Colorado Rockies Quick Hits: Arenado on Free Agency, Launch Angle Stats, Isotopes Promotions

The past few days have been a bit quiet on the spring training front but there have been some things of note that involving the Colorado Rockies recently.

Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado recently spoke to the media, including The Associated Press, and talked about a few different things, including about the current free agent market and his impending free agency in 2020.

For the current free agent market, he describe it is “sad.”

Arenado also said that there “are some really good baseball players out there, and it is crazy to think some of these teams don’t need them. They need them. There is no question that they do. They are just deciding not to, I guess.”

Arenado added that “[i]t’s disappointing. I think it just shows that there are teams that are not trying to win. I just believe that the guys that are out there can really rebuild a team, get it jump-started, and help it win a championship.”

However, he said that he is “not afraid” of being a free agent next offseason, if it comes to that. “It doesn’t have an effect on me,” said Arenado.

You can read his full thoughts and comments here.

Launch Angle stats of the 2nd Half of 2018

Eno Sarris of The Athletic tweeted about the worst ten players (minimum 50 balls in play) in launch angle in the second half of the 2018 season last year.

Not surprisingly, the Rockies have two of the top (or bottom) ten. If you guessed Ian Desmond as one of them, you’d be correct. The other is Tony Wolters.

For the entire season, per Baseball Savant, Ian Desmond had the second worst launch angle for anybody in all of baseball (only Eric Hosmer was worse). Other Rockies in the bottom 100 (which is the bottom 30 percent among qualifiers) are the aforementioned Wolters (19th worst), DJ LeMahieu (24th), Gerardo Parra (58th), and Carlos Gonzalez (73rd).

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Albuquerque Isotopes release promotional schedule

Yesterday, the Rockies Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes, released their promotional schedule.

Some of the highlights include 15 firework nights, five nights where the Isotopes will become the “Mariachis de Nuevo México” (Spanish for New Mexico Mariachis). They are becoming the Mariachis because they are participating in the Copa de la Diversion, or “Fun Cup,” which is “a season-long series across all of Minor League Baseball specifically designed to embrace the culture and values that resonate most with participating teams’ local U.S. Hispanic/Latino communities.”

Other promotions include 50 cent hot dog nights, an “Albuquerque Green Chile Cheeseburger Day”, and “Family Fridays,” where if you buy tickets in person or online with the promo code FAMILY, tickets are only $9.

The Colorado Rockies have not released their promotional schedule yet but when they release it (and they should here soon), stay tuned for that as we will have the highlights of that.