Colorado Rockies: Should Connor Joe be their everyday left fielder in 2022?

Connor Joe is someone that is a big question mark for the Colorado Rockies entering 2022. Unlike most of the Colorado Rockies, though, he’s not a bad question mark. It’s just a question mark on whether or not he will be utilized in an everyday role for the Colorado Rockies.

In 2021, he only played in 63 games in the majors but proved himself to be one of the best Rockies offensive players in those games. He hit .285/.379/.469 with an OPS+ of 117. That OPS+ was the second-best on the Rockies among anyone with more than 50 plate appearances.

Part of the problem for Joe is that the person ahead of him in OPS+ is C.J. Cron. Cron plays first base, which is Joe’s primary position.

But Connor Joe be the everyday left fielder for the Colorado Rockies in 2022

Connor Joe primarily played left field for the Colorado Rockies in 2021 and, perhaps, he could be the everyday left fielder for the team in 2022.

As Luke Hooper of FanGraphs discussed in this article on Wednesday, Joe has the makings of someone that could break out as an everyday player. And despite his brief MLB career, he is the best hitting outfielder that the Rockies have.

Hooper cites Joe’s on-base ability and his pitch recognition. Joe’s swing percentage in the shadow zone (which is the zone that roughly within one ball width in either the width or height of the strike zone) was 45.9 percent. The league average was 52.8 percent.

Hooper also cites some of the best hitting first basemen in baseball (Freddie Freeman, Matt Olson, and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.) and of those three and Joe, Joe has the lowest swing percentage in the shadow zone.

But Joe does have one main issue at the plate. As Hooper notes, the numbers (and the way pitchers attacked Joe in his ABs) show that he has had a hard time covering the outside part of the plate, particularly on non-fastballs.

For Connor Joe, especially with his on-base ability, he needs to see more playing time in 2022 and assuming that the Rockies don’t add multiple big free agent bats via free agency, he should be their everyday left fielder because, quite frankly, at this point, he may be the best outfielder they have.