Tuesday Rockpile: The Colorado Rockies by the numbers: A midseason progress report

Colorado Rockies News and Notes for Tuesday, July 2, 2024

The Colorado Rockies have officially passed the halfway mark of the 2024 season.

Their 29-55 record as well as their .329 winning percentage gives a fairly good sense of where this team is. (Only the Chicago White Sox have a lower winning percentage, .282.) Clearly, we’ve left small-sample-size territory behind, so it’s time to look at some numbers and see where the Rockies are.

We know they’re not good, but are there signs of improvement from last season?

There’s only one way to find out, so here goes!

(All numbers are current as of Monday, following the conclusion of the Rockies series with the White Sox.)

• 79 – That’s the number of home runs the Rockies have hit in 2024, which ties them 21st with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. That’s just not enough homers for a team that plays half its games at Coors Field. (The Baltimore Orioles top MLB’s leaderboard with 139 home runs, almost twice as many as the Rockies have hit. The New York Yankees are second with 123 homers.)

Ryan McMahon’s 14 home runs lead the Rockies with Ezequiel Tovar’s 12 homers ranking him second. Third is Michael Toglia with nine. (Aaron Judge leads all of baseball with 31, more than double the number hit by Ryan McMahon. Gunnar Henderson and Shohei Ohtani are tied for second with 26.)

• 49 — That’s the number of bases the Rockies have stolen this season, which ranks them 17th in baseball. This suggests an improvement over last year where the Rockies finished the season with 76 stolen bases.

Leading the league? The Cincinnati Reds with 123 followed by the Milwaukee Brewers with 117. (This will be something to keep an eye on as the Brewers visit Coors Field this week.)

Elly De La Cruz has the most with 40 followed by Brice Turang with 28, a fact reflected in both teams’ overall numbers in terms of stolen bases.

Unsurprisingly, Brenton Doyle leads the Rockies with 19 — and is tied for 10th in MLB — while Charlie Blackmon has five, and Ezequiel Tovar and Sean Bouchard have racked up four apiece.

The Rockies may be stealing more bags this season, but that is largely due to the fact that Brenton Doyle is getting on base more.

• 7.3% — That’s the Rockies’ BB%, and they’re ranked 27th in MLB. That the Rockies make poor choices at the plate has never been in doubt; the numbers back that up.

The New York Yankees’ 10.3% tops all of baseball. (Turns out, having Juan Soto — 19.1% — on your team is a big deal.)

For Rockies batters with more than 250 plate appearances, Ryan McMahon leads the Rockies at 10.6%. (He’s 37th in baseball by this metric.) Ezequiel Tovar’s abysmal 3.6% is the lowest for Rockies hitters with more than 250 PA. In addition, he ranks 142nd in MLB among qualified hitters.

• 25.5% — That’s the Rockies K%, and it’s the third-highest in MLB. The Seattle Mariners lead all other teams at 27.9%. The San Diego Padres have the lowest K% at 17.9 % closely followed by the Houston Astros 18.0%. So, yes, the Rockies free-swinging ways continue. Is part of the the Coors Effect? Absolutely. But the Rockies simply have little judgment at the plate.

Striking out the most with a minimum of 200 plate appearances? Ryan McMahon (28.4%) followed by Ezequiel Tovar at 27.4%.

The lowest K% for Rockies with a minimum of 200 plate appearances? It’s still Charlie Blackmon’s 14.6%.

• .304 — That’s the Rockies OBP, and they rank 24th in MLB by this metric. (This really comes as no surprise.) For Rockies with a minimum of 200 plate appearances, Elias Díaz leads the team (.355) followed by Ryan McMahon (.352).

• .388 — That’s the Rockies SLG, which is 17th in MLB. Again, this number seems low for a team that plays half its games at Coors Field. Leading the Rockies in this category for players with a minimum of 200 plate appearances is Tovar (.472) followed by McMahon (.352).

• 80 — That’s the Rockies wRC+. (A 100 is average.) The numbers support the eye test, which suggests this is an offensively ineffective team.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest wRC+ — by a lot – at 121. (Turns out, having Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman on your team matters — along with an effective player development system.) The Orioles are second at 120.

The highest wRC+ on the Rockies for players with a minimum of 200 plate appearances? Ryan McMahon (114) followed by Elias Díaz (110) and Ezequiel Tovar (104). Everyone else is below replacement level.

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

• 5.55 — That’s the ERA of the Rockies’ starting rotation, and it’s the highest in baseball — and it’s not close. (The Oakland A’s starting rotation sports a 5.07 ERA.) When looking at ERA-, the Rockies have a 119 score, which ranks 27th (before the Miami Marlins and Oakland Athletics).

The best ERA of the Rockies starters? That goes to Cal Quantrill (3.78). Highest K%? That would be Ryan Feltner (19.6%).

Photo by Alysa Rubin/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images

• 5.71 — That’s the ERA of the bullpen, and it’s the worst in MLB. (Second-highest would be the Los Angeles Angels 4.80, so the Rockies bullpen is substantially worse than some of the least-effective in MLB). Their ERA- is a league worst 122. (The Toronto Blue Jays are 29th at 120.)

Of the current bullpen with relievers who have thrown at least 20 innings, Peter Lamber has the lowest ERA (2.38) followed by Victor Vodnik (4.19). The highest K%? That goes to Nick Mears (27.2%).

The highest ERA among relievers with at least 20 IP? That would be Tyler Kinley’s 8.27.

The bullpen is not good — but you probably know that.

• 43.0 — That’s the number of innings Victor Vodnik has pitched, and it ties him for eighth-most in MLB. Jalen Beeks has pitched 40.2 innings, which is 15th. It’s a concern that the mistakes of 2023 will be repeated where Jake Bird and Justin Lawrence were overused.

Manager Bud Black has stressed that this is a young team that is “under construction.” Fair enough. The problem is that with renovations, some general improvements become visible.

That is not yet the case with the Colorado Rockies.

★ ★ ★

This week on the Internet

Last night, this came across our Twitter feed after Nolan Jones had another eye-poppingly good assist.

#Respect

★ ★ ★

Do the Rockies have the most reliable starter on the trade market? | Just Baseball

Rockies fans know that Cal Quantrill represents one of the best trade chips the team has as the trade deadline approaches. Patrick Saunders plays out the possibilities.

Here are the Rockies’ first half Minor League MVPs | MLB.com

Thomas Harding reviews some of the standout players in the Rockies MiLB system. He highlights a range of players, including Sam Hilliard, Sean Sullivan, Chase Dollander, and Welinton Herrera.

We need to re-calibrate our standards for what we want the Royals to be | Royals Review

Clearly, this isn’t Rockies-specific, but I’ve been thinking about this Matthew LaMar essay, which points to the lowered expectations some fans experience due to organizational decisions.

★ ★ ★

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!