What Happened To The Colorado Rockies’ Offense?

The Colorado Rockies have always been a team notorious for their offense, but that hasn’t been the case lately. What in the world is going on?

Yes, I understand injuries to key players such as Troy Tulowitzki (quad), Justin Morneau (neck) and Corey Dickerson (foot) may hamper the production in Colorado’s offense, but this team was third in the entire league last year with 755 runs scored — that’s without Tulo and Carlos Gonzalez for a majority of the 2014 campaign.

During the 2014 season, Colorado hit .276 as a team which was second in the Major’s — one point behind the Detroit Tigers (.277). This season has been the complete opposite in terms of production, although it’s still pretty early as the team continues to fall in the standings.

Colorado, as of May 18, is third worst in the entire league in runs scored with just 132 — only the Chicago White Sox (125) Philadelphia Phillies (114) have fewer runs. (Good thing Philadelphia is coming to Coors Field to start a three-game set Monday night). If you look at the batting average, Colorado is pretty solid with a .266/.309/.427 slash line. The only problem is capitalizing with runners in scoring position, where the team is hitting .245.

With runners in scoring position with two outs, the team is hitting .234, which is good for 12th in the Majors. The same can go for the bases loaded, hitting at an average of 234 — 8th worst. As you can tell, the Rockies aren’t getting the timely hitting they so desperately need.

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One player that has been underachieving heavily is outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo has had a rough go of it regarding injuries, but the right fielder is healthy and not producing up to his capabilities.  Currently, CarGo is slashing at a line of .197/.258/.342 with just 23 hits in 117 at-bats. His power hasn’t been there as well, collecting just five doubles, four home runs while driving in 10 runs. Not something you want from a middle of the order bat.

Fact of the matter is, Colorado needs to start playing situational baseball. That doesn’t mean laying down a bunt with a runner on first with less than one out, it means knowing what to do in a certain at-bat. Watching some games lately has been frustrating, watching players just give away at-bats.

Pitching has always been a problem for Colorado, but their starting pitching has pitched pretty well over the teams last six games — the offense isn’t doing their job. Over Colorado’s last nine games, the team has average just 2.88 runs per game — good for a 2-7 record. At some point the bats have to wake up, right?

The Colorado Rockies (13-21) look to rebound as the Philadelphia Phillies come to town Monday night. Jordan Lyles will start on the bump for Colorado as Philadelphia counters with ace Cole Hamels. First-pitch is scheduled for 8:40 PM EST, 6:40 PM MST.