Colorado Rockies: 2 areas where Raimel Tapia can make improvements

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Apr 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia (15) celebrates his RBI double in the fourth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

There is no question that Colorado Rockies outfielder Raimel Tapia has made big strides at the plate since his Major League debut in September of 2016. However, like any big leaguer, there are areas of his game where improvement can mean taking the proverbial next step in his career.

At 27, Tapia is in the midst of the prime of his career and, over the last two-plus seasons, he has had the opportunity to showcase his skills at the plate, as well as the swagger that has made him a favorite among so many Rockies fans.

On Sunday, Colorado manager Bud Black said that Tapia has, “strong conviction and belief in his ability.” He displayed that on Saturday night in a 14-6 Colorado win in Arizona, logging his third career four-hit game.

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There are a couple of other numbers to know when it comes to Tapia’s recent success at the plate. First, he’s batting .315 (87-for-276) over the past two seasons. That’s the second-highest batting average in the National League over that span (minimum of 250 at-bats) behind Trea Turner (.327).

Second, he’s hitting .320 as a leadoff hitter since the start of the 2020 campaign, good enough for third in MLB.

So, yes, there’s plenty to celebrate, but there are also a couple of areas where Tapia has the opportunity to improve his game. Black shared those two things on Sunday, so let’s take a look at those comments and the numbers behind them.

Apr 17, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia (15) hits a solo home run in the fifth inning against the New York Mets at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

Heading into Sunday’s road finale, Tapia had just seven strikeouts through 80 plate appearances prior to this road trip. In games in San Francisco and Arizona, Tapia registered five strikeouts through 21 plate appearances. It’s a small bump up in strikeouts at the plate, and it could be as a result of trying to generate power behind his swing.

Through Colorado’s first 26 games, Tapia logged three homers. That includes a walkoff homer on April 23 at Coors Field against the Philadelphia Phillies.

While the long ball may get the highlights, Black also cautioned that swinging for the fences is when Tapia’s swing gets out of whack.

“Every now and then you’ll see the swing get a little hard and a little big and a little long,” Black said. “That’s where you’ll see the ground ball to second trying to pull an outside pitch with a bigger swing. If he stays with that approach of staying in the middle of the diamond thought process and then hit the ball where it’s pitched, I think you’re going to see a lot of hits. And I do think the homer will show up.”

But just because the home run will show up doesn’t mean Tapia should make it a regular part of his game, Black said.

“He shouldn’t ever try to hit homers because that’s when the swing gets big and the swing gets long,” Black offered.

Tapia’s chase rate heading into Sunday was among the bottom 15 percent of those in the league, per BaseballSavant.com. His barrel rate was even lower, among the bottom 11 percent. Barrels have never been a big part of his game (he’s had just 20 in 728 batted balls) so trying to put power behind the swing will often result in less-than-desirable results.

For Tapia to be successful, sticking with the approach of solid contact and flares while keeping his swing within its own limitations is his best bet for success.

Sep 24, 2019; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia (15) catches a deep fly ball off the bat of San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (not pictured) in the ninth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

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One of the areas where Tapia has had to focus for years has been on the defensive side of his game.

Heading into Sunday’s action, Tapia was at -1 in Outs Above Average, per Baseball Savant. He also has 0 Defensive Runs Saved (per FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference), which is league average.

However, he has a Def (which is “the combination of two important factors of defensive performance: value relative to positional average (fielding runs) and positional value relative to other positions (positional adjustment)” of -1.6, entering Sunday. That is second-worst on the Rockies (C.J. Cron was worst).

His UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), which encompasses errors, range, and arm among other stats, was also third-worst among Rockies players at -0.6 (with Cron and Chris Owings being lower than Tapia).

But Black said that Tapia is putting in work every day to improve on that side of his game. And that’s on top of the improvement Black believes he has shown throughout his career.

“I think from the time we got here to the big leagues, there’s been incremental improvement,” Black said. “Has it been has been a quantum leap of progress? Probably not, but he’s better now than he was a couple of years ago. “I think the fundamental play of hitting the cutoff man has improved, throwing to the correct base has improved, technique on charging a ground ball base hit has improved, so there’s been improvement, but still there’s room to grow on defense with Tap.”

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He also said that “I think there’s a tremendous diving catch in there somewhere” with Tapia, and Tapia showed that in the fourth inning of Sunday’s game.

Yes, there have been improvements with Tapia, as we have seen in recent years. Now, he just has to continue doing it.

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