Colorado Rockies Rundown: Flande, Adames, Blackmon, Black Sunday

Sep 2, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pinch hitter C. Adames (18) hits a single during the seventh inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Take note of Cristhian Adames

(via Purple Row)

Bryan Kilpatrick is a smart guy, so when he writes something about Cristhian Adames being pretty decent, you say, hey! That’s great! We said the same thing on this site! A couple of times!

A key point from Kilpatrick:

"But Adames’ profile and approach at the plate suggests the 24-year-old Dominican is in for some decent seasons at the highest level. Only two stateside minor leaguers in the Rockies organization — infielders Angelys Nina and Zach Osborne — had lower strikeout rate among players with at least 100 plate appearances than Adames, who whiffed just 11 percent of the time. Adames’ 7 percent walk rate is the highest of the three, and it’s positive trait he’s displayed throughout his minor league career. Plus, Nina and Osborne hit .300/.333/.402 and .246/.304/.305, respectively. Adames managed a great-by-comparison .311/.362/.438 line — though, again, that decent slugging number has yet to manifest itself at the highest level."

[ Related: Christian Bergman takes his underrated season to the rotation ]

Also, a key point in a Fan Graphs post that he links out to on Adames’ ceiling and comps:

"Adames’ slap-hitting middle infielder profile isn’t anything all that exciting, but it’s a profile that carries over to the big leagues fairly often. Look no further than Mark Loretta, who parlayed that skill set into a 100 wRC+ over a 15 year career. Loretta’s an optimistic, yet probably still realistic, comp for Adames. Like Loretta, there’s nothing flashy about Adames. At the same time, though, there are no real holes in his game, either. Adames will never be known for his power or speed, but showed enough to eclipse double digits in both homers and steals this year. And while he’s nothing special on defense, he can hold his own all over the infield, including at shortstop. Odds are, Adames will never be anything more than a part-time player. But those same odds say he’s unlikely to be anything less than that."

It’s interesting that prospect Adames can so quickly become almost a for-sure part time player, but hey — sabermetrics! Seriously, though — it’s time the Colorado Rockies give Adames a shot, as we’ve seemingly talked about again and again and again.

Next: Remembering Black Sunday