Colorado Rockies: Five takeaways from Bill Schmidt’s Ryan McMahon/shortstop comments

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reported on Tuesday a rather surprising development after talking with GM Bill Schmidt: The Colorado Rockies are considering using Ryan McMahon as a shortstop next season.

That is rather surprising considering that McMahon has played three innings in his professional career at shortstop (all in 2020). Also, McMahon is a Gold Glove-caliber player at both second and third base.

“It’s something we have discussed,” Schmidt told Saunders. “Ryan has good range and that’s something we saw last year when he played third base with the shift on (to left-handed hitters).”

While the latter part of the statement is true, it is still odd that the Colorado Rockies are thinking of using him there. For what it’s worth, it seems to be in the early stage of discussions as McMahon told Saunders that he had not been told about that, at least yet. However, as he has said in the past, McMahon is open to playing any position as long as he’s on the field.

“I’d like to think that I could work at any (position) and become at least a solid defender there,” McMahon told Saunders.

But even entertaining that thought from the Rockies front office signifies five different things for the Rockies this offseason and in the infield in 2022.