Colorado Rockies: Breaking down the team piece by piece

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SAN DIEGO, CA – MAY 4: Colorado Rockies players high-five after beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 11 innings at PETCO Park on May 4, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /

The time has come: Spring Training is here. It’s great to have baseball back. Not only just baseball, but Colorado Rockies baseball. That’s right … from now on we’ll all be bleeding purple and dreaming of Dinger.

As the preseason starts back up, we all begin to have questions. Some of us even worry about what will happen with the Rockies this year, if they even make it to the postseason, which leads to me writing to this article. I’ll be analyzing the Rockies, going over every aspect to the game. Let’s begin.

Starting Pitching

For this section, I’ll just give a summary of my analysis with the starters. If you want a more in-depth article showcasing each pitcher, you can read that here.

For starters, we know Jon Gray will be the ace of the team. As for the rest of the rotation, it’s really a toss up that we’ll have to watch at Spring Training for where everyone else will be. The Rockies will be completely investing into a very young rotation this year with the oldest be Chad Bettis, who’s only 28.

Unfortunately, for the Rox, Fangraphs ranked the starting pitching 24th overall. Looking at it optimistically, I’ll say at least they aren’t number 30, right?

Either way, it’s not a very good accolade to have and hopefully, this season, Colorado will be able to turn that around. With the strong possibility of going for another playoff run, the Rockies have really got to instill a workhorse mentality upon these young starters.

No one, and I mean no one, wants to see what happened in the NL Wild Card game happen again. In reality, if these starters can hold their ground, they can lead a smooth transition for these guys.

Relief Pitching

PHOENIX, AZ – OCTOBER 04: Relief pitcher Scott Oberg. Getty Images. /

Infield

Boy, are they in a pickle with some positions.

We don’t even need to talk about who’s at third base or shortstop. Second base, first base, and catcher are all topics of discussion as of now.

You may be wondering why I put catcher, even though the Rockies just signed Chris Iannetta. Well, Tony Wolters is a key component into that reason. If you want a more well versed read that’s fully about the catchers, I have it here. A brief summary of that would be Tony Wolters will be the starting catcher for them before the end of July.

Moving onto second base, I know there will be questions about why I put that in the uncertain category. Yes, DJ LeMahieu will be the starting second basemen no doubt about it. That doesn’t mean he will be it for long haul, as this may be his last year with the Rockies. The reason being is that Brendan Rodgers may be close to reaching the Major Leagues, he has an invite to Spring Training and I’m eager to see him action.

The real pickle you’ve been waiting for is who’s on first, and the real answer is I have no clue.

I’d like to say the obvious answer is Ryan McMahon, but the Rockies may be like, “Hey, Ian Desmond, you still got that first baseman’s glove?” Even then, they have said that Pat Valaika and Jordan Patterson could see some time at first, so because of that possibility, I will only say one thing about this situation. Sign Mark Reynolds, he’s the saving grace angel the Rockies need right now.

As for now, it’s a real toss up at first base that could get pretty entertaining during Spring Training. ESPN rated the Rockies overall defensively 3rd in the MLB, which is amazing especially when you have two Gold Glovers in the infield. I hope the goal is to be top dog defensively this year.

Outfield

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I don’t even want to step foot on this topic, but I have to.

Ironically, with things going the way, they are the three men in this picture would be the outfielders. Obviously, Charlie Blackmon is the mainstay this year, as I just throw my hands up at who exactly will be in the corner outfield spots. After all, he came in fifth in the NL MVP voting after he played in 159 games last season with 137 runs (which led the National League), 213 hits (also led the league), 35 doubles, 14 triples (which also led the league), 37 home runs, 104 RBI, and a .331/.399/.601 offensive slash line, and the .331 batting average led the National League as well.

There is a strong chance that the layout will be Desmond in left, Blackmon in center, and Parra in right. Now, I beg of you, don’t sulk without being reminded of David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, and Mike Tauchman, who could actually make up the outfield themselves, but Blackmon will be the permanent starter in 2018.

All jokes aside, having Desmond and Parra in the corners isn’t a bad thing, but Desmond could be out when Dahl is back to 100 percent.

The best thing about the outfield is how many guys they have that can play the corners. I’m very eager to see what routes Bud Black will take with defensive alignment.

Batting

I can not wait to see all the home runs hit at Coors this year. This is one of the things that brings me pure joy. The Rockies have a power house of hitters, the key though is how Bud Black places them in the lineup. Either way just expect a lot of great hits.

ESPN once again ranked the Rockies 3rd overall when it comes to batting in the MLB. This is great, but they want to be number one this year. The Rockies, altogether, hit a total of 192 home runs and 793 RBIs. With the way everyone did last year and the fact the Rox had two players in the running for NL MVP, I don’t see a problem from the naked eye.

However, if you put the Rockies under a microscope, you begin to see some of the flaws. One of those flaws is that you can’t just depend on Arenado and Blackmon to lead the pack. That’s not good enough and that’s not how you win a World Series.

When I say everyone, and I mean everyone, has to put in the maximum effort and devote all they have to this team in order to make it all the way to the top. If the Rockies can do this and develop a stride with it, there is no stopping them when it comes to their offense.

Final Thoughts

The Colorado Rockies are obviously a solid team. After all, they had a postseason spot last year and they seem to have pieced everything together in order to have a strong showing this season in the NL West.

Now, it’s time for the Rockies to put what they’ve got on paper and show it on the field. The Rockies have everyone rooting for them and they have an intense journey to go through to get what they want. After they finish Spring Training, the time for talk and speculation will be over and only what happens on the field will matter.

If I could pick any year and say that this is the Rockies’ year, it’s 2018. As long as they keep investing in the young core, make smart offseason moves, keeping the guys healthy, and make even better in game decisions, they’ll should have that 1st National League Wild Card spot. Hopefully, if they make it to the Wild Card game, they can win it and advance further on in the postseason to show what they are truly about.

Next: Your spring training weather guide

There is very little the Rockies must do in order to solidify themselves as a top team in the National League. Once they do so, it’s only a matter of team before they’re the team to watch out for.

Home / Colorado Rockies News

The time has come: Spring Training is here. It’s great to have baseball back. Not only just baseball, but Colorado Rockies baseball. That’s right … from now on we’ll all be bleeding purple and dreaming of Dinger.

Starting Pitching

Relief Pitching

Infield

Outfield

More from Rox Pile

Batting

More from Rox Pile

Final Thoughts

Schedule