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Colorado Rockies: José Iglesias is Raimel Tapia 2.0

By Noah Yingling

Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 25, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Raimel Tapia reacts after getting called out on strikes while playing against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Raimel Tapia of the Colorado Rockies
DENVER, COLORADO – JUNE 19: Raimel Tapia #15 of the Colorado Rockies reacts on second base after hitting a double against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning at Coors Field on June 19, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

New Colorado Rockies shortstop José Iglesias and Raimel Tapia had nearly identical offensive stats in 2021

Standard
Name G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
José Iglesias 137 511 483 65 131 27 9 48 5 21 75 .271 .309 .391 .701 90
Raimel Tapia 133 533 487 69 133 26 6 50 20 40 70 .273 .327 .372 .699 80

With the exception of OPS+ (Tapia’s being lower since he played half of his games at Coors Field), they are the same thing across the board.

In 2020, the two were similar in the fact that both had very high batting averages (.373 for Iglesias and .321 for Tapia) but Iglesias had much more power (.556 slugging percentage for Iglesias and .402 for Tapia).

But in 2019, again, they were nearly identical or (in the case of OPS) exactly identical.

Standard
Name G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
José Iglesias 146 530 504 62 145 21 11 59 20 70 .288 .318 .407 .724 83
Raimel Tapia 138 447 426 54 117 23 9 44 21 100 .275 .309 .416 .724 75

One of the biggest issues for Tapia has been his sky-high groundball rate.

Since 2019, it is the highest in baseball among players with at least 1000 plate appearances, at 59.7 percent. José Iglesias isn’t as high but he’s close. He would have been the second-highest Rockies player in groundball rate behind Tapia at 46.7 percent. That is 38th in the majors in that span (again, minimum of 1000 plate appearances). The next highest for a Rockies hitter is Ryan McMahon at #52.

In 2019, Iglesias’ groundball rate was 12th-highest. Tapia’s was 14th-highest (min. 400 PAs).

In 2020, Iglesias’ groundball rate was much lower as it was 91st (min. 150 PAs). His power also skyrocketed. Tapia’s groundball rate was 8th-highest.

In 2021, Iglesias’ groundball rate was 60th in baseball at 42.1 percent (min. 500 PA’s). Tapia’s rate was highest at a staggering 67.4 percent, or 12 percent higher than any other player with at least 500 PA’s.

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