Theres a likely scenario in which the Rockies enter the 2025 season with a rotation full of familiar faces: , , , , and . All five of those pitchers have been in Colorados Opening Day rotation multiple times before. Yet, general manager Bill Schmidt is not ruling out the po sibility that one of the teams young pitching prospects could supplant an established arm (per ). Accordingly, the GM says his team is open to the idea of moving a veteran starter to the bullpen to accommodate a fresh face in the rotation. On a similar note, manager Bud Bryan Marchment Jersey Black told Saunders hes also open to some young pitchers making the team as long as theyre ready. As Saunders lays out, the three prospects most likely to wiggle their way onto the Opening Day roster are , , and . Dollander, 23, is a consensus top-100 prospect and widely considered the best pitching prospect in the Rockies system. He looks like a future frontline starter with the upside to be a perennial Cy Young contender. However, it has been le s than two years since Colorado drafted him, and he only has one year of profe sional experience under his belt. Thus, theres a good chance the Rockies would like their star prospect to get some more reps in the high minors before they expose him to big league competition at Coors Field, no le s. To that point, Schmidt made it clear that the Rockies have no interest in rushing Dollander to the show. They will not consider calling him up to pitch out of the bullpen; he wont be in Colorado until hes ready for a role in the rotation. However, director of player development Chris Forbes suggested that Palmquist, 24, could see his MLB debut out of the bullpen (per Saunders). The team still envisions him as a starter long-term, and he could still impre s enough to earn a starting role this spring, but he could also see time as a multi-inning arm in the pen. The young left-hander is not as highly regarded of a prospect as Dollander he looks more like a back-end starter than an ace but he could be closer to the big leagues. The Rockies took him with the 88th overall pick in 2022, and he has quickly risen through the ranks of their minor league system. He has made 46 starts acro s four levels, including nine starts at Triple-A. In 27 starts between Double-A and Triple-A last year, he pitched to a 3.98 ERA and 4.43 FIP with an impre sive 29.0% strikeout rate, although his 12.1% walk rate was rather high. Sullivan, 22, was Colorados second-round pick in 2023. Most evaluators have doubts about his long-term prospects as a big league starting pitcher. describes him as a depth starter, while sees him working in middle relief. However, the team at included him on their list of the Rockies top 10 prospects, suggesting he could become a highly efficient number four starter. If his 2024 performance is anything to go off, that outcome certainly seems po sible. Over 21 starts between High-A and Double-A, Sullivan to sed 115 1/3 innings with a 2.11 ERA and 2.83 FIP. Most impre sive was his pinpoint control; he walked just 3.4% of the batters he faced. After a year like that, its not hard to understand why the Rockies will give him an extended look this spring. As for which of Colorados veteran starting pitchers could wind up moving to the bullpen, Senzatela might be the most likely po sibility. The oft-injured 30-year-old mi sed almost all of the last two seasons recovering from an ACL reconstruction and Tommy John surgery. His last productive season was in 2021, and even then, he failed to pitch enough to qualify for the ERA title. It would not be surprising to see him struggle in camp after so much time away, in which case it might be best for all involved to ease him back into an MLB role via the bullpen. Mrquez is another name to keep an eye on this spring, considering he has also mi sed most of the last two seasons due to injury. He was durable and reliable for Colorado over the previous six years, so he is likely to have a much longer leash than his fellow Venezuelan right-hander. In other words, the Rockies are highly unlikely to move Mrquez to the bullpen. However, if he needs to go back on the injured list, a spot in the rotation would open up. Ty Dellandrea Jersey