How are these 5 former Colorado Rockies playing in 2022?

We are in the month of May now so, while it is still a small sample size, for the Colorado Rockies, they are already 13.6 percent through the 2022 season.

Some of their recent players have had fairly degrees of success in the 2022 season with their current teams so let’s so how they are playing.

Some former Colorado Rockies players are playing well and some aren’t

Former Colorado Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu

New York Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu hasn’t been with the Colorado Rockies since 2018 but he is still a fan favorite for Rockies fans.

He struggled a bit in 2021 in comparison to his 2019 and 2020 numbers but for the red-hot Yankees (who have won 10 in a row), LeMahieu is looking closer to his 2019 and 2020 self.

LeMahieu is hitting .296 with a .799 OPS with two homers and nine RBI in 90 plate appearances. His OPS+ entering Monday was 141.

Former Colorado Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado

Current St. Louis Cardinals 3B and former Colorado Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado had a phenomenal start to his 2022 season as, on Monday, he was named the NL Player of the Month for the month of April.

Entering Tuesday, Arenado is hitting .359 with an OPS of 1.111. His .679 slugging percentage is the highest in the NL. His OPS+ through Monday was 237, which also led the NL.

Former Colorado Rockies SS Trevor Story

On the other hand, former Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story has had a rough start with his new team (the Boston Red Sox) and at his new position.

In 18 games, Story has only hit .217/.316/.290 with an OPS+ of 76. He has yet to hit a homer with them with only five RBI. He has also struck out 25 times and been below average at second base, defensively. He has -2 DRS at second base. In comparison, he has never had a season below 6 DRS at shortstop and that was in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Former Colorado Rockies OF Raimel Tapia

Raimel Tapia was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during Spring Training for Randal Grichuk. While Grichuk has flourished for the Colorado Rockies, Tapia has done anything but for the Blue Jays.

He is hitting .227 with an OPS of .551. His OPS+ is now in the 60s. Defensively, he already has -2 DRS in right field (where he has played the majority of his games) for the Jays.

He doesn’t have as high of a groundball rate as before (50 percent entering Monday) but at least so far, the Jays have not been able to fix his bat.

Former Colorado Rockies SP Jon Gray

Jon Gray is in his first season with the Texas Rangers and he has struggled in his first season there in more ways than one.

The fourth week of the season ends on Thursday and Jon Gray is already on the injured list. In fact, he has been on the injured list twice. He was on the IL for 10 days after his first start with a blister. After the second start (April 19), he suffered a knee sprain. He has been on the IL since then.

For Rockies fans, that’s, unfortunately, not surprising as he has been on the IL in each season since 2018. In 2018, he still only made 31 starts at the MLB level because the Rockies sent him down to Triple-A for a few weeks after he was not getting good results.

In his two starts in 2022, he had a 7.00 ERA so he wasn’t pitching well either.

So it’s a mixed bag for some of the former Rockies but for the three that left the team after last season, all three are struggling for their new teams. As for their replacements (José Iglesias for Story, Grichuk for Tapia, and Chad Kuhl for Gray), they are all playing better than their predecessors. That’s part of the reason why the Rockies are 13-9 to start the season.