Colorado Rockies: Offensive trends that have to change

To put it mildly, it has been a rough week for the Colorado Rockies. After getting swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, the Rockies have now lost four in a row and are five games below .500 for the first time since April 20.

A lot of the blame has been placed on Colorado Rockies’ pitching staff, as well it should be. They are last in the with National League with a 5.00 ERA. However, the offense has also had its fair share of problems and, if things don’t get turned around quickly, this season could soon fall apart.

Over the weekend, our Kevin Henry spelled out how Daniel Murphy should be placed on the Injured List. There isn’t much more to add besides Murphy looks completely lost at the plate and obviously his injured finger is the reason for it. Moving on…

If last week taught us anything, it is that the Colorado Rockies have to cut down on the strikeouts. In the five games, the Rockies struck out a staggering 66 total times. For the season, they are fourth in the Major League and are averaging 9.9 strikeouts per game. That is way too many empty at-bats in which the Rockies could have driven in a run or, at a minimum, moved a runner into scoring position.

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Speaking of scoring position, the lack of clutch hits is becoming a complete burden. With runners in scoring position, the Rockies are in the middle of the pack with a .256 average. However, when there are two outs and runners in scoring position, the average drops to a horrific .202, which is second-to-last in the NL.

Trevor Story has to hit better in the second spot in the lineup. Even with his two-run bomb on Sunday, he is still only slashing .248/.321/.485 in 101 at-bats from that spot in the lineup. However, when he is hitting fourth, those stats rise to .282/.337/.487 in 78 at-bats. Recently, I called for a reshuffling of the lineup and I would really like to see Story back hitting cleanup behind Nolan Arenado.

The Rockies are coming to a pivotal juncture where if they don’t get some of their problems sorted out soon, missing the playoffs could be a foregone conclusion. With a pitching staff struggling to gain any traction, it is up to the offense to carry the load.