotation, whose 6.14 strikeouts per nine innings is last in the majors, desperately needs someone who can punch out hitters.

While Palmquist didn’t wow anybody in his debut, manager Warren Schaeffer was impressed with the young lefty.

“I thought he was really good,” Schaeffer said. “I thought he was poised. I thought he commanded the fastball, and thought his offspeed stuff was good. I thought he competed. That’s a lot to ask for your first major league game, but I love the poise, and I thought it was a good first one for him.

“He attacked the strike zone, which you don’t always see in a guy’s debut. After the first inning, he told me his legs stopped shaking, he settled in and he started pumping strikes. The more he does that, the better off he’s going to be.”

Palmquist, selected in the second round of the 2022 draft out of the University of Miami, arrived in pro baseball with a predilection for striking out hitters. Over his 246 1/3 minor league innings, he struck out 31.1% of opposing batters. However, as former Rockies manager Bud Black used to say, ‘There’s a walk in there.’ Palmquist walked batters at an 11.2% clip in the minors.

In 70 2/3 Triple-A innings, starting in August last year and pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Palmquist had a 4.84 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate.

Take the lead. On the Rockies’ recent road trip, Schaeffer decided to switch Colorado’s leadoff hitter. He dropped the slumping Brenton Doyle from first in the order to fifth. Left fielder Jordan Beck is now leading off. The reason was twofold. One, Doyle wasn’t comfortable leading off, and two, Beck has been one of Colorado’s most productive hitters for an offense that needs all the productivity it can get.