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An in-depth preview of the 2022 Colorado Rockies season

By Kevin Larson

DENVER, COLORADO - AUGUST 05: Sam Hilliard #22 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs in the fourth inning at Coors Field on August 05, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - AUGUST 05: Sam Hilliard #22 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run against the Chicago Cubs in the fourth inning at Coors Field on August 05, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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Randal Grichuk, Colorado Rockies
TORONTO, ON – SEPTEMBER 30: Randal Grichuk #15 of the Toronto Blue Jays flies out in the third inning of their MLB game against the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre on September 30, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images) /

New Colorado Rockies outfielder Randal Grichuk

A member of the Toronto Blue Jays for the past four seasons, new Colorado Rockies outfielder Randal Grichuk is a strong power hitter who’s good for around 25 home runs per season. He can play both CF and RF, though he spent more time in center for the Blue Jays last season. Defensively, he was best in right field, so it may make sense to slide him in there if the spot is up for grabs and Sam Hilliard proves himself in center field.

He’s an upgrade at the plate over Raimel Tapia, though he appears to be pretty inconsistent (and I’ve been warned as such by Blue Jays fans already). He’s been on and off over the past few seasons as his wRC+ has oscillated from below league average to above league average (95, 115, 90, 108, 85). By this pattern, he’s certainly set for an above league average year because that’s just proven by science to be what’s going to happen.

By fWAR and bWAR he’s going to bring value to the team, but he’s probably not going to eclipse a 1.0 WAR. He should help solidify the offense while sacrificing a touch with the glove, a bit of a trend in the outfield between him and Bryant.

New Colorado Rockies closer Alex Colomé

New Colorado Rockies closer Alex Colomé is a bullpen arm that spent last season in Minnesota. He put up an ERA of 4.15 and put up decent park-adjusted stats (96 ERA- and 99 FIP-). That was in a down year from his normal standards, so it’s either a sign that his best days are behind him or that there’s room for improvement from what he did last season.

Regardless, he’s got a pretty decent groundball percentage (53.7 percent) and that should ideally work well at Coors. He’s a two-pitch pitcher (fastball and cutter) that will likely be used most in situations where the Rockies need a double-play to get out of an inning. If he can limit hard hits and get back to his form in prior years then this could be a very sneaky good signing.

As it looks right now, he’s someone that won’t be detrimental to the bullpen and should be another fairly reliable arm in a bullpen that needs as many decent arms as possible.

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