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Colorado Rockies: You should have seen (at least some of) this coming

By Noah Yingling

DENVER, CO - APRIL 7: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies stands on the field after being stranded at third base in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on April 7, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies 12-6 to sweep the three game series.(Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - APRIL 7: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies stands on the field after being stranded at third base in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on April 7, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies 12-6 to sweep the three game series.(Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /
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DENVER, CO – APRIL 5: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies hits the ground with his bat after hitting a pop up ion the ninth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the Colorado Rockies home opener at Coors Field on April 5, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – APRIL 5: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Colorado Rockies hits the ground with his bat after hitting a pop up ion the ninth inning of a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the Colorado Rockies home opener at Coors Field on April 5, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

According to Baseball Reference, the Rockies offense currently has an OPS+ of 45, which means they are currently playing at a clip that is 55 percent below league average (after adjustments to ballparks played in). They are hitting .208/.272/.323, which is third to last, second to last, and last in the National League.

I don’t think anybody would have predicted that the Rockies offense would be this inept but the general concept of the Rockies offense struggling is nothing new.

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The reason for that is that we are currently in the worst era for Rockies offense in the history of the franchise. Don’t believe me? Well, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the Rockies offense will perform to 90 OPS+ or less this season. At this point, I think everybody would welcome a 90 OPS+. If they end up at 90 or less, it will mean that for the first time in Rockies franchise history that they will have an OPS+ of 90 or less for three straight seasons.

To top it all off, they had an OPS+ of 89 in 2015 meaning that they are well on their way to have an OPS+ of 90 or less in four out of the last five seasons (in 2016, the Rockies had an OPS+ of 97).

There were three other times in franchise history that the Rockies offense has played that poorly.

  • 1993 and 1994 (87 and 88 OPS+)
  • 1999 and 2000 (87 and 87)
  • 2005 and 2006 (85 and 90)

The following seasons had OPS+ numbers of 94 in 1995, 97 in 2001, and 98 in 2007.

So the belief that “you just know that they’re going hit” is not based in fact, at least for this group thus far.

Will they hit better over time? Absolutely, because you can only hit .208 for so long … but the Rockies offense will struggle, because it has struggled in past seasons and the front office has not added many new names to change that.

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