By Jordan Long
The Colorado Rockies are 3-9 to start the 2019 season, last in the NL West standings and 5 games back of the Dodgers for 1st place in the division. This is not where the Rockies expected to be at this point.
The Rockies were projected to compete to win the Division or at least make another Wild Card appearance. They added infielder Daniel Murphy to help with the offense. Colorado was hoping his presence would take the pressure off of Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon to add runs for the Rockies. This was also to replace the production of DJ LeMahieu who went to the New York Yankees in free agency.
The pitching was going to keep Colorado in games this season. Ace Kyle Freeland and German Márquez expected to lead the way for the rotation. Jon Gray and Chad Bettis were going to help in the backend of the rotation.
The only question mark heading into the year was the bullpen. They didn’t have a set-up man since Adam Ottavino took his talents to the Big Apple and agreed to a contract with the New York Yankees. They were hoping the bullpen would step up to fill his shoes.
Colorado strength has always been offense. This year so far the offense hasn’t been there. Rockies hitters aren’t patient at the plate which equals ground outs, pop outs, and strike outs. Their team batting average is .216, 25th in all of baseball. Batters have struck out a total of 109 times, 5th most in MLB. They haven’t smacked the ball out the park for home runs that often with 8.
Murphy hasn’t been productive to this point. He appeared in 2 games before being sidelined with a fracture on the tip of his left index finger. This is going to keep him out of the lineup for at least a month. He is hitting .100.
The pitching has struggled. Starting pitching is allowing too many runs and manager Bud Black has been forced to use the bullpen more than he wants to. The starting pitching ERA is 6.40, far too high. Starters can’t keep opponents from adding traffic on the base paths which equal runs on the scoreboard. Colorado’s bullpen is doing their job with an ERA of 4.14.
Colorado knows they have areas to improve. Batters need to be more patient at the plate and they can’t swing at pitches outside the zone. When they do this, the count will be in their favor to have a base hit or a walk to be on base which will equal traffic and chances to score runs. Pitchers must control the zone more. They are leaving the ball where a hitter can smack it for hits. Starters need to be able to go at least 6 innings to keep the bullpen fresh. Luckily, it is early in the season and Colorado has time to turn it around.
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