In 2024, Aaron Schunk showed versatility — and patience

The utility infielder made the most of his irregular playing time.

You’re reading the 2024 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at the season had by every player to play for the Rockies in 2024. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the least amount of rWAR and end up with the player with the most.

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No. 21, Aaron Schunk (0.1 rWAR)

On June 28, 204, Aaron Schunk’s long road to the Majors finally arrived at Coors Field.

Of being called up, Schunk said back in July, “It’s been a dream come true. It’s awesome. The guys are awesome up here, and it’s been a really fun experience.”

The Rockies had throughout the season that they intended to play as many prospects as they could and brought up Schunk to take Alan Trejo’s place as a utility infielder.

The University of Georgia third baseman and closer had been working his way through the Colorado Rockies farm system since being drafted in the second round of the 2019 draft. Prior to being called-up, he spent most of his time at third base for Triple-A Albuquerque, also splitting 26 games between second base and shortstop. The Rockies’ intention to make Schunk a utility infielder became clear.

He made clear his comfort with moving around the diamond.

“I grew up playing short,” Schunk said. “I played short all through high school and then was going to play short in college, but we had one of the top shortstops go to Georgia, Cam Shepherd, and so I just slid over to third. I’ve always loved playing everywhere in the infield. So it hasn’t felt that weird — just important to get out there and make sure I hit a lot of the little fine things at each position pretty much every day. So just a little bit extra work, which I’m okay with.”

And he made clear he would be willing to try the outfield as well. “Just need a glove,” Schunk laughed.

He left the Isotopes slashing .291/.339/.469 with seven home runs, 43 RBI, and 24 doubles.

How did it go with the Rockies?

Schunk made the most of his playing time, but it wasn’t easy.

After his June call-up, Schunk played in only 39 games, getting 98 plate appearances. He finished the season slashing .234/.265/.330 with a 49 wRC+. Add to that two home runs, 17 singles, and two doubles.

The Rockies (once again) used one of their favorite development strategies for young players in that they called Schunk up only to give him sporadic playing time. Consistent at-bats are key for young players adjusting to MLB pitching, but in this case, Schunk was left to make the most of his chances.

By the end of the season, he had clearly become more comfortable with both the utility position and the irregular playing time.

Defensively, the Rockies did use him as a utility player. He spent 124.0 innings at second, 89 at third, and 36 at short. In terms of DRS, Schunk was best at third (2 DRS) followed by one DRS at second while his UZR/150 was significantly higher as second. He had no errors.

In short, he was a slightly above-average defensive player though given his limited and sporadic playing time, it’s difficult to make a definitive assessment.

What’s next?

The next question is whether the Rockies will non-tender Schunk, especially after acquiring utility player Owen Miller from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Here’s how the two players compare, according to FanGraphs:

FanGraphs

Miller saw less playing time for the Brewers than Schunk did with the Rockies, but Miller posted markedly lower numbers in 2024. In fact, Schunk’s stats are better than Miller’s in every category but K%.

However, come spring training, Schunk will probably be trying to establish his place (again) on the Rockies roster.

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