Colorado Rockies: Key stats you should know from August

Batting stats

To start the season, the Rockies seemed to score at will. Charlie Blackmon was hitting close to .500 for a quarter of the season, Trevor Story was staying at the top of the home run leaderboard while swiping bags, Daniel Murphy looked like the player the Rockies saw when they originally signed him to that hefty contract, Matt Kemp was a nice addition finding a role at DH and coming off the bench, and Garrett Hampson was finding his niche moving into Chuck Nazty’s traditional leadoff role. The only thing that seemed off was Nolan Arenado’s bat. His glove hadn’t missed a beat, but it is not likely he will be adding any slugging hardware to his massive trophy case this year.

Well, Arenado hit the cages hard and steadily improved his at-bats. It seemed like everything has changed since, as the Rockies have struggled to score, especially in a 13-2 drubbing against the second-place San Diego Padres. That has been a theme in the losses this year with very one-sided affairs of late. The Rockies (as a club) are still batting well with a .278 team average, which ranks sixth in the majors, and a .766 OPS, which ranks 11th in August. The Dodgers and Padres are leading the Rockies in the latter category. The Chicago White Sox are leading the majors in both categories.

The batting hasn’t been the biggest problem this year but it could stand to improve especially on the road. The club average at home is .306 at home and .216 on the road. The RBIs are 99 and 60 and the OPS is .852 and .645 respectively. That has to change immediately with two key series on the road against the Dodgers and Padres to start September. The Rockies don’t necessarily need another bat, just more consistency on the road. The same can’t be said for the pitching staff.