Colorado Rockies: 3 personal milestones worth watching in 2022

Although Colorado Rockies fans are still stuck in the middle of the Major League Baseball lockout with no end to the stalemate in sight, it never hurts to look ahead at some moments that are likely to be celebrated during the 2022 campaign.

Here are three Colorado Rockies personal milestones that could be reached during the 2022 season

Let’s start with the manager of the Colorado Rockies, Bud Black. In his 14-year career as a manager split between Colorado and the San Diego Padres, Black has amassed 998 career victories at the helm. Over 65 managers in MLB history have reached 1,000 victories in their career and Black seems destined to become the 66th member of that elite club early in the 2022 campaign.

As a note, Connie Mack leads all MLB managers with 3,731 victories while Tony La Russa of the Chicago White Sox is second with 2,821.

On the field, Colorado first baseman C.J. Cron needs 35 RBI this year to have 500 in his career. The 32-year-old Cron, signed early in the offseason to a two-year, $14.5 million contract extension, has topped the 35-RBI plateau in every season since he debuted in the league in 2014 (with the exception of 2020 where he played just 13 games before suffering a knee injury). That figure includes last season when Cron drove in a team-high 92 runs in his first campaign with Colorado.

While Cron was a newcomer to the Rockies in 2021, Charlie Blackmon certainly wasn’t. Chuck Nazty has been with the team since his MLB debut on June 7, 2011 and has climbed up the franchise record books in numerous categories.

Turning 36 on July 1, Blackmon still has some goals to reach in 2022. That includes crossing over the 200-homer mark. Blackmon enters this season with 191 home runs, so the mark is well within reach.

Only six players have ever hit 200 or more home runs in a Rockies uniform. That list includes Dante Bichette, who is in sixth place with 201 homers (a mark which Blackmon could overcome in 2022). Carlos Gonzalez is in fifth with 227 while Todd Helton leads the group with 369.