Colorado Rockies roster moves: Raimel Tapia up, Jeff Hoffman down

Jeff Hoffman made an impact for the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night, grabbing his first-ever Major League victory in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, baseball is a business and Colorado needed to boost the possibilities coming off the bench rather than have the right-hander sitting in the bullpen and watching.

On Friday, Hoffman was sent back to Triple-A Albuquerque as outfielder Raimel Tapia was recalled by the Rockies prior to the second game of their four-game set against the Dodgers.

So why was Hoffman returned to Triple-A? The Rockies need another position player with Trevor Story recently going on the disabled list with a left shoulder strain. During Thursday night’s game against the Dodgers, Colorado had a three-man bench of Alexi Amarista, Dustin Garneau and Gerardo Parra. With Tapia in the mix, the Rockies now once again have a four-man bench.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

The 23-year-old Tapia makes his second appearance of the season on Colorado’s roster after ripping up Triple-A pitching in recent days. Since being returned to Albuquerque on April 19, Tapia has been on a tear, including a .426 average over the past 10 games.

For the season in Albuquerque, Tapia is hitting .400 with no homers and 20 RBI. In 18 games since reappearing with the Isotopes, Tapia has at least one hit in 17 of those contests.

He also has eight stolen bases on the season. He will bring an element of speed to Colorado’s lineup, something that we discussed in this article that has been missing from the Rockies this season.

Hoffman, meanwhile, will have to wait for another chance to reappear on Colorado’s roster. He was a spot starter in Thursday’s contest, giving up seven hits and three runs in 6.2 innings of work against Los Angeles. He started out strong, with seven strikeouts in the first three frames. However, he was less effective as the game wore on, striking out just one batter and giving up  a homer and three runs over the next 3.2 innings.

Next: Is Tapia blocked in the Colorado outfield?

The 24-year-old Hoffman also appeared in Tuesday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs in the second game of a double-header when he was added to the roster as the 26^th man. He surrendered a run in 1.1 innings of work.