Colorado Rockies: Are we seeing the real Brendan Rodgers?

Former Colorado Rockies top prospect Brendan Rodgers has been playing the Rockies hoped he would.

In a combined 32 games at the major league level in 2019 and 2020, Rodgers only hit .196/.235/.227 with a wRC+ of 8, which is not exactly what you hope to see out of your former #1 prospect.

Rodgers has dealt with more than his fair share of injuries, including a hamstring strain that cost him the rest of Spring Training and the first seven weeks of the 2021 regular season, which was partially why Rodgers didn’t have the results at the major league level.

He started off the season slowly as, in his first 10 games of 2021, he only hit .161/.257/.161 with no extra-base hits.

However, in the 13 games since then, Rodgers is hitting .324/.409/.595 with four extra-base hits and a wRC+ of 158.

Is this the start of the emergence of Brendan Rodgers for the Colorado Rockies?

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There are a few signs that show both that Rodgers could be breaking out and there is some evidence that contends that he has had some good luck.

BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) helps determine whether or not offensive players have had some good luck. The league average BABIP is .300. In the first 10 games of 2021, Rodgers’ BABIP was .217, which indicates that he was in a stretch of bad luck. 

In the 13 games since, Rodgers has a BABIP of .346, which suggests that he has had some good fortune recently.

On Friday, we asked Rockies manager Bud Black what he has seen out of Rodgers recently.

“I think there’s a confidence level now that we’re seeing out of Brendan,” said Black. “I think his at-bats have been more under control. I think they’ve been, for a lack of a better term, they’ve been big-league quality. His swings are short and crisp (and) I think he’s taking his at-bats like we expected him to … We think he’s going to hit at this level but overall, I think it boils down to a comfort level and a confidence level that he’s showing right now.”

Overall now, on the season, Rodgers has a wRC+ of 94 and a BABIP of .286.

Has Brendan Rodgers been much better at the plate in 2021? Absolutely. And with that BABIP, he is still underperforming slightly but he looks like he is about league average at the plate.

As he gets more playing time (and he honestly should be getting more consistent playing time in the Rockies starting lineup), Rodgers should be showing that he is a major league quality player but he will still need to make some adjustments to become an above-average MLB player or an All-Star caliber player, which is the player that the Rockies hoped they were getting when they drafted him six years ago.