Colorado Rockies: Wrapping Up the First Weekend of Spring Training Games

As the weekend comes to a conclusion and the Oscars start to take center stage on social media, the Colorado Rockies have played one full squad game and two split squad games, going 2-1 in the process. It may not be the world’s biggest sample size, but there are some takeaways that we can see from these three outings.

Aside from personnel and statistics, there’s no doubt that Colorado’s new shade of purple is eye-catching. Check out this tweet from Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post and you can see exactly how purple the new purple is.

Sure there’s been a change in color, but there’s also some pretty interesting play from the Rockies. Let’s go through a few things that have jumped out at us.

First, we’ll start with the offense. There’s been no reason to think that Colorado’s offense wouldn’t be a juggernaut this season and the first few innings of spring training have showed us that it’s not just a possibility, but rather a reality.

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In Saturday’s 8-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Ian Desmond was the star and gave a glimpse why the Rockies pursued him in free agency. You can read more about Desmond’s big day in our review by clicking here.

In Sunday’s 6-1 split squad win over the Diamondbacks, the offense came through again. Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon each blasted their first homers of the spring with Blackmon pacing the Colorado offense with a 2-for-3 day and a pair of RBI. It was part of a 14-hit attack for the Rockies, following up a 12-hit spring training-opening splash against the D-backs on Saturday.

It’s always a good sign when you can flex your muscles early against a division foe. But it wasn’t just on offense where Colorado dominated the two games against the Diamondbacks.

In Colorado’s 7-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Pat Valaika homered against White Sox starter Jose Quintana, who was circulated in many trade rumors in the offseason.