Colorado Rockies: Bud Black talks about players “scuffling” in lineup

The Colorado Rockies have won largely due to their pitching in 2020. Some offensive players are playing well but there are a few that are “scuffling.”

The Colorado Rockies are 11-4 through 25 percent of the season so things are obviously going their way for the most part. However, one of the things that have not gone as swimmingly is the team’s offense.

The Rockies have been riding the wave of Charlie Blackmon (who’s leading the majors in batting average, OBP, and 5th in slugging percentage), Daniel Murphy, Trevor Story, and a few others hitting well while players like Nolan Arenado, David Dahl, and Ryan McMahon have been “scuffling,” according to Black.

Arenado was given his first off-day of the season on Sunday after Bud Black said, before the game, that he thinks that Arenado’s problem is that he has to have some “straightening out some mechanics” on his swing, including being “a little jumpy” at the plate and “over-aggressive.”

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Dahl isn’t hitting the ball well either as he is in the bottom five percent of baseball in hard-hit percentage at 22.7 percent through Sunday, according to StatCast. The MLB average is 34.7 percent. He is also chasing pitches at a much higher clip than league average as he is chasing at a 36.8 percent rate when the league average is 28.2 percent.

Black spoke about Ryan McMahon and what he thinks his issues have been when he spoke with the media, including Rox Pile, after Sunday’s game.

"“I think it’s a couple things [with McMahon],” said Black. “I think [his] swing is a little long and I think there’s a little bit of an expansion of the strike zone…We’ve talked about his chase rate and his chase rate is– especially on the breaking ball down–he’s chasing that pitch a little bit more than he normally does and I think on certain fastballs that are in the zone, he’s just missing them. He’s fouling them off or swinging through them so we need to get Mac going.”"

According to Baseball Savant, McMahon’s chase rate is at 32.8 percent (4.6 percent above league average) while his chase contact rate is only 48.8 percent, which is 10.8 percent below league average.

We will have to wait and see whether or not McMahon will be in the lineup for the series opener against the D’Backs tonight at Coors Field but if he is, he will have to face left-handed pitcher Robbie Ray so Black may opt to give McMahon a day off after giving Arenado and Murphy (with the exception of a pinch-hitting appearance) on Sunday.

Note: McMahon is not in the starting lineup for Monday’s game.