Colorado Rockies: 3 hitters who took advantage of Coors Field in 2020

Josh Fuentes

After being recalled from the alternate training site on August 20, Fuentes became a mainstay in the Colorado lineup, anchoring first base as Daniel Murphy slumped horribly and would eventually see little playing time as the season wound down.

Fuentes took the field in half (30) of Colorado’s 60 games last season, and just six of those came in August. Of those 30 games, 16 came on the road. In those contests, Fuentes posted a .235/.278/.373 slash line with one homer and eight RBI.

At Denver, the home run and RBI production for Fuentes were almost similar (one homer and nine RBI), but the slash numbers at the plate were higher. The 27-year-old Fuentes hit .383/.367/.511. Diving into the numbers deeper, Fuentes didn’t draw a walk in his 14 games at Coors Field (but he drew just a pair in his road outings).

Daniel Murphy

Yes, Fuentes supplanted Murphy once Labor Day passed. While Murphy’s tenure in Denver ended with a thud and became yet another veteran free agent signing that didn’t work for the Rockies, Murphy did have his moments at Coors Field in 2020.

Despite hitting just 2-for-25 overall in September (.080), the 35-year-old Murphy hit .281/.313/.406 in 64 at-bats over 20 games. That included what could be argued was the highlight for him overall when he pinch hit in the ninth against the San Diego Padres in late August and drove in the winning run (one of just 16 RBI Murphy logged in 2020).

Away from Coors (in 59 at-bats over 20 games), Murphy slashed just .186/.234/.254. It was just part of a disappointing two-year run in purple for Murphy.