Colorado Rockies: Top Five Shortstops in Franchise History

Number 4: Royce Clayton (1.2 fWAR, 1.1 bWAR, one season as a Rockie)

There were a few shortstops that played multiple seasons with the Rockies but they had one or two good seasons and one or two bad seasons as well, like Barmes at number five and some of those who just missed the list.

Therefore, even though Royce Clayton had one season with the Rockies, he makes the list.

That one season was 2004 and he played 146 games. He hit .279/.338/.397 with an OPS+/wRC+ of 80. He had -1 DRS via both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference so he was slightly below average. He signed with the D’backs via free agency for the 2005 season and he last played in the majors in 2007, ending a 17-year MLB career.

Number 3: Walt Weiss (2.8 fWAR, 3.8 bWAR, four seasons as a Rockie)

Walt Weiss became the Rockies shortstop in 1994 as he jumped ship from the fellow expansion Florida Marlins to the Rockies. He replaced Vinny Castilla as the Rockies’ primary shortstop as Castilla was relegated to the bench and, later, primary third baseman for the rest of the decade.

Weiss was with the Rockies through the 1997 season and in those four seasons, he averaged a .266/.375/.347 slash line and an OPS+ of 77. That high OBP is attributed to his high walk rate as he struck out less than he walked in three of the last four seasons as a Rockie. His main problem at the plate was his power, as you can see with the slugging percentage.

Defensively, defensive WAR points to him being a slightly above-average defender.

He left the Rockies via free agency and he joined the Atlanta Braves and he retired after the 2000 season. Coincidentally, he later became the Rockies manager and after he was let go following the 2016 season, he left the Rockies to join the Braves as bench coach, where he still is today.