Veterans on the Rockies who had a bounce back month of May
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The 2023 MLB season has not been kind to the Colorado Rockies as the team is 10 games under .500 and has been in last place in the NL West for most of the year.
The Rockies have been through it all in 2023, they currently have a total of five players on the 60-day injured list and have seen veteran players who were brought in as free agents not play to the best of their ability.
Aside from the early adversity Colorado has dealt with in 2023, they have been a much better team in the month of May than they were in April. The team is starting to figure out their identity as a ball club and went 15-13.
The team has had a youth invasion this year. Some honorable mentions for young players who played great in May for the Rockies were Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar. However, today we are focusing on some key veteran players who are slowly changing the narrative on there 2023 season.
Chase Anderson
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Chase Anderson made his way to the Rockies clubhouse after being claimed on waivers on May 12. Before pitching for the Rockies, Anderson is a 35-year-old right-hander who played for both the Reds and Rays in 2023. During his time in Cincinnati, he never actually pitched in a regular season game. At the beginning of May, he was traded to the Rays for cash considerations and only pitched in two games.
In Colorado, he has proven to be one of the top pitchers in the team's starting rotation. Over the course of last month, he started five games and played in three of them. By the end of the month, he had pitched a total of 20.2 innings, with a remarkable 1.31 ERA and 10 strikeouts.
The decision to pick up Anderson seemed to be a move of desperation by the Rockies but it is clearly paying off heavily in their favor. Anderson is now starting to see regular starting pitching action in the rotation.
Jurickson Profar
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It's evident that Profar has had an impressive resurgence this month while playing for the Rockies. During the offseason, he inked a one-year $7.75 million deal with the team after spending the previous three seasons with the San Diego Padres. Profar had a strong performance last year, tallying 15 home runs, 58 RBI's, and 36 doubles.
In April, it appeared that he was falling short in meeting the expectations set by himself and the Rockies for 2023. He was hitting .219/.300/.344, with only 10 RBI hits, 21 hits, and a team-high of 25 strikeouts. However, he made a significant improvement midway through May. By the end of the month, Profar had become a .269/.343/452 hitter with two home runs, 12 RBI hits, and nine doubles. He also managed to reduce his strikeouts to a total of just 15.
Profar has emerged as one of the top hitters in the Rockies team, displaying a remarkable level of energy that has left fans brimming with hope for the upcoming month of June.
Ryan McMahon
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There has been considerable scrutiny over McMahon's performance ever since he signed a contract extension with the Rockies before last season. Unfortunately, he didn't have a great start this year as the former second-round draft pick struggled with strikeouts throughout the first month of the season.
McMahon has changed his approach at the plate and it is paying off big time for him. He is starting to become a much more patient hitter and is seeing the ball much better.
Recently, he has shown impressive improvement in his batting, moving from .242/.320/.450 to .271/.364/.510. Moreover, he was on a remarkable four-game home runs streak. McMahon's performance has made him one of the most reliable and effective batters in the Rockies clubhouse, earning him regular time at the number three spot in the lineup card. Last month, he hit four home runs, seven doubles, two triples, 17 RBI's, and drew 14 walks.
If he can keep this pace up in June, he will quickly reroute the trajectory of his career as a player who is a good utility man on defense as one of the better hitters in the Rockies clubhouse.