Colorado Rockies: 3 players who will underperform in 2018

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.

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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.