Colorado Rockies: Five trends that will continue throughout the season

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CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 02: Ian Desmond #20 of the Colorado Rockies grounds into fielder’s choice in the eleventh inning against the Chicago Cubs during the National League Wild Card Game at Wrigley Field on October 2, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

Today starts the month of May so we are a little over a month through the 2019 season. With that, there are some trends that the Colorado Rockies have had that we have noticed in the first month or so of the season.

The Colorado Rockies have not had the start of the season that they have been hoping for as they are four games under .500 with a record of 13-17. They also ended the month of April by losing three straight games (two to Atlanta and one to Milwaukee).

So, today, let’s look at five trends that the Rockies currently have (as a team or on an individual basis) that will continue throughout the season.

Ian Desmond struggling

If you have eyes, you have seen that Ian Desmond hasn’t played well this season. In fact, he hasn’t played well in his tenure with the Rockies, in general, but you probably already know this.

Entering May, Desmond is hitting .196/.235/.370 with an OPS+ of 47. The average slash line he had in his previous two seasons with the Rockies is .251/.314/.404 and an OPS+ of 78 so he has regressed by more than 30 percent, at least to start the season.

I wouldn’t expect him to be this bad all season but until you see it happen, any rational observer can see that Desmond will not be winning any batting titles any time soon.

DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 19: Pitcher Wade Davis #71 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field on April 19, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

The offense being below average

The biggest issue for the Rockies to start the season, particularly in their 12 losses in 13 games part of the season from March 30 through April 13. During that span, the Rockies offense averaged 2.3 runs per game and hit .192/.248/.293 as a team.

Overall, the Rockies offense is hitting .232/.293/.404, an average of 4.2 runs per game, and an OPS+ of 71, which is third to last in baseball. According to the Rockies PR team, the Rockies are 12-5 when scoring four runs or more but they are only 1-12 when scoring three runs or less.

This is in the middle of the worst era for Rockies offense in their franchise history, as we showed you in this article nearly three weeks ago.

But “you just know they’re going to hit.”

Some question marks in the bullpen

Wade Davis, Scott Oberg, and Bryan Shaw have been excellent in the Rockies bullpen. Each of the three have an ERA between 0.90 between 1.32.

However, every other person who has pitched at least 3+ innings out of the bullpen has an ERA between 4.50 and 6.75 (that is a total of seven guys). That’s a big problem, especially when you have an eight-man bullpen.

I think that Seunghwan Oh has the best chance of the seven to be reliable guy out of the bullpen for the Rockies. Even if that’s the case, though, the Rockies would still have half of their bullpen with an ERA of 4.50 or higher.

That’s still not good and that’s part of the reason why if the Rockies are in contention in July, one of their main areas that they will try to make better is the bullpen.

DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Starting pitcher German Marquez #48 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field on April 24, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

German Marquez is the best Rockies starter…by far

The current Rockies rotation (German Marquez, Jon Gray, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, and Tyler Anderson) has a total bWAR of 1.9 entering May.

German Marquez’s bWAR is 1.5. The next highest after that is Gray’s 0.7 so, thus far, by this and watching the games, Marquez has pitched like the Rockies ace.

Kyle Freeland started on Opening Day for the Rockies but he has struggled a lot, partially due the blister on his middle finger on his throwing hand.

Marquez has been dominate for much of the season so far and, personally, I think that if the Rockies make the postseason, he’ll likely be the Rockies Wild Card game or Game 1 starter in the NLDS.

A big question mark in the fifth starter spot

Tyler Anderson has been injured for some of this season but even in his return from the injured list, he has been awful.

He has an ERA of 11.34 and a FIP of 7.43 in 4 starts. In his two starts since coming off the IL, his ERA is actually even worse as it is 11.74. He also hasn’t gotten out of the 5th inning in either of those starts. In his first two starts, he completed the fifth inning once (his first start, when he went an even five innings).

He’s actually striking out well more than his career average (8.2 was his career average before this season and he is averaging 9.7 per nine innings this year) but his walk rate is double his career average (2.7 average to 5.4 this year).

There’s only so much that the Rockies can deal with if Anderson keeps posting bad starts.

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Personally, I think that the Rockies need to address the starting rotation at the trade deadline if Anderson (or others) struggle in the rotation.

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