Colorado Rockies: top 5 successful players for the Rockies in 2017

The Rockies had two MVP candidates on the season. One of them was Nolan Arenado. The other is center fielder Charlie Blackmon.

In 159 games, he had 725 plate appearances, 137 runs, 213 hits,14 triples, and .331 batting average. All of those stats led the National League. In other offensive numbers, he had 35 doubles, 37 home runs, 104 RBI (which is the new all-time lead for a lead off hitter. Darin Erstad of the 2000 Anaheim Angels held the previous record with 100), a .399 on-base percentage, a .601 slugging percentage, and an OPS+ of 142.

Every single one of these stats are career highs for Blackmon. This is the reason that Rockies fans (and even non-Rockies fans) have been championing Blackmon as the player who should be the player that should receive a National League Most Valuable Player award.

He, like Arenado, will be key cogs for the Rockies next season.

Jon Gray

Even though Rockies number 1 starter, Jon Gray, did not pitch well in the National League Wild Card game, he still proved a lot to the Rockies and their fans. On the season in 20 starts, he was 10-4 with a 3.67 ERA and a 136 ERA+.

However, starting on July 25, in 13 starts, he was 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA. He averaged a little bit more than six innings per start in that span with a 80:16 strikeout to walk ratio and an opponent batting average of .244.

Obviously, he still has some growing to do to become an ace (yes, there is a difference between a number one starter and an ace) but he’s still young (he’ll turn 26 in about three weeks) and he made great strides to show that he can be an ace in the very near future.