The Rockies Unexpected Blistering Start!
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Before Opening Day, if you asked most people about Major League Baseball, the conversation would have eventually steered towards how competitive, and star studded the NL West was with the Dodgers, Giants and San Diego Padres. All three of those squads are expecting to be contenders for the 2022 season and have huge payrolls to the absolute peak of MLB talent. However, another team has inserted their name on that list of competitive NL West squads, and to most people’s surprise, the Rockies currently sit in third place in the division with a 10-5 record, having not lost a single series through this point in the season. The Rockies have gone 4-1 on the road so far, and that is such a gift, considering last year the squad was one of the best home teams in the MLB and one of the worst teams on the road in the MLB.
Offense
Weeks before opening day, and seemingly out of nowhere, the Rockies made a huge splash committing to a 7-year $187-million-dollar contract for third baseman Kris Bryant. Did adding Kris Bryant really elevate the Rockies to a playoff contender? The season is still so young it is impossible to tell, but through 15 games the numbers don’t exactly point to KB as the catalyst to the Rockies hot start. That doesn’t mean however, that his energy, leadership, and work ethic haven’t played a role in their resurgence. Bryant is currently 6th on the squad in batting average, 8th in RBIs, hasn’t hit a single home run, 6th in total bases, and 8th in On-Base percentage. These numbers would suggest that he’s about the 6th – 8th best player in the batter rotation, but he has made some flashy plays on defense and the team has elevated their play significantly around him.
CJ Cron has started the 2022 season off as a dark horse MVP candidate, blasting six home runs, many of which were game winning shots, leading the team with 17 RBIs, and leading the team in at bats sporting a .283 batting average. Conner Joe has come out for the 2022 season and been an absolute sparkplug as well, leading the team in hits, walks and on-base percentage. When we take a step back and look at the batting order from the top down, everyone appears to be having a great start to the season except Brendan Rodgers who has only four hits on 46 at-bats, for .087 batting average. Beside Rodgers and Ryan McMahon though, everyone else who has more than 25 at-bats, has double digit hits and is batting above .250, McMahon has double-digit hits but he’s only batting .216.
Pitching
The offense has been delivering averaging 4.667 runs per game, and the pitching hasn’t been bad either. Daniel Bard has five saves to his name this season so far. Starting pitcher Chad Kuhl has two quality starts in his three total starts and two victories as well, he’s got the best ERA on the team at 1.10, and he is second on the team in terms of innings pitched. The bullpen’s Tyler Kinney is leading the team with three holds in his seven innings pitched, and I feel like the bullpen hasn’t been a complete liability so far through 15 games. German Marquez seems to be following his All-Star 2021 season up with a decent showing to start the season, leading the team in innings pitched and WAR for the starting rotation.
One of the big pieces of the Nolan Arenado trade was the acquisition of starting left-handed pitcher Austin Gomber. There are big expectations this season that he continues down the path of improvement and helps stabilize the Rockies pitching rotation. So far, he is leading the Rockies in strikeouts and is 1-1 in his three starts with a single quality start to his name. If Gomber can be a reliable starter all year, Marquez can stay in All-Star form, Kyle Freeland rediscovers his 2018 self, and Chad Kuhl continues at his current pace, the Rockies have a talented starting rotation that can win a bunch of games in 2022.
The bullpen must stay consistent and compliment the starters, but the excitement is there for the Rockies this season, just a single year removed from trading their franchise player for mere scraps, losing their second-best player Trevor Story in free agency, and losing starting pitcher Jon Gray in free agency. Imagine making the playoffs on the back of consistent offense and pitching, while playing at altitude in Denver, after apparently “getting fleeced” in the Arenado trade. The narrative was that the Rockies lost so bad the franchise would have a difficult time recovering in a reasonable amount of time. Players left in free agency because it was believed the team was entering a rebuilding phase.
Lots of Baseball to be Played
Getting rid of Jeff Bridich, retaining Bud Black, signing Kris Bryant, extending Ryan McMahon, and a few other one-year contracts is all it took to re-elevate the Rockies to the fun baseball conversations. Apparently that franchise crippling trade hasn’t been as painful as originally thought. If this team turns the corner and is a playoff team this season, that could constitute one of the fastest rebuilds in modern MLB history, right?
There is still so much baseball to play and obviously anything can happen, but it is exciting in the early months of the season, to see the Colorado Rockies appear competitive in one of the most stacked divisions in baseball. Fans are waiting to see if the success can be sustained and if the trends we are seeing early, are signs of the future, or if what we are watching is simply a hot streak to start the year. Time will tell, but we must assume that Kris Bryant has never been on a losing team and that trend will not stop in Denver.
Let’s hope that CJ Cron continues his MVP style season and our big-ticket offensive players like Kris Bryant and Ryan McMahon can elevate their play to what their price tag would suggest their production should be. The Rockies are in a battle to win back the trust of the fans following the Nolan Arenado blunder, but the quickest way to do that is to win baseball games and make the playoffs. Looks like they had excellent internal development of key players this off-season, brough in some elite talent, and the pitching has taken strides to remain competitive in the early goings. Here is to a great season of Colorado sports and hoping the Rockies and Broncos can join the Nuggets and Avalanche in their playoff and contender windows!
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