Going into Tuesday’s rain-delayed game at Coors Field against the Washington Nationals, the Rockies were not only the best team in Major League Baseball by their early 14-6 record, but as a squad they added their names to the top-10 of nearly every relative statistic in the majors, minus pitching. That’s quite the turnaround from last season.
Now, even though Tuesday’s 15-12 loss to the Nats no doubt skewed those numbers for better and for worse, you have to take into consideration that with the win, the Nats returned to the No. 1 spot at 14-6–tied with Houston.
Pretty consistently, the Rockies have been strong on the fielding side of the game, with Tuesday’s game the minor blip on that front. They currently sit at sixth in the league in that category, largely thanks to their .991 fielding percentage and low-ball seven errors.
Undoubtedly, much of that early success happens in the infield, where Trevor Story, Nolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds and D.J. LeMahieu highlight the effort.
“I’ve played beside three special players,” Story said. “I think it’s just a lot of hard work, a lot of preparation. The preparation is what I think gets us ready to play at the level that we do. I’ve learned that from D.J. and Nolan, so it’s just fun playing defense besides those guys.”
But that’s not to say that the seven through nine positions haven’t been phenomenal as well, especially in Coors Field’s gargantuan outfield.
“Our defense is unbelievable in the outfield,” Charlie Blackmon said. “Our guys get all around, which is really good. Ground balls are outs, and sometimes they’re two outs. Tony [Wolters] has been really good behind the plate, making some spectacular plays as well.”
Surprising to no one, the Rockies have continued their dominance at the plate, but offense has never really been a soft spot for this team, even in down years for the bullpen. In just 21 games, they’ve notched 177 hits for 100 runs (4.76 runs per game), good for seventh in the country. With that kind of momentum early, the Rockies can’t help but capitalize on it.
“It’s huge,” Story said. “It’s a long season, but it’s always good to get off to a good start. I think it just builds confidence. We’re already a confident team, but when we’re playing, we’re really confident.”
But interim first baseman Mark Reynolds, who’s filling in for Ian Desmond while he’s recovering from a hand fracture, thinks that there’s more to come from this squad in the run department.
“I think we’re not up to our expectations,” Reynolds said. “We’re not really clicking on all cylinders—some guys are hot, some guys are not. What’s really carrying us right now is our pitching. Those guys have been doing a really great job for us undoubtedly. Once our offense starts clicking on all cylinders, then we’ll be a pretty formidable team.”
Reynolds is currently helping bolster the Rockies’ offense with seven home runs, 24 hits, 14 runs and 20 RBIs. That makes manager Buddy Black’s job that much harder, when Desmond is healthy again and he has to decide where to put Reynolds.
“It’s obviously a good thing,” Reynolds said. “Ian’s going to make this team better. What I wanted, my goal was to make it harder for Buddy to take me out of the lineup. We don’t get paid to make those decisions, so we’ll see what happens when everyone comes back healthy.”
Blackmon agreed, noting that the comfort level at the plate often improves as the long season wears on.
“I think things are only going to improve offensively,” Blackmon said. “I think as we get healthy and as guys get more bats under their belt, we’re going to get more productive.”
While the pitching staff faced an aberration rough patch against their second game with the Nationals, they too have been fairly consistent. Although Colorado currently sits at 21st in the nation in that category, the impact from the mound prior to Tuesday has been undeniable.
That early success, no doubt, is in part thanks to the addition of rookie aces Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland and a mostly healthy starting rotation, minus Jon Gray‘s left foot. They’ve also added the power of the incredibly talented Greg Holland, who has nine saves in 10 attempts and a 1.80 ERA. Additionally, the likes of Adam Ottavino and Scott Oberg are (finally) fully healthy and terrorizing nearly every batter they face.
Even still, that momentum is coming without Chad Bettis, who’s sitting out for now while he battles testicular cancer again.
“It’s still really early, but they’ve been playing well. We’re on the cusp of getting healthy, getting some guys back,” Holland said. “When Bettis gets back, obviously, I think our line’s going to get better, but we still got to go out there and execute, play good defense and get some timely hits. But so far, we’ve played really well.”
Even with a .667 win percentage and 4.6 runs allowed per game, Holland believes that the best is yet to come for this young, yet still experienced, round of pitchers.
“I think it’s a good staff through and through,” Holland said. “I think we got some young guys who are showing some moxie, [Senzatela] and Freeland. [Senzatela] has had one inning his past two innings that had really hurt him, but other than that he’s really pitching well. I think as time goes on with our starting rotation, people are going to figure out just how good they are or how good they can be, especially when we get Bettis and Gray back.
“That complements the bullpen too. We don’t have to eat up a lot of innings if they’re doing their job, going deep in the games. It’s going to keep us fresher and ready for later on in the season.”
All this, of course, falls back on Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich, who made the right moves on all fronts in the off season to get the mile-high guys back on the right track.
“It tells you the front office has built a really good thing here,” Holland said. “When you’ve got key guys, especially starters, that you planned on being your ace or your two or three guys that are not pitching for us now and we’re still playing as well as we are, that’s a credit to our depth, and that’s from a management standpoint. It’s building depth through the minor league system and through free agency.”
