Fansided

Colorado Rockies: 3 players who will underperform in 2018

By Quinn Ritzdorf |
DENVER, CO - APRIL 09: The statue of 'The Player' stands watch outside the stadium as the San Francisco Giants face the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day at Coors Field on April 9, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - APRIL 09: The statue of 'The Player' stands watch outside the stadium as the San Francisco Giants face the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day at Coors Field on April 9, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
1 of 4
Next
DENVER, CO – APRIL 09: The statue of ‘The Player’ stands watch outside the stadium as the San Francisco Giants face the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day at Coors Field on April 9, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – APRIL 09: The statue of ‘The Player’ stands watch outside the stadium as the San Francisco Giants face the Colorado Rockies on Opening Day at Coors Field on April 9, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

Now that the 2017 Colorado Rockies season has unfortunately come and gone, it is already time to look ahead five months to the start of the 2018 season. Yes, I know baseball is still being played. And yes, you still have the World Series to enjoy before you even want to start thinking about next year. Remember, Rockies fans are cheering for the Houston Astros big-time in the Fall Classic (or at least that is what they told us on Twitter). However, as sports fans its our job to look towards next year the second our team has been eliminated. So that is exactly what we are going to do.

I’m going to look at three players that I believe are not going to produce for the Rockies this upcoming season. Now this is all based on expectations. Of course a guy who didn’t produce last year (*cough cough* CarGo) is probably not going to be on this list because fans don’t have high expectations. It’s those players that we are expecting a lot from next season that aren’t going to be able to live up to the hype.

So without further adieu let’s meet our underproducing players of the 2018 Colorado Rockies.

Ian Desmond of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images)
Ian Desmond of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images) /

Ian Desmond

So I know what I just said about players who didn’t produce last year are probably not going to be on this list. Well, I lied. It’s just the fact that when you pay a guy $70 million for five years you would expect him to produce. Yes, I am talking about Ian Desmond.

Desmond had an underwhelming 2017 season. The Rockies paid him that big contract after he went .285/.335/.446 with the Texas Rangers. Rox fans were excited, especially when the Rockies announced he would be playing time at first which was a weak link at the time.

More from Rox Pile

Desmond packed his bags and moved to the thin air of Denver, Colorado, where balls fly forever, right? Coors Field is a hitters park of all hitters parks in the MLB. It is the top run-scoring stadium in the league. So of course everyone thought that it would bump up Desmond’s production at the plate.

Instead, he went .274/.326/.375, which are all below his averages as a Ranger the season before. He didn’t play to expectations last year and he isn’t going to next season either.

Desmond is on this list because he underperformed last year despite the relatively big contract the Rockies paid him. In 2018, he will have a lot of pressure on him. He knows that he has to play better than he did a year before, especially with that contract. That’s a lot of weight on his shoulders and he won’t be able to carry it.

Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images)
Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images) /

Kyle Freeland

The next Rockie that won’t produce in the 2018 season is the hometown kid, Kyle Freeland. Freeland surpassed expectations last year as he came in and went 11-11 with a 4.10 ERA as a rookie.

The Rockies young rotation is scary. They have a lot of talent, but they are also very young and inexperienced. This is true of Freeland.

More from Colorado Rockies News

The Colorado native won’t be able to pitch like he did this past season. He is going to face the dreaded “sophomore slump.” With how well he pitched this past season, there will be a lot of expectations for him to do the same. Unfortunately, I see him and possibly some of the other arms trying to do too much leading to them underperforming.

Now does it help that former pitcher, Bud Black, is managing the group, of course. Oh and also if the Rockies re-sign catcher, Jonathan Lucroy, they have a veteran catcher behind the plate. These factors will obviously go into this.

However, there were a lot of rookie arms that pitched far better than anyone could have expected, but it’s hard seeing all of them continue that level of success they had in 2017. There will be a couple that don’t pitch like they did last year and I’m taking Kyle Freeland.

Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images)
Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies (photo by Getty Images) /

Antonio Senzatela

I had a hard time picking the next player. I want to go with Mark Reynolds. He had an above average season and many could say he was the MVP in the first couple of months. He then fell off a little as the season went on, but still exceeded expectations. However, Reynolds will be a free agent this offseason so there is no guarantee that he will be back with the Rockies next year.

The next player I considered was Pat Neshek. Last year, Neshek was fantastic. He was an All-Star and rightfully so. However, his production from the beginning of the season with the Phillies fell off as he was traded to the Rockies (fair, since Coors is a hitters park). If he was to play for the Rockies next year, his production wouldn’t be as great as it was last season, since he will be pitching an entire season in Coors not just 28 games. However, Neshek is also a free agent this year so who knows if he will end up with the Rockies next year.

So after process of elimination, the next Rockie that is guaranteed to be with the team (unless in the unlikely event of a trade) and who I think won’t produce like he did this year is Antonio Senzatela. Last year, Senzatela was lights out the first two months of the season and then eventually began to cool off as the season went on.

As another rookie pitcher, he didn’t have a lot of expectations coming into the season, but after the way he played this year, he will have to live up to some high hopes next season. I don’t see that happening, especially seeing his production decline towards the end of the season.

Next: 3 Rockies who we think will improve in 2018

Overall, the Rockies have a great lineup and rotation returning next year. However, many of them are young and inexperienced which could lead to some production issues having to live up to all those expectations.

Next
Home / Colorado Rockies News

Schedule