Michael Lorenzen loves to solve problems.

Calling Coors Field home next season will give the Rockies’ new right-handed starting pitcher the chance to succeed when pitching at elevation, one of the toughest riddles to solve in all of baseball.

“You can look at the word ‘problem’ in a negative way, or you can look at the word ‘problem’ from the perspective of opportunity,” Lorenzen said Tuesday in a conference call with Denver media. “That’s always intrigued me about Colorado.”

The Rockies signed Lorenzen to a one-year deal that includes a club option for 2027. The 34-year-old hurler has a career 4.08 ERA and 826 strikeouts across 996.0 innings with six franchises, including the Kansas City Royals, where he pitched for a full season after being traded there during the 2024 campaign by the Texas Rangers. During his time with the Royals, he posted a 9-11 record with a 4.12 ERA (170.1 IP, 78 ER) over 34 outings, including 32 starts.

While some pitchers avoid the prospect of making Denver home, Lorenzen called Coors Field “a special place” and said the idea of turning around a franchise that has posted triple-digit losses in three consecutive seasons was intriguing.

“I didn’t have to be sold to go there,” Lorenzen said. “I love being able to play in the NL West and love everything about the facilities. It’s a great stadium. The fans show up and just to be able to win in a place like that and be able to build something would be an incredible experience. I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Wanting to pitch at elevation for a team coming off a 119-loss season might seem dicey, but Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta said Lorenzen is ready to integrate into a rotation that returns Kyle Freeland, Chase Dollander and Tanner Gordon, each of whom made 15 or more starts last season.

“He ran toward this challenge. Michael actively wanted to pitch here,” DePodesta said. “He’s done a lot of different things in his career. He was an outfielder. He’s been a reliever. He’s been a starting pitcher. I don’t think he’s afraid of anything.”

Lorenzen brings an arsenal of seven pitches into his 12th MLB season, according to Baseball Savant. His fastball was his most-used pitch in 2025, thrown 22% of the time. However, five other pitches (sinker, changeup, slider, curveball and cutter) were thrown 10.9% or more, meaning Lorenzen is comfortable with a variety of pitches, no matter the count.

The changeup, however, could be the key to Lorenzen’s success in Colorado, a pitch that he called his best of the group.

“I know my changeup will get better,” Lorenzen said of how the pitch is expected to work at elevation. “The fact that that’s my best pitch and I’m going to be able to leverage it even more, that’s a big deal.”

DePodesta said analytics will help determine what will succeed for Lorenzen, who said he will be throwing bullpen sessions in Denver soon to “see exactly how these shapes are going to move.”

“I would say we’re intrigued by the mix as a whole, because we think there are times where you may have an individual pitch that, by itself, doesn’t necessarily have the best metrics,” DePodesta said. “But by having that pitch, it actually makes the other pitches better because the hitter has to account for that pitch. So I think it’s really about how they all fit together more so than just sort of one go-to pitch.”

While the Rockies are thrilled to have added Lorenzen to the rotation, DePodesta also indicated Colorado may bring in more starting pitching.

“I think we’re always looking for arms, especially ones who can start, so I think that’s a quest we will always be on,” DePodesta said. “If there are additions we can make, I think we’ll be aggressive in doing so.

“There are other things we want to do with the club as well. I think there are some position player spots that we’d love to fill. We’ve been having conversations about those as well, but certainly, the pitching piece probably won’t ever stop, right? Even if you feel like you’ve got five, six or seven (starters), it always seems like you need more, so we’ll always be looking at starting pitching.”

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Rockies add infielder Castro, reports say

Reports said Thursday the Rockies signed Willi Castro to a two-year deal, potentially bringing help to the infield. Split between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs last season, Castro played all three outfield spots as well as every infield position except first base.

DePodesta would not confirm the Castro signing when asked.