Colorado Rockies: Why pick David Dahl over Raimel Tapia?
![SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 28: David Dahl #26 of the Colorado Rockies runs home to score on a hit by Gerardo Parra #8 of the Colorado Rockies in seventh inning at AT&T Park on September 28, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Froxpile-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2018-2F04-2F611045954-colorado-rockies-v-san-francisco-giants-jpg-850x560-67632b649f8bf28301edb99af7f9cd05.jpg)
The Colorado Rockies recently called up David Dahl to the main club. This due to Gerardo Parra beginning to serve his four game suspension and Carlos Gonzalez being put on the DL. These were strong reasons to call up an outfielder, but was David Dahl the right choice?
The Colorado Rockies had many options on who they could call up. They had a choice of David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, or even Jordan Patterson. I’ve written numerous times about Tapia and how much he could help the Rockies and about his potential.
However, they decided that Dahl was a good choice. It’s a bit confusing as his performance down in Triple-A Albuquerque if we were to only focus on stats. He had a batting average of .231 with only 6 hits in his 26 at-bats for the Isotopes he also struck out 8 times within those at-bats.
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Those don’t seem quite right when wanting to call up someone, especially someone who had just been placed on the DL earlier this month but the Rockies already decided to roll the dice and see. Sunday was his first major league at bat since returning to the big league club and it’s fair to say he’s done more than the bench so far. So there is always a sense of positivity when you see the Colorado Rockies’ bench being woken up. Plus, he went 2-for-4 in the starting lineup on Monday
However there is a silver lining with all this, and his name is Raimel Tapia. All in all, Tapia has shown much better stats while at the plate in Triple-A with a slashline of .274/.359/.551 Tapia has just been playing better baseball then all four original Rockies’ bench players, which should be a huge hint to Colorado on who should be called up.
Even though they just called David Dahl now, there is still a chance that Tapia could get called up. This due to the fact that the Rockies could fill left field with Tapia. If that were to happen, then Ian Desmond would take over at first base full time which would cause Ryan McMahon be move to the bench full time.
Calling up Tapia would mean someone else would have to go down. The Rockies already sent down Mike Tauchman to make room for Dahl so it only seems fitting that they’d send down McMahon to make room for Tapia, which would only make sense as McMahon is in need of the familiarity that is Triple-A baseball.
Next: Why Ryan McMahon needs to be sent to Triple-A
In all honesty, the Rockies most likely need both David Dahl and Raimel Tapia now more than ever. After a very disappointing season so far from the four men on the bench, both Tapia and Dahl are a much needed breath of fresh air. The only way is up especially when you have these two in the lineup.