Colorado Rockies Hot Or Not: Week 2

Apr 13, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies second baseman D.J. LeMahieu (9) gets out of the way of a wild pitch that scored left fielder Corey Dickerson (6) (not pictured) from third base in the second inning of their MLB baseball game with the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

It’s once again time for our weekly “Hot Or Not” segment on who’s up and who’s down for the Colorado Rockies. Think of it as Rockies Tinder. Swipe right!

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After seven very, very hot days for the Colorado Rockies to begin the season, this past week brought us a little hot (San Francisco!), and a little not (Los Angeles).

Nevertheless, here’s what we know about the Rockies in week two.

SWIPE RIGHT ON…

DJ LeMahieu. LeMahieu is hitting .438 over his last six games, and his two-run blast in Los Angeles off Zack Greinke finally gave him an extra-base hit on the year after a hot start with singles and good defense. In 19 plate appearances over the past six games, LeMahieu’s slashed .438/.500/.625 with two walks against just three strikeouts, and while he’s only scored one run (on his home run), his breakout season continues.

Charlie Blackmon. After a slow first week, Blackmon has turned it on a bit in week two, slashing .333/.400/.524 across 23 plate appearances over the last six games, including a two-run shot off Clayton Kershaw in L.A. this weekend. He’s scored four runs, too, and is finding his way in the leadoff spot despite failing to start this season quite as well as he did 2014.

Christian Bergman. Bergman gave the Rockies a great spot-start in San Francisco, tossing four shutout innings against the Giants, and then followed that up with 2.2 more scoreless innings against the Dodgers. He allowed eight hits and two walks in 6.2 scoreless innings this week, but he also struck out six and didn’t allow a run.

Adam Ottavino. He earned himself the closer’s role at the start of the week, and responded by saving two close games in San Francisco, striking out five of his six batters faced and not allowing a base runner.

Eddie Butler. Butler’s been living dangerously (11 hits and 7 walks across 10.1 innings this week), but it hasn’t burned him yet (just two runs allowed for a 1.74 ERA, and a win in San Francisco after tossing five shutout innings). His base runner traffic isn’t sustainable, but at least for now, he hasn’t quite been exploited.

SWIPE LEFT ON…

The rest of the offense. Other than LeMahieu and Blackmon, the Rockies’ bats really calmed down in week two. Even the sweep in San Francisco saw the Rockies pitch well and fail to slug it out in a tough hitter’s park, and the three straight losses in L.A. of course brought very little offense (just six runs in 27 innings). Rockies position players other than LeMahieu and Blackmon struck out 39 times across the last six games, though some of that is to be expected against an arm like Clayton Kershaw.

Corey Dickerson. Sure, Dickerson is part of the offense as a whole, but he deserves special note: in the past six games, he’s just 4-for-23 (.174) with no walks, just one RBI, and eight strikeouts.

Carlos Gonzalez. Same as Dickerson, more or less; 3-for-18 across five games last week, with two walks and four strikeouts, and no extra-base hits. CarGo’s gotten off to a slow start this year.

Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick’s been as advertised (the pessimistic kind) the past couple starts, including his tilt in Los Angeles Friday night when he allowed six runs on seven hits and four walks in just 4.2 innings.

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