The Rockies announced Thursday that right-hander Bradley Blalock has been designated for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to newly signed righty Michael Lorenzen, whose previously reported one-year contract (with a 2027 club option) is now official.
Blalock has seen major league time in each of the past two seasons, totaling a combined 89 1/3 innings between the Rockies and the Brewers. The 25-year-old has been hit hard, yielding a grisly 8.16 ERA with nearly as many walks (10.2%) as strikeouts (11.1%) during that time. He’s worked primarily as a starter but hasn’t missed nearly enough bats and has been far too prone to the long ball (2.12 HR/9).
Those struggles for Blalock extend to the upper minors. He also has a career ERA north of 8.00 in Triple-A, though the vast majority of his time there came with the Rockies’ top affiliate in an exorbitantly hitter-friendly Albuquerque/Pacific Coast League setting this season. Blalock posted a decent 4.36 ERA in two partial seasons of Double-A work and had sub-4.00 ERAs with above-average strikeout rates at both High-A and Low-A earlier in his professional career.
Blalock saw his average fastball jump from 93.5 mph in 2024 to 94.6 mph in 2025. He pairs that pitch with a slider, splitter, curveball and cutter (in order of usage rate), but his splitter was the only one of those offerings to grade out as an above-average pitch this season.
The Rockies will have five days to either trade Blalock or place him on outright waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours. Within the next week, he’ll know whether he’s been picked up by another team or cleared waivers and been assigned outright to the Rockies’ Triple-A squad. Blalock does have a minor league option remaining and a decent track record prior to his time in the Rockies organization. It’s possible that a team with 40-man space to spare could take a chance on him as a possible swingman, but Blalock’s recent struggles should give the Rockies a good chance to pass him through waivers and retain him as non-roster depth.