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Colorado Rockies: 3 players the team lost faith in too quickly

By Noah Yingling

DENVER, COLORADO - SEPTEMBER 12: Sam Howard #61 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the eighth inning against the St Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on September 12, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - SEPTEMBER 12: Sam Howard #61 of the Colorado Rockies throws in the eighth inning against the St Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on September 12, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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Former Colorado Rockies catcher Tom Murphy
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – MAY 31: Tom Murphy #2 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after hitting the game-winning sacrifice fly out to defeat the Oakland Athletics 6-5 at T-Mobile Park on May 31, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

2) Tom Murphy

The Rockies catching situation has long been a weakness for the team, especially at the plate.

Entering Thursday, Dom Nuñez is hitting .172/.271/.388 with an OPS+ of 71 and Elias Diaz is hitting .147/.219/.211 and OPS+ of 14. For Nuñez, that is the highest OPS+ that a Rockies catcher has put up since Chris Iannetta in 2018 and 2019, but his OPS+ was still well below league average.

Tom Murphy, who was let go by the Rockies via waivers at the end of spring training in 2019, was phenomenal at the plate in 2019 as, in 281 plate appearances, he hit .273/.324/.535 with an OPS+ of 128 with Seattle.

He missed 2020 due to injury but in 2021, he hasn’t been quite as good at the plate but still better than the Rockies currently have.

In 128 plate appearances, he has hit .181/.238/.379 with an OPS+ of 75.

Depending on the source, Murphy has been either slightly above or slightly below Nuñez defensively this season (which is about league average) but Murphy was well above league average in 2019.

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