Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, July 29th, 2024
It’s no secret the Colorado Rockies—like most teams—perform better in the friendly confines of their home ballpark. However, the Rockies have always been the victim of over-inflated offense at the high altitude of Coors Field. We’ve seen it lead to national media discounting the accomplishments of quality Rockies players and delay the Hall of Fame inductions of team greats Larry Walker and Todd Helton.
Less frequently discussed is something that Rockies fans are no stranger to: the Coors Hangover. The opposite of what makes Coors Field an alleged launchpad, the Coors Hangover sees Rockies batters fining their offense completely sapped once they leave altitude for a road trip.
“The hardest part for me about playing in Denver is, when you leave Denver, the ball acts differently out of the pitcher’s hand,” Charlie Blackmon said in 2020. “The only variable is the atmosphere. But unfortunately, that one little variable is the difference between me getting a hit and me striking out on the same pitch.”
The Coors Hangover was in full effect during this weekend’s four game set against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, where the Rockies were swept in brutal fashion.
The Rockies were outscored by the Giants 25-9 and struck out a whopping 53 times over 108 total outs during the four game set. That means the Rockies carried a strikeout rate of just over 49% in the series.
The Rockies also stumbled into some more ignominious historical footnotes during their series against the Giants. Their 64 whiffs in Saturday’s scheduled double header are the most in a single day since pitches started being tracked in 1988. Their 30 combined strikeouts during the double header ties the second most since 1906, and their 53 total strikeouts during the series fell just one shy of the franchise record for a four game series.
Michael Toglia hit two home runs and Ezequiel Tovar hit three doubles, but the offense was largely a no-show.
This all came after the Rockies dropped 20 runs on the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon.
Oracle Park—although a beautiful venue—has not been kind to the Rockies. Following the sweep they are currently riding a 12-game losing streak by the bay, tied for the longest in franchise history with Dodger Stadium (2018-2019) and Busch Stadium (2018-2022).
Most Rockies fans understand that the difference between the team’s home and away numbers is going to be in stark contrast to one another. However, in the last seven seasons—the seasons during which these franchise record losing streaks in other ballparks are taking place—the difference is enlightening.
The Rockies have struck out 760 more times on the road while drawing 86 fewer walks when this is already a team that struggles to draw walks and keep strikeouts down. So far this season the Rockies have the second most strikeouts in the league with 1037, and 554 of those came on the road.
Meanwhile, the majority of the Rockies’ offensive numbers on the road are both significantly below league average and far worse than they are at Coors Field. What makes that even more worrisome is that the Rockies have been seeing diminishing returns in their own ballpark over the last several seasons.
So what are the Rockies doing about the Coors Hangover and their woeful road performances? After all, this is an issue they’ve had to face for over 30 years now.
Veteran outfielder Charlie Blackmon spearheaded an effort back in 2020 to conquer the hangover under then-hitting coach Dave Magadan.
“If I go from Denver to San Francisco, just because that’s the biggest gap, from one extreme to the other, I’m going to feel uncomfortable. And so my goal is to practice that way so that it doesn’t feel uncomfortable,” Blackmon told The Athletic. “I know BP is very controlled, and they’re not throwing as hard. And, you know, I still get a lot out of BP. But what I’m talking about is something that simulates a game better and hopefully makes me make that adjustment.”
While Blackmon’s home and road splits are less severe, the methodology doesn’t seem to have taken hold with the rest of the team since 2020. It’s also curious that it took Blackmon stepping up to try and figure out this conundrum.
The Rockies are unfortunately not an appealing destination for players, and a major reason why is their outdated front office and small analytics department. The Rockies consistently have one of the smallest analytics teams in the league, a team that had just one member back in 2020 when Blackmon was testing his methodology.
Since 2018 the Rockies have gone through three hitting coaches, seen numerous members of the analytics team both arrive and leave, and overall seem no closer to figuring out the solution to the Coors Hangover.
Perhaps it’s a mystery that can’t be solved: just a natural disadvantage of playing 81 games at high altitude.
It’s more likely that the inability to solve the Hangover comes from within, and the already well-known issues with how the organization operates.
“It’s kind of looked at as a weird place,” said one former Rockie who requested anonymity because he still works in the game and has numerous friends in the organization. “I didn’t realize that until I got out of there and saw how things were done in other places. It’s one of those seeing-the-forest-for-the-trees type of things.
“The biggest reason, I think, is just how insular they are. They stick with what they’ve got. That’s the thing I hear most often. They don’t think anybody else can figure out playing at altitude, so they think, ‘We’ll stick with what we’ve got.’”
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Here are the prospects the Rockies dealt for at the deadline | MLB.com
Thomas Harding takes a look at the two prospect pitchers the Rockies received from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for right-handed reliever Nick Mears. Unsurprisingly, both pitchers have been scouted heavily by the Rockies in the past.
Top trade candidates the Rockies will shop at the deadline | Just Baseball
Earlier this month Patrick Lyons over at Just Baseball broke down the most likely players on the Rockies to get shopped around at the trade deadline. With said deadline fast approaching, it’s worth taking a look back.
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