An in-depth preview of the 2022 Colorado Rockies season

New Colorado Rockies left fielder Kris Bryant

We will start off with the biggest name. The Colorado Rockies surprised the entirety of the baseball world by landing him and, in a short amount of time after, a ton of tweets from 2016-2018 ended up getting deleted from many Rockies’ fans Twitter accounts in a very strange phenomenon.

Bryant will be in left field this season, a decision that ultimately started the process of trading Raimel Tapia to the Toronto Blue Jays. By the numbers, left field, or any of the outfield really, is not his strong suit defensively. He’d be best suited for third base but the current Rockie manning the hot corner (Ryan McMahon) was superb last year with the glove and there’s no reason to change what’s happening there. So left field it is for Bryant.

His glove will be a dropoff from what we’re used to, but he will more than make up for it in his bat. He notched a 123 wRC+ last season for a 3.6 fWAR, both of which will be major contributions for the Rockies.

Essentially, you are getting a value out of him that you’re going to expect from Trevor Story. The difference here is that Bryant will give you a little more out of his bat than Story would while Story’s glove brings more value than Bryant’s will. Things balance out.

If he can unlock the level he was at in his first few years in the league then he can surpass what Story had brought to the Rockies. He’s a positive addition to this roster who is looking to compete and a necessary piece for them if they truly have visions of October.