New Year’s Resolutions for these Colorado Rockies

Oh, like you didn’t know one of these articles was coming for the Colorado Rockies.

Next year (2022) is knocking on the door and that means we need to come up with resolutions that we’ll start for a month and then lose interest in shortly after. But that’s us, not professional ballplayers who will most certainly apply more focus to their resolutions than we will. And while we’re currently in the middle of a lockout, we’re hoping these players stay locked in to these resolutions I will be suggesting for them (which I know they will read and take extremely seriously).

So let’s get these Colorado Rockies New Year’s Resolutions churning and burning and ready to go!

Raimel Tapia: Hit the ball in the air more

I wrote about this previously but Tapia could become a significantly more productive hitter if he was able to lift the ball in the air more. As the owner of the highest single-season ground ball percentage over the past 20 years (67.4%) and the lowest launch angle since Statcast started recording it in 2015 (-4.4 degrees), there’s literally nowhere to go but up (Launch Angle joke: Check).

In 2021, he had a wRC+ of 27 on ground balls and a wRC+ of 104 on fly balls. Quite simply, the more productive hit is in the air. And when he does it’s usually a great result, especially when facing guys like Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer (both of whom he hit homers off of this season). Given his launch angle, if he just gets a bit more under balls and turns more grounders into line drives then he’ll have even more success (316 wRC+ on line drives in 2021). So let’s try to get some air under it Raimel and watch your productivity soar!

Antonio Senzatela: Rack up the strikeouts

As the leader of the Senzatela Fellas, it honestly won’t take much from our dude Antonio to really help him unlock the next level. He was, by fWAR, the Rockies’ best pitcher in 2021 just barely edging out Márquez (3.5 vs 3.4). He’s mastered contact at Coors Field, but if he can start to rack up the Ks then he’ll unlock a new level.

In 2022 he had a K/9 of 6.03, which equates to a K% of 15.5%. That’s the third-lowest K/9 and K% among starters who threw at least 100 innings in 2021. In today’s game, strikeouts are valued and the more a pitcher racks up, the better he generally will perform in the future. Senzatela’s been able to avoid much negative regression and posted up a strong FIP (3.61) and xFIP (4.17) in 2021. That points towards more future success, but he can unleash a more dominant side if he gets just a few more Ks.

His best stretch this season came June through August when he posted a:

3.63 ERA
2.79 FIP
3.74 xFIP
6.78 K/9

At almost 1 more K/9 higher than his season average, the results were evident. If Senzatela can add this dimension to his game then he can really, really take the next step forward in his career.

Brendan Rodgers: Hit at home like it’s the road

Rockies players are all too often judged by their home/road splits but you’d be hard-pressed to find another Rockies player with the splits that Brendan Rodgers does. In 2021, he hit for a solid 100 wRC+. But he got there by hitting for just a 68 wRC+ at Coors. Now his 131 wRC+ on the road is more than impressive (and we want that to stay the same), but hey, this lineup is about to be without Trevor Story and needs some more power to instill some fear in opposing pitchers.

Rodgers approached the road like many would’ve expected him to by having better power numbers on the road with a fairly similar batting average. If he just takes whatever mentality he had on the road and applies it to home games more often then he becomes an even more formidable hitter. This lineup will need him more and him being better at home may be able to help the Rockies steal a couple more wins.

So there’s our New Year’s resolutions. Let’s hope the players (and front office) read this and take my suggestions very, very seriously. That way we can all have a New Year’s Rockies Eve (stop booing).