Tag Archives: Colorado Rockies

Pre-Season Team Profile: Colorado Rockies 

Introduction

The Colorado Rockies have the unique advantage of playing at the highest altitude in the Major Leagues. The Colorado Rockies are another one of those teams with ownership that refuses to spend money. However, when they do it confuses you to no end. Nobody to this day understands why they let Nolan Arenado walk for nothing but signed Kris Bryant to a big contract. Unfortunately, their roster is thoroughly unimpressive and really hasn’t seen much change from last year. The MGM power rankings list their odds to win the world series at +20000. Their record last year was 68-94 in last place of the NL West. I think this is the first team I actually disagree with and think they should be lower. I hope the Rockies prove me wrong.

Batting Lineup 

Overall, I think the lineup is just ok. Nobody in this lineup truly makes me go “WOW!, there’s a difference maker!”. However, I suppose numbers 2 through 7 are individual good players. Not sure how they perform and judging by last season’s performance this team lacks consistency. We also have to keep in mind that thin Rocky air kind of inflates power numbers. My standouts are Kris Bryant and CJ Cron. These two guys need to have monster seasons if the Rockies want a chance to climb out of the basement. This lineup has plenty of veteran leadership and there is no reason they can’t be good. Honorable mention to Ryan McMahon, who tends to be clutch especially against my Mets. Overall the lineup is decent but it needs someone to step up as the “X factor”. Check out my post on Kris Bryant here.

Starting Rotation

The starting rotation actually has some talented pitchers. I believe in a similar fashion to the hitter, the thin air does affect their stats. With that in mind, the Rockies have a solid three pitchers with two questionable ones. My standouts are Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Austin Gomber. If these three put up career best or better seasons, it will give the Rockies at least a shot at winning games. Once again I think the disadvantage of pitchers in Colorado both hurts and helps the Rockies. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better in the bullpen.

Bullpen 

It’s a similar story here in the bullpen, the thin air really hurts the stats of pitchers and hitters. But at least the Rockies have one standout player, Daniel Bard. Before we get to why Bard is so good, the other guys like Brent Suter and Nick Mears haven’t pitched in Colorado yet so it’s hard to know what we got in them. But returning to Bard, he is one of the better closers in the league. Bard has been doing it consistently too. If you take a look at his three years in Colorado, he’s been pretty lights out. He even had MVP votes last season. The Rockies need a few more pitchers like him.

My Prediction

The lack of moves this offseason plus the divide in talent between the Rockies and the other teams in the NL West really makes me doubt their ability to improve much beyond last season. Don’t get me wrong, the Rockies have good players but they improve their roster from last season. My prediction for 2023 is a worst record of 65-97 and a best record of 72-90. The floor and ceiling is 5th place in the NL west that’s barring a dramatic step back of the Diamondbacks or Giants. Sorry Rockies fans, tell your ownership to spend more money.

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Thanks to Baseball Reference and Fangraphs for the statistics and charts!

Colorado Rockies: Kris Bryant Disappointment

The Colorado Rockies had a weird past few years with regards to roster moves. The Rockies ownership seemed like they couldn’t decide if they wanted to tank or compete. But this past offseason the Rockies signed star utility outfielder Kris Bryant. Unfortunately, the Rockies only won 68 games and lost 94 games. This seems like a low win total for a team with a star like Bryant who helped the 2016 Cubs win a world series. As we’ll see the reason or part of the reason for the Rockies struggle was that Bryant spent 120 games on the IL. First, I’ll look at what Byrant did despite injury. Then I’ll look at CJ Cron who stepped up the offensive production for the Rockies.

Kris Bryant is a utilty outfielder and third baseman. He throws and bats right. Bryant was originally drafted out of highschool by the Toronto Blue Jays and then again in the 1st round out of the University of San Deigo. Bryant is 30 years old with 8 years of MLB experience. He signed with the Rockies this past offseason for 7 years 182 million dollars. Before we take a look at his stats, it should be noted Bryant only played less games in the 2020 COVID shortened season at 34. When Bryant did play, he actually played well: 

A quick look at his stats just ignoring the small sample of 42 games, his slash line is respectable. HIs OPS is above average and his OPS+ also backs this up. It’s impressive that his batting average is actually a career high at .306. The next highest was in 2017 where he played 151 games as a Cub and hit .295. I would imagine Bryant could have a much bigger impact if he could have stayed healthy. 

While there were other players who stepped up for the Rockies offensively, the best one was CJ Cron. Cron is a first baseman who throws and bats right. Cron is 32 years old with 9 years of MLB experience. Cron has a really awesome nickname “Big Fella”. Cron didn’t have his best season but did play a career high 150 games. Cron also has shown his consistent power hitting by reaching near 30 homeruns. Here are the full stats: 

One alarming thing which is probably due his power stroke is the strikeout totals being the highest of his career. Cron had a better season last year but still reached career highs in RBI and triples. I think Cron would have done even better if his strikeout percentage didn’t rise 5 percent and his homer percentage dropped by nearly 2 percent. He also stopped walking as much, nearly 5 percent less all compared to last season. 

If Kris Bryant and CJ Cron can return to form in the same season, I think the Rockies have a potent 1-2 punch in the middle of that lineup for at least a few years to come. 

Thanks for reading! Be sure to follow and subscribe to the blog. Also check out my social media page.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant for the statistics.