Top 5 players to play for the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds

2. Matt Belisle

Matt Belisle had an erratic start to his career. Like many pitchers, Belisle was brought up in the Reds system as a potential starter. As he figured himself out as a player, Belisle transitioned to the bullpen, where he saw progress.

After six years in the Cincinnati system with mixed results, Belisle moved to the mountains of Colorado and became an ace out of the bullpen. Belisle dominated and actually was third and fifth on the team in WAR during the 2012 and 2010 seasons, respectively. Belisle appeared twice during the Rockies’ unfortunate postseason loss in 2009 with great results. He only allowed only a single walk across his two appearances in the series.

The story of Matt Belisle is interesting just because of how rocky it started out. Despite the odds, he developed into a skilled player and one of the best Colorado Rockies relief pitchers of the late 2000s to early 2010s.

1. Dante Bichette

Once I saw a Blake Street Bomber on this list, I knew there were very few that could top him.

Dante Bichette was an original Colorado Rockie, being one of the first trades the Rockies made on draft day. Bichette was an incredible player for the team, earning four All-Star appearances and even hitting the first-ever Colorado Rockies home run.

In 1995, Bichette was the leader of the playoff Blake Street Bombers, earning himself the spot of runner-up MVP, an All-Star Game, and a Silver Slugger. That year, he was two positions off of the first-ever Rockies Triple Crown, finishing first in the NL in RBI (128) and homers (40) while finishing third in batting average (.340).

Bichette’s performance did not stop in the regular season. During Colorado’s first-ever postseason run, Bichette remained dominant, batting .588 with an OPS of 1.552, 3 doubles, 3 RBI, 6 Runs, and a homer during the series.

The Rockies traded Bichette to the Reds in 2000 for Stan Belinda and Jeffrey Hammonds. Bichette was productive for the Reds, keeping the batting average near .300 and hitting 16 home runs across 125 games, despite no longer playing at Coors Field.

The Reds would trade Bichette to the playoff hope Red Sox before the season ended, and Bichette would retire only a year later.

Dante Bichette is one of the greatest Colorado Rockies players in history, so, of course, he gets the top spot on this list.

Note: Data for this article was found using Baseball-Reference and Wikipedia