Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Back on July 2, I wrote a “mid-season progress report” in which I attempted to describe how the Colorado Rockies compared with their peers based on a number of metrics. Now the season is over, Coors Field is preparing for winter (after spending part of October as an Upper Deck Golf site), and all the data is in.
It’s time for final grades.
The Rockies finished the season with a 61-101 record. That’s better than the 59-103 they earned in 2023, but not by much. In the end, the Rockies had their second-consecutive 100-loss season. I predicted a 63-99 record, FWIW, so I was too optimistic.
They earned a .377 winning percentage (which is an improvement over their mid-season number of .329). That ranks 27th in MLB. Only the historically bad Chicago White Sox had a lower score.
For comparison, in 2023, the Rockies had a .365 winning percentage. (The Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox were worse.)
Now let’s consider some other data.
• 179 – That’s the number of home runs the Rockies hit in 2024, which comes in at 15th. A middle-of-the pack number for a team that plays half its games at Coors Field isn’t going to cut it. (The New York Yankees topped MLB’s leaderboard with 237 home runs while the Baltimore Orioles were second with 235 homers.)
Last year, the Rockies hit 163 home runs, so they did improve.
As for the Rockies, Ezequiel Tovar hit the most homers with 26y followed by Michael Toglia (25), Brenton Doyle (23) and Ryan McMahon (20). There’s a two-way tie for fifth between Hunter Goodman and Brendan Rodgers (13).
Photo by Todd Kirkland/MLB Photos via Getty Images
• 85 — That’s the number of bases the Rockies have stolen this season, which ties them for 25th. It does mark a slight improvement over last year when the Rockies finished the season with 76 stolen bases. Bill Schmidt said last spring the Rockies would need to improve this part of their game, but that happened only marginally.
Leading the league? The Washington Nationals with 223 followed by the Milwaukee Brewers’ 217.
In terms of individual numbers, Elly De La Cruz has the most with 67 followed by Shohei Ohtani’s 59.
Unsurprisingly, Brenton Doyle led the Rockies with 30 — and tied for 13th in MLB. Following Doyle (and this came as a surprise) was Michael Toglia’s 10 and Jordan Beck’s seven.
Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images
The Rockies got younger, but they did not become notably faster.
• 7.5% — That’s the Rockies’ BB%, and they tied for 25th in MLB with the San Diego Padres. That the Rockies made poor choices at the plate was never in doubt; the numbers backed that up. (Last year, that number was 7.4%, so there was no notable improvement.)
The New York Yankees’ 10.8% led all of baseball. Who had the highest BB%? Surprise, it was not Juan Soto. (He was second at 18.1%.) Aaron Judge led all of baseball in BB% with an impressive 18.9%.
For Rockies batters with more than 450 plate appearances, Michael Toglia rose to the top at 11.8%. If Toglia had had enough plate appearances, he would have finished in MLB’s top 12 in this category. The Rockies told Toglia to focus on getting on base, and he did.
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
Ezequiel Tovar’s abysmal 3.4% was the lowest for Rockies hitters with more than 450 PA.
• 26.8% — That’s the Rockies K%, and it tied them with the Seattle Mariners for the highest K% in MLB. (In the mid-season report, that number was 25.5%, so the Rockies got worse in the second half. Last season, they finished at 25.5%, third-highest in baseball.)
So, yes, the Rockies free-swinging ways continued. Was part of the the Coors Effect? Absolutely. But the Rockies simply had little judgment at the plate.
In contrast, the San Diego Padres had the lowest K% at 17.6%.
Striking out the most with a minimum of 450 plate appearances? Michael Toglia (32.1%) followed by Ezequiel Tovar at 28.8%.
The lowest K% for Rockies with a minimum of 450 plate appearances? Charlie Blackmon’s 17.2%.
• .304 — That’s the Rockies OBP, unchanged from mid-season, and they ranked 23rd in MLB by this metric. In 2023, that number was .310. This year’s lower number probably reflects the promotion of prospects who were learning to hit MLB pitching.
For Rockies with a minimum of 450 plate appearances, Charlie Blackmon led the team (.329) followed by Ryan McMahon (.325).
• .400 — That’s the Rockies SLG, which was 14th in MLB, a significant improvement from the mid-season number of .388. The Los Angeles Dodgers led in this category (.446) followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks (.440). In 2023, that number for the Rockies was .405.
Leading the Rockies in this category for players with a minimum of 450 plate appearances was Tovar (.469) followed by Toglia (.456).
• 82 — That’s the Rockies wRC+. (A 100 is average.) The numbers support the eye test, which suggested this was an offensively ineffective team.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had the highest wRC+ — barely — at 118. The Yankees were second at 117.
The highest wRC+ on the Rockies for players with a minimum of 450 plate appearances? Michael Toglia (98) followed by Brenton Doyle (97) and Ezequiel Tovar (95). None of the Rockies who had in excess of 450 plate appearances were above replacement level.
• 5.53 — That’s the ERA of the Rockies’ starting rotation, and was the worst in baseball — and wasn’t close. (The next-highest Marlins sported a 5.24 ERA.) When looking at ERA-, the Rockies finished with a 118 score, which ranked 27th (before the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, and Miami Marlins).
The best ERA of the Rockies starters with a minimum of 100 IP? That went to Ryan Feltner (4.49). Highest K%? That would also be Feltner (19.9%).
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
• 5.41 — That’s the ERA of the bullpen, and was the worst in MLB. (Second-highest would be the Toronto Blue Jays 4.82, so the Rockies bullpen was substantially worse than some of the least-effective bullpens in MLB). Their ERA- was 116, which ranked them 28th. a league-worst 122.
Of the current bullpen with relievers who threw at least 45 innings, Peter Lambert had the lowest ERA (3.81) followed by Victor Vodnik (4.28). The highest K% remained Nick Mears’ 28.1%.
The highest ERA among relievers with at least 45 IP? That would be Anthony Molina’s 6.52.
The bullpen got better at the end, but as a whole, it was not good.
• 73.2 — That’s the number of innings Victor Vodnik pitch this season, and it tied him for 14th-most in MLB. Tyler Kinley threw the second-most innings (64.0) followed by Justin Lawrence (59.2)
In case you wondered, in 2023, Jake Bird tied with Tanner Holton for most innings thrown by a reliever with 84.1, so Vodnik’s usage was down a bit from Bird’s. (Then again, Vodnik missed some time with a shoulder injury.) Justin Lawrence threw 75.0 innings.
Ultimately, the numbers bear out who the 2024 Colorado Rockies were: A not-very-good baseball team who did not make significant improvements from 2023.
How the organization chooses to address this will be something to watch during the offseason.
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This week on the Internet
As you know, the Chicago White Sox were historically bad in 2024.
Total respect goes out to their social media team with the unenviable job of, well, posting through it.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) September 28, 2024
The entire feed is worth a perusal.
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Kris Bryant says “I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it’s been terrible” | Denver Post ($)
I wanted to be sure this didn’t get lost in the Charlie Blackmon celebrations. Patrick Saunders asked Kris Bryant some tough questions, which he answered. There’s a lot going on in this interview.
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