Colorado Rockies roster moves: Charlie Blackmon, Wade Davis activated from the injured list

The Colorado Rockies have announced on Twitter that they have activated outfielder Charlie Blackmon off of the 10-day injured list.

On Friday, before the start of their series with the New York Mets in Queens, the Colorado Rockies have announced that they have activated outfielder Charlie Blackmon (right calf strain) and closer Wade Davis (left oblique strain) off of the 10-day injured list.

In corresponding moves, the Rockies have optioned infielder/outfielderGarrett Hampsonback to Triple-A Albuquerque as well as designated reliever Chris Rusin for assignment.

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Blackmon, who turns 33 next month, played two games for the Isotopes in a rehab assignment and went 2-for-7 (.286 batting average) with two singles. He last played in the major leagues on May 23 when the Rockies faced the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was two weeks ago yesterday.

Since then, the Rockies have played well without Blackmon as they have gone 10-3 in 13 games he missed.

Blackmon and the Rockies are hoping that he can regain the form that he had before his injury in May as from May 1 until his injury on May 23, he was hitting .333/.395/.731 with 26 hits, 7 home runs, 16 RBI, and 6 doubles in 18 games. That came after a feeble start to the season, like most of the Rockies had, as Blackmon was hitting .221/.2274/.299 with no home runs, 6 RBI, 17 hits, and 4 doubles in his first 18 games. The Rockies went 7-11 in those games compared to 16-13 from April 18 to Blackmon’s injury on May 23.

On the season as a whole, Blackmon has 35 runs, 60 hits, 13 doubles, 10 home runs, and 31 RBI in 46 games.

Hampson, 24, turned some heads in spring training as he hit .279/.340/.628 with 4 home runs and 9 RBI in 43 spring training at-bats so he made the Rockies Opening Day roster but he hasn’t played well at the major league level since. He was sent back to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 14 but was recalled last weekend.

Since then, he has only played in 2 games, going hitless in 6 plate appearances with 2 walks. Overall on the season, he is hitting .186/.231/.258 with 18 hits, a double, a triple, a home run, and 6 RBI in 33 games (24 starts).

Davis, 33, has not appeared in a game since May 14 so he has been out for about 3 weeks. This season, in 17 games, he has a a 2.45 ERA with 7 saves and an opponent slash line of .218/.338/.273.

The Rockies had three other relievers with minor league options and they did not need a 40-man roster spot for the activation of Davis so it is surprising that the Rockies are designating Chris Rusin for assignment.

They stuck with Rusin while he was on the injured list for the first two months of the season but after two appearances out of the bullpen this year (1.0 IP, 5 H, 4R/ER) and an awful 2018 campaign, in which he had an ERA of 6.09 (4.64 FIP) in 49 games.

It’s not necessarily the results behind the move for the Rockies DFA’ing Rusin but more of the timing. The Rockies also tendered Rusin a $1.7 million contract in the offseason so it didn’t end up being one of the Rockies’ front office’s greatest moves.