Colorado Rockies: 3 things that must be addressed in the month of August

The Rockies have a few offensive problems too.

The bench for the Rockies

With the expanded 30-man rosters, the Rockies have a larger bench than usual. But that doesn’t mean that bench is a good bench.

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First off, the Rockies have three catchers on their 30-man roster plus another (Dom Nunez) on their three-man taxi squad. However, only Tony Wolters and Drew Butera have seen any action in the first six games and Elias Diaz hasn’t had any playing time, even as a pinch-hitter. If he isn’t going to be used, then why have him on the roster? Diaz is, arguably, the Rockies best offensive catcher, but the Rockies always have prioritized defense and leadership over offense at catcher (hence, why Wolters and Butera are the Rockies two primary catchers).

The Rockies bench is versatile but they don’t have much in the way of offensive threats on the bench. Case in point, Bud Black decides to pinch-hit for Sam Hilliard to avoid a lefty-lefty matchup against Drew Pomeranz. 2 outs, the bottom of the 9th, bases loaded. And Chris Owings is sent up to pinch-hit.

That’s the same Chris Owings who had a slash line of .180/.248/.275 in the last two seasons and an OPS+ of 38. Since Matt Kemp and Garrett Hampson were already used in the game, Bud Black had Butera, Diaz, Owings, and Josh Fuentes to use off of the bench.

Personally, I’m not sure I would have even pinch-hit for Hilliard, even with a great bench. However, those options for that situation are not great. If Kemp and Hampson weren’t used before, maybe they could have pinch-hit but, realistically, they should be in the Rockies starting lineup every day. Which leads me to the third issue…