3 Winners and 2 Losers from series loss vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

The Rockies are still looking for their first series win of the 2024 season. After a tough series loss that saw the team come up just short of getting their revenge on the vastly underrated Diamondbacks squad, the Rockies need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

This team needs to make some changes; the changes don't have to be drastic ones like designating certain players for assignment or sending down and calling up certain players. The deployment of these players, the matchups, playing time and spot in the batting lineup need to be seriously examined.

Surprisingly the pitching was a lot better over this homestand and a huge factor in the Rockies salvaging a win in this series. There are still some questions about longevity and consistency, but as far as the last week in concerned, the pitching has surprisingly been a strength (the starting pitching that is... more on that later). With the day off today, I wanted to recap the Diamondbacks series and talk about who performed well and who didn't.

Winner: The Rockies starting pitching was the best we have seen in awhile

The story early on this season was how bad the starting pitching was. The first series was extremely terrible as the starting pitching just got absolutely blown up. We knew this staff was going to struggle, but I don't think anyway expected what we saw. Through the first eight games of the year, it was nearly impossible for the offense to keep up with how bad the pitching was. In those eight games the starting pitching only threw 33.2 innings, with a ridiculous 9.36 ERA, allowing 13.83 hits per nine. The pitchers just really struggled to command the zone with 5.08 walks per nine and only 6.42 strikeouts per nine innings.

The last five games the pitching has been one of the biggest bright spots for this team. Ryan Feltner kicked this run off with one of the best starts in Rockies history at Coors Field (6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K) and it just continued from there. Over the last five games, Rockies pitchers have dominated the opponents, (29 IP, 3.41 ERA, 9 H/9, 2.17 BB/9, 8.07 K/9). As you can see here, the biggest thing is the ability to command the zone. Gomber, who has struggled the most with walks prior to Wednesday's start, only walked two over six innings. This pitching looks a lot different and while this level may not continue, if they can be fairly close to this, this team will surely win more games than they have so far.

Winner: McMahon continues to carry this offense

Ryan McMahon is a fan favorite and, being one of the veterans, was going to be expected to produce in the middle of this lineup. He has been consistent over his career, but a more than 5% increase in his strikeout rate from 2022 to 2023, had a lot of fans worried about where his career was headed.

He has immediately shut down those concerns so far this year. Not only is Mac slashing .383/.464/.553 (good for a 164 wRC+), but he is controlling the zone a lot more than he did last year, He looks more confident and comfortable so far. His strikeout rate has been cut down by more than 10% (21.4% so far this year), while his walk rate has increase 3.5% to 14.3%, both of which are elite numbers. Mac continued his dominance against the Diamondbacks (4 for 11 with two RBIs and an excellent 3BB/3K ratio) and continues to carry this offense; he even won them a game on a walk-off grand slam. If he can continue to look this comfortable at the plate, he could be in for a huge year.

Winner: Ezequiel Tovar looks poised to reward the Rockies for the contract extension

Ezequiel Tovar was one of the bright spots for a bad Rockies team last year. The gold glove level shortstop put together a number of highlight reel worth plays, always giving fans something to look forward to in a tough year. The offense was solid for Tovar last year, but you could see there was certainly room for improvement.

An improvement would be a significant understatement and disservice to what Tovar has been able to do this year. The shortstop has been a driving force, especially at the top of this lineup, slashing .333/.396/.542 with a 26.4% strikeout rate, while his walk rate has nearly doubled to 7.5%. He has two home runs and a stolen base through 13 games (24 home run pace). His wRC+ sits at 143.

Tovar was even better against the Diamondbacks (7 for 14 with 9 total bases, and 2 RBI). If he can continue these improvements and offensive production, we could be looking at the next great Rockies shortstop, now that the Rockies have locked Tovar up long term.