Colorado Rockies: The MLB The Show 20 ratings and rankings may raise some eyebrows

A few weeks ago, MLB The Show 20 was released. In the game, some of their ratings, rankings, positioning of some Colorado Rockies are a bit peculiar.

Since there are no games currently happening and there won’t be any in the foreseeable future, the only ways we can see Colorado Rockies baseball is through past games and video games.

MLB The Show 20 is the most popular MLB video game on the market right now and while most people have more time on their hands, they may be playing it or watching others play it (like our friends over at Purple Row, as Ben Kouchnerkavich has been simulating and providing play-by-play for each simulated game in the Rockies season on the game thus far that you can watch here).

However, for those that have not bought the game yet or aren’t huge fans of video games, you may not have seen the ratings for the players and rankings for the Rockies yet. With them, there are few puzzling ones, including some positions that they have assigned to players as well.

For the players, we will discuss those on the 40-man roster and players that have prior MLB experience. For the first time in 2020, there are no fake players as all of the players in the game are major or minor leaguers.

Also, some of the ratings and rankings vary depending on which mode you are in on the game and whether or not rosters have been updated by PlayStation. All of these ratings and rankings are ones that are encountered when you go into “franchise” mode.

Let’s first start out with their team rankings.

Team Rankings

Of the 30 MLB teams, the Colorado Rockies are ranked 22nd. That is exactly where they ranked in their win total in 2019 so it’s a pretty fair ranking.

The Rockies are ranked second in contact, 19th in power, 26th in pitching, 15th defensively, and 1st in speed. The speed rating is the one that I think is a bit high but I’ve seen some people say that their rating is as low as 7th.

Directly above the Rockies in the overall rankings is the Milwaukee Brewers at 21st and considering they made it to the playoffs last season, I think that’s a bit of a harsh ranking and probably the harshest one of the 30 teams.

The most generous ones are for the Mets at 4th and Chicago Cubs at 7th. I think that their rankings of the Minnesota Twins as 6th and Cleveland Indians at 8th are generous too. This may sound harsh on the Twins but even though they won 101 games, they are probably the worst 100+ win team that I’ve ever seen.

They can hit a ton but they have an unreliable pitching staff and they fold up like a cheap suit when you say the word “Yankees.” Look at their 2019 postseason against them and frankly, any postseason against them. Also, with the way that ball was in 2019, I’m not convinced their offense is all that great. Good, not great.

The Indians’ offense is not good outside of Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Carlos Santana. Their bullpen is a bit shaky but their rotation is one of the best in baseball. Frankly, if you could combine the Twins offense and Indians pitching staff, you may have the best team in baseball but separately, they aren’t great. No other team is better than those two in the AL Central, though.

For the NL West, no shocker, the Dodgers are ranked as the best overall team but the Padres are ranked 14th, the Diamondbacks 15th, and the Giants 27th. Personally, I think all of those are pretty fair.

The Rockies starting pitching staff is obviously anchored by German Marquez and Jon Gray so it’s no shocker that the are at the top and neck-and-neck. However, some of the other ratings and some of the names under starting pitchers are odd.

• German Marquez, 83 overall
• Jon Gray, 81
• Antonio Senzatela, 72
• Yency Almonte, 71
• Kyle Freeland, 70
• Ben Bowden, 64
• Ubaldo Jimenez, 64
• Ryan Castellani, 63
• Chi Chi Gonzalez, 63
• Ashton Goudeau, 63
• Jeff Hoffman, 63
• Peter Lambert, 62
• Tim Melville, 61

Having Kyle Freeland being below Senzatela and Almonte is a bit harsh but not completely surprising considering his epic fall from grace in 2019. Assuming the season starts at some point, Freeland’s rating will likely go up in roster updates if he pitches as well or even close to the level he did in 2018.

Having Almonte as a starter is something that isn’t going to happen. That is one of the areas that is a bit of a differentiation depending on roster updates and what mode you’re in. He is a reliever and rated in the low- to mid-60s for some others, like in this video. That also has Goudeau and Bowden as relievers too. That also doesn’t have Ubaldo Jimenez in it either.

As you can see from the others, there are a lot of starters in the low-to-mid-60s. The same is for the Rockies relievers in the high 60s.

• Scott Oberg, 79
• James Pazos, 73
• Carlos Estevez, 71
• Jairo Diaz, 70
• Daniel Bard, 68
• Zac Rosscup, 68
• Tim Collins, 67
• Jake McGee, 67
• Bryan Shaw, 67
• Tyler Kinley, 58
• Harrison Musgrave, 57
• Jose Mujica, 54
• Phillip Diehl, 52
• Wes Parsons, 50

This list does not include closers, which includes Wade Davis and Joe Harvey. Their overall ratings are 66 and 50.

Personally, I would think that Estevez and Diaz would be higher than Pazos but they are all close together. Even though they have struggled a lot in the past few seasons, I would have expected to see McGee, Shaw, and Davis higher than Bard, Rosscup, and Collins because each of the three hasn’t had much major league time recently.

Musgrave is on some rosters and not others depending on updates since Musgrave was released by the Rockies on March 10.

The Rockies catchers are a bit of a weak spot for the team, particularly at the plate and it shows in their overall ratings.

• Dom Nunez, 73
• Tony Wolters, 68
• Drew Butera, 68
• Elias Diaz, 67

Depending on updates and such, Wolters is first and Nunez is second but it seems to be consistent that Butera is third and Diaz is fourth.

I do find it a bit ironic that Nunez, at least by this version, is the Rockies’ best catcher. However, of the four, he seems least likely of the four to make the Opening Day roster.

At first base, the Rockies have three men on their 40-man roster. One of them is a bit surprising.

• Daniel Murphy, 78
• Ryan McMahon, 69
• Tyler Nevin, 64

McMahon is the only guy that seems to differentiate… but only on ratings as some have him as high as 73. Either way, I would think that he would be a bit higher. The primary position can change overall ratings as well and if he were to be listed as a second baseman as he should be, his rating would likely be closer to where it should be.

For the outfield, the main issue is with positional placement.

• Left fielder David Dahl, 85
• Right fielder Charlie Blackmon, 80
• Center fielder Ian Desmond, 72
• Center fielder Raimel Tapia, 71
• Center fielder Chris Owings, 70
• Right fielder Sam Hilliard, 68
• Center fielder Yonathan Daza, 66
• Center fielder Mike Gerber, 65
• Right fielder Michael Choice, 57

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Dahl is likely to be the everyday center fielder and Desmond the everyday left fielder (much to the chagrin of most Rockies fans) and not vice versa. Either way, when he’s on the field, he is the best Rockies’ outfielder and it’s shown by his rating.

Blackmon is a fairly close second and then, as you know by paying attention to the Rockies, problems arise thereafter.

As previously mentioned, Desmond isn’t a center fielder. It’s kind of hard to place him, in general, but left field would be the best position for him at this juncture in his career. Tapia isn’t a center fielder either. Last season in the majors, he played 91 games in left field and 13 in center field so why he’s there (as well as Desmond) is anybody’s guess.

Hilliard mainly played center field for the Rockies in the majors but he played most of the season in Albuquerque and primarily played right field so it is understandable seeing him there.

Owings is a hard one to classify by position considering how many positions he plays but he played second base and third base the most in 2019 so center field is a bit odd.

Of all of the outfield ratings, I’d probably have Hilliard a few points higher but otherwise, I think it’s pretty accurate. Most of the ratings, overall, are fairly accurate but as you saw, there are a few puzzling ones but mainly, it is the positional placement that is the biggest issue for MLB The Show 20.