Rockies Year in Review: Nick Hundley

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Here at Rox Pile, we are starting a player review for each and every player that suited up in a Colorado Rockies uniform this season. This series will be going all the way up until Dec. 16 with player profiles posted every day.

Today, we are featuring Rockies catcher Nick Hundley.

Hundley was one of the free agent acquisitions this past offseason under Colorado’s new general manager Jeff Bridich. Hundley was brought in to clean up the defensive woes behind the dish for Colorado, moving Colorado’s previous catcher, Wilin Rosario, over to first base.

Not only was Hundley brought in to provide a defensive-minded presence, but also to calm down and develop Colorado’s young pitching staff built around pitchers such as Jordan Lyles, Eddie Butler, Tyler Matzek etc. However, that didn’t bode too well due to the injury to Lyles and regression from Matzek and Butler.

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We weren’t expecting too much from Hundley at the plate, yet he impressed batting above .300 with a little help from Coors Field. Nick’s splits were the definition of a Coors Field product if you will. At Coors, Hundley slashed at a line of .355/.393/.563 in 55 games, opposed to a road line of .237/.275/.355 in 48 games. So in all actuality, Hundley was a beast at Coors while below-average on the road.

Nick finished the 2015 campaign hitting .301 in 103 games, collecting 21 doubles, five triples, 10 home runs and 43 RBI’s. Not to mention, Hundley was a breath of fresh air behind the plate for Colorado. The veteran committed just five errors in 866.1 innings, racking up 51 assists to his credit.

All-in-all, Hundley was a serviceable catcher for Colorado, providing veteran leadership and experience behind the dish.

Keep in mind, Hundley will be back with the Rockies during the 2016 campaign, signing a two-year deal prior to last season. Nick will go in as Colorado’s starting catcher, but they have a predicament on their hands between their two September call-ups, Dustin Garneau and Tom Murphy — who will be the backup?

Overall Grade: B-