Colorado Rockies: Top Five Second Basemen in Franchise History

The Colorado Rockies have had a lot of turnover at the second base position in their franchise history. But they do have some clear frontrunners.

The Colorado Rockies have a bit of an odd history at second base. Most of the players that played second base were stop-gaps or just didn’t pan out. They also had a lot of second basemen play other positions, which is something that you’ll see in our list today.

Let’s take a look at the top five second basemen in Colorado Rockies history.

Number 5: Jamey Carroll (3.5 bWAR, 2.7 fWAR, 2 seasons as a Rockie, 189 games at 2B)

Jamey Carroll spent two seasons with the Rockies (2006 and 2007). He was the team’s primary second baseman in 2006 after he came over from the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos organization, where he had spent his entire career until he joined the Rockies.

In 2006, in 136 total games (109 at 2B), Carroll hit .300.377/.404 with an OPS+ of 94. He also had 19 DRS that season (18 at 2B) and had a WAR of 3.3, which was fifth-best on the Rockies that season. Not shabby for having to give the Nationals $300,000 for his services and pay him $700,000.

In 2007, he did not start for the Rockies every day as he gave way to someone that will be on this list later. He still had 60 appearances at 2B but played some other infield positions as well since he was mainly a bench option. He hit .225/.317/.300 with an OPS+ of 57.

In his Rockies tenure, he is best known as the player who hit the fly ball to right field that “scored” Matt Holliday for the winning run to beat the San Diego Padres for the NL West title in Game 163 in 2007.

2007 was his final season with the Rockies as the Rockies traded him to the Cleveland Indians after the 2007 season.

Number 2: Eric Young (9.5 bWAR, 12.3 fWAR, 5 seasons as a Rockie, 456 games at 2B)

Eric Young was the Rockies 1st second baseman as the Rockies drafted Young in the 1992 expansion draft from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1994, though, he only played one game at second base as he mainly played left field. Nelson Liriano was the primary second baseman.

He was relegated to bench duty for the first part of 1995 and he split the season between second base and left field. He received more starting duties when regular second baseman Jason Bates got injured in late June. Entering the month of July, Young was hitting a meager .149/.275/.194.

However, he went on a torrid stretch for the rest of the season as he hit .355/.434/.535 with six homers and 29 RBI with 38 walks compared to only 22 strikeouts in 75 games.

That performance helped get the Rockies to the playoffs via the NL Wild Card for the first time in franchise history.

In 1996, he put up similar numbers as for the entirety of the season, he hit .324/.393/.421 with eight home runs, 74 RBI, and 53 stolen bases. He was an All-Star and also won a Silver Slugger Award.

By 1997, though, the Rockies traded Young in the middle of the season to the Dodgers for pitcher Pedro Astacio.

He finished his tenure with the Rockies hitting .295/.378/.412 with an OPS+ of 93.

Young played for six more teams through 2006 and then he retired from baseball. He became a studio analyst for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight for a few years before becoming a coach.

He was a first base and baserunning coach for the Diamondbacks under Kirk Gibson and later, he joined former Rockies teammate Walt Weiss’s staff with the Rockies in the same position from 2014 through 2016. When Weiss was fired, Young left the staff as well. He joined Weiss on the Atlanta Braves coaching staff where he remains today.

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Honorable Mentions: Clint Barmes (9.3 bWAR, 4.5 fWAR, 8 seasons as Rockie, 306 games at 2B)

Clint Barmes would likely be on this list if he spent some more time at second base for the Rockies. He was the primary second baseman in three seasons but in his time with the Rockies, he only played 46 percent of his games at second base.

That plus a total of 9.3 bWAR and 4.5 fWAR in eight seasons as a Rockie couldn’t get him on the list due to a few good seasons by other second basemen who had short, but successful tenures.

Honorable Mention: Ryan McMahon (1.4 career bWAR, 0.6 career fWAR, 127 games at 2B)

If Ryan McMahon plays another season or more and plays well, he will likely find his way on this list in the future.

However, considering that 2019 was his first season as primary second baseman, he only had a batting average of .250, an OPS+ of 87 and his below-average defense at second base (-3 DRS at second base, per Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs both), it didn’t warrant him making the list right now.

Number 1: DJ LeMahieu (16.1 bWAR, 11.4 fWAR, 7 seasons as a Rockie, 877 games at 2B)

DJ LeMahieu is the best second baseman in Colorado Rockies history … but just barely. Going into making this list, I thought he was above Eric Young by a lot but I was wrong. In fact, I was on the fence about who to put. That’s the reason why I put this poll out on Twitter: I couldn’t decide.

The voting was 50-50 for most of the 12 hours that the poll out there but LeMahieu (Player B) pulled out the win, 56-44, over Eric Young (Player A).

Ultimately, LeMahieu played more time with the Rockies and played more second base than Young.

Their average numbers, though, are remarkably similar which is what made this ranking of the top five Rockies at each position the first particularly difficult one at the top of the rankings.