Colorado Rockies: How Ryan McMahon’s 2021 season will be different in many ways

Heading into the 2021 season, Ryan McMahon is, perhaps, the guy who will have the most pressure on him to succeed with the Colorado Rockies in 2021.

After the departure of Nolan Arenado, McMahon, 26, was looking at moving to become the team’s everyday third baseman. McMahon had been the team’s primary second baseman in the last two seasons but he is a natural third baseman.

With him moving to third base, Brendan Rodgers had an opening to become the team’s Opening Day second baseman. However, with his hamstring injury that will keep him out for “at least a month” as of last Friday, McMahon has seen more time at second base in recent games.

Considering the team’s players and the positions that they play, the Rockies look like they would use Josh Fuentes as the primary third baseman and McMahon as the primary second baseman.

But, yesterday, I asked Rockies manager Bud Black whether or not he expects to see McMahon more at second or third base to start the season, and here’s what he had to say.

"“I think, right now, you could expect to see (McMahon) more at second,” said Black. “We’d (likely) put Josh (Fuentes) at third, and we’d put, potentially, Cron at first (but) there could be times when Mac shifts back to third and we play (Garrett) Hampson or (Chris) Owings at second. Again, we go back to the versatility aspect. We know that all these guys bring that. Once we get the season rolling, you know, guys might need a day off, or, you know, there’s performance things to the versatility of these guys, you know, benefit them at the team.”"

So McMahon will likely see time at both positions but primarily second base, at least until Rodgers comes back or somebody else proves themself at third or second base.