Colorado Rockies: Who’s on First Base With the Loss of Reynolds?

Colorado Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds had to leave yesterday’s win against the Texas Rangers with an injured left hand in the seventh inning. This is bad news for the Rockies as Reynolds has had a consistent season, particularly on defense. There is a chance he will go on the 15-day disabled list. This begs the question: Who’s on first?

Though Reynolds’ power numbers for the Colorado Rockies are down (only 12 home runs), his batting average (.283), OBP (.354) and OPS (.800) are all well-above his career averages. His fielding has been even better – he has just six errors on the season for a .994 fielding percentage, and his scooping of throws in the dirt has been a feature.

Per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, Reynolds had X-rays on the hand but they proved to be inconclusive:

"Veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds is likely headed to the 15-day disabled list because of an injury to his left hand. He departed Colorado’s 12-9 victory over the Rangers in the seventh inning here Thursday afternoon because of an injured hamate bone. Initial X-rays were inconclusive, and Reynolds is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Friday when the Rockies are in Philadelphia."

Reynolds explained yesterday that the hand has in fact been bothering him for the last couple of weeks.

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“It’s been hurting me for a couple of weeks,” Reynolds said via Saunders. “I’ve been doing the best I could with it hurting. I tried to tape it and not feel it. But it would hurt when I would swing and miss.”

The problem for the Rockies is there is no obvious replacement for him at first. The first candidate is utility fielder Daniel Descalso. In 2016, Descalso has a .307 batting average, with two HRs, an OBP of .407 and an OPS of .816 (all of these numbers are also well-above his career averages).

Descalso has played 11 games at first, with one error for a fielding percentage of .989. In his limited action at first, he hasn’t shown the same ability to scoop balls out of the dirt to the same level as Reynolds, which is a downgrade at the position.

The Rockies began the year with Reynolds and Ben Paulsen platooning at first. Reynolds grabbed the position with his better play and after 29 games, Paulsen was optioned back to Triple-A Albuquerque.

Paulsen has done pretty well. In 72 games, he has a .276 average, with six HRs, an OBP of .332 and an OPS of .770. In 61 games at first base, he has just four errors with a fielding percentage of .993.

If the Rockies want to keep Descalso in a pinch-hitting role, they could promote Paulsen back to the big league club and insert him back at first. However, this would leave the Rockies lineup very top-heavy in the middle order – you could potentially have Carlos Gonzalez, David Dahl, Gerardo Parra and Paulsen all batting left-handed.

However, this lineup could be broken up by the insertion of Ryan Raburn and sliding DJ LeMahieu down the order.

The Rockies also have other options at first – they could move CarGo to first, or they could even promote Triple-A catcher Tom Murphy and put him at first, though this would be a major risk as he has never played the position at this level.

The Rockies could also look outside the organization for help such as Billy Butler or Carlos Gomez and moving CarGo to first, as noted by Bryan Kilpatrick of Purple Row.

With so many questions, the Rockies have an interesting choice to make if Reynolds indeed is placed on the disabled list. Who will be on first?

Next: Colorado Rockies: 2 Numbers That Show the Team's Struggles

All statistics, records and accolades courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com unless otherwise indicated.