The Colorado Rockies are not a compelling team. They currently sit with a record of 6-28, comfortably in the basement of Major League Baseball while also sitting 17 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. They have a run differential of -89 as well as the fewest home and road wins in the league. Just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Rockies as they flounder and flirt with baseball history for one of the worst seasons of all time.

So, of course, their random waiver wire reliever, Jimmy Herget, is off to a great start to the season.

Claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs over the offseason, the Rockies were simply following a pattern they had followed over the last couple of seasons. The process is simple: select a notable reliever who has had success at some point but recently struggled and was cut by their team. Then, that reliever is slotted inexplicably in the bullpen for cheap and winds up being a stalwart and crucial component of the bullpen before the Rockies decide to trade him or hold on to him for unknown reasons.

Drafted in the sixth round by the Cincinnati Reds in 2015, Herget would make a brief five-game debut with the Reds in 2019, allowing three runs over 6 1/3 relief innings. Following the season, he was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers and delivered a strong performance in the shortened 2020 season, posting a 3.20 ERA in 19 2/3 innings. He was granted free agency after the season and re-upped with the Rangers, spending the majority of the year in Triple-A and appearing in just four games with the big league squad in August. He was released shortly after his appearances and caught on with the Los Angeles Angels, where he got a chance to establish himself.

In three seasons with the Angels, Herget appeared in 112 2/3 innings over 92 games with a 3.28 ERA. Dubbed “The Human Glitch” by media personalities such as Pitching Ninja, Herget’s funky delivery and arm angle made him a reliable, albeit unorthodox, reliever. In 2022, he appeared in 49 games and posted a sparkling 2.48 ERA in 69 innings with 63 strikeouts against 15 walks. He tailed off a bit in 2023 with a 4.66 ERA and failed to make the Angels out of spring training the following year and was designated for assignment at the end of April while still in Triple-A. The Atlanta Braves purchased his contract but he battled injuries in the minors that season and was limited to eight games with the Braves before being claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs in mid-September. He would never appear with the Cubs, being designated for assignment in November, where the Rockies then picked him up.

The Rockies seemed somewhat crowded in the bullpen entering spring training, or rather, it seemed there weren’t many spots up for grabs with the projected roster. Still, Herget quietly earned his keep as he posted a 2.92 ERA in Cactus League play, recording four holds and a save while tallying nine strikeouts against one walk. He entered the season as a middle reliever and the results have been better than anyone could hope for.

In 13 appearances this season, Herget owns a 2.08 ERA in 17 1/3 innings with the Rockies. His workload has fluctuated as the start of the season as progressed. Originally viewed as a single-inning type of player, the Rockies’ rotation struggles and lack of a traditional long reliever have forced manager Bud Black to use his relievers as mult-inning arms. In the vein of Angel Chivilli and Jake Bird, Herget has recorded four or more outs in seven of his last nine appearances.

Looking at his surface-level stats, nothing stands out as to why he is finding success and keeping runs off the board. Walks have always been an issue, and he has allowed free passes at an 11.4% rate this season against a 14.3% strikeout rate. Neither number is particularly good, but even more perplexing is that he has a career-high hard hit rate of 49% as well as a higher-than-normal line drive rate for his career (31.4%) that also matches a below-career average ground ball rate of 31.4%. His flyball rate is at 25.5%, which is close to his career average.

It’s not like Herget is necessarily overpowering hitters with his arsenal of pitches either. Utilizing a three-pitch mix of a slider, sinker, and curveball — none of which are necessarily that impressive for the most part — Herget is finding a way to get outs despite the unastounding amount of blue on his Statcast chart.

Against all odds and all reasoning, Herget has proven to be one of the most effective and dependable arms for the Rockies. It becomes even more impressive considering he has a 2.79 ERA at Coors Field this season with eight strikeouts against just two on the road.

The team is definitely playing a part in Herget’s success. Baseball Reference credits Herget with a 4.98 FIP which calculates his ability to prevent home runs, walks, hit-by-pitches and cause strikeouts. It isolates a pitcher’s ability on the mound when the ball is not in play for the defense to have an impact. So, clearly the Rockies defense is doing a lot of lifting to help Herget out.

It is truly difficult to grasp and pinpoint what it is about Herget that is throwing hitters. His best pitch has been his slider which Statcast credits with a Run Value of 2 which ranks 215th among all pitchers and their pitches. Opponents have a .200 AVG against it with an .240 expected batting average but he has a 20% whiff rate which isn’t all that impressive, but it’s getting the job done for him. The RPM is fairly standard and equal to that of fellow Rockies reliever Jake Bird except Bird gets 7.2 inches of break away from a hitter as opposed to Herget who gets 0.1 inches of break away from a hitter.

There is likely some sort of number or statistic that is making Herget perform as the rate he currently is, but the beauty of baseball is that there doesn’t have to be a definitive answer. Luck certainly plays a huge part of it, and for the baseball world you’ll take that for as long as it can go. It’s unlikely Herget will be able to sustian his current rate of success, but if he can find a way, he could prove to be a nice trade piece for the Rockies or a staple in their bullpen through the 2026 season.