Go ahead and lobby for Charlie Blackmon to win the National League MVP. Pencil in Nolan Arenado for another Gold Glove. Put Greg Holland in the Cy Young conversation. Call Bud Black the odds-on favorite to win Manager of the Year. Label the Colorado Rockies legitimate contenders in the National League. You’d be right about all of it. But while you’re lauding praise on the best team in the NL, give some love to the little guys.
Tony Wolters and Chris Rusin are doing big things for the Rockies.
At 5-foot-10, Wolters quite literally looks up at all but one of Rockies teammates. Only ‘The Little Ninja,’ Alexi Amarista, at 5-foot-6 is smaller. Yet, despite his (relatively) diminutive size, few Rockies have been of bigger importance to the club as they maraud their way through the season at a National League-best 41-24.
Take this weekend’s series against the Cubs, for example, when Wolters started a crucial two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning of Thursday’s series-opening win.
Trailing 1-0 after a Kris Bryant home run off Tyler Chatwood in the first inning, Wolters came to bat against the grizzly veteran Jon Lester. Wolters chopped a 2-2 cut fastball in the direction of Bryant at third base, then hustled down the line for an infield base hit.
Eight out of 10 major-league hitters might have loafed on a second-inning soft ground ball to one of the best third basemen in the league. Not Wolters. The 25-year-old, now in his second season in the big leagues, goes hard on every play. (A tough task to do when you’re a starting catcher handling 100-plus pitches every game.) It’s partly why he’s quietly hitting .302 so far this season, up a full 60-plus points from his rookie year. It’s also a big reason he claimed the full-time starting catching job despite tough competition from other talented young prospects in Dustin Garneau and Tom Murphy.
Wolters’ hustle paid off on Thursday when Chatwood followed his at-bat with a single, and then Charlie Blackmon followed both of those hits with a run-scoring double. DJ LeMahieu put an exclamation mark on the rally started by Wolters with a three-run home run to put the Rockies up 4-1. The Rockies’ offense would be done for the day, but Wolters’ work was just beginning.
Behind the plate, Wolters and the Rockies pitchers came together to limit the potent Chicago lineup to just four hits over the next eight innings. With Wolters calling the pitches, Rockies pitchers combined to shut down the Cubs, including Greg Holland who earned his MLB-best 22nd save (he’s now at 23) on the season.
Through it all, Wolters was behind the dish framing strikes and settling his staff. His outstanding defense helped steal a win in a series sweep in San Francisco earlier this season. The win Thursday set the stage for another successful series (which the Rockies would go on to win three games to one), and it all began with Wolters’ hustle play in the second inning of the opener.
Rusin would have his chance to contribute on Friday.
At 6-foot-2, 195-pounds, Chris Rusin is neither the shortest or the slightest pitcher on the Rockies’ staff. But as the left-handed long/middle-relief arm in the Colorado bullpen, his role might seem like one of the smallest on the roster.
Rusin only gets to do his job when the starters don’t do theirs.
Such was the case Friday when German Marquez needed 80 pitches to make it through three innings at Wrigley Field. Tied at two, Black handed the ball to one of the most reliable arms in his bullpen, Rusin.
The 30-year-old didn’t have his best day on the hill. He allowed a run for only the fifth time all season, and he walked two batters for only the second time this year. His ERA climbed to 2.43 because of the run (scored on a fielder’s choice), but he forced five ground-ball outs over two innings of work and kept Colorado in the game. The Rockies would go on to win 5-3. Rusin picked up his third win of the season to run his record to 3-0.
Winning ballgames seems to be synonymous with Chris Rusin this season.
In his 22 appearances this year, the Rockies are 17-5. Even in the losses, Rusin held the opposition scoreless in four of them. He has yet to let an inherited runner score.
Rusin leads the bullpen with 33.1 innings pitched, yet claims the third-lowest ERA behind Holland and Jake McGee. His 0.93 WHIP also trails only Holland and McGee. So far this year, opposing hitters have just four extra-base hits off Rusin – two home runs and two doubles. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is an impressive 3.25-to-1 and opponents are hitting just .190 against him.
Rusin’s box score is always sandwiched between pitchers who are getting more of the spotlight – like Holland and the sensational rookie starters – but he’s putting up career numbers and playing one of the most important roles in the pen.
So go ahead and praise Holland and Blackmon and Arenado. They’ll all be at the All-Star Game in Miami and could be in the running for postseason hardware, along with their manager. But without Tony Wolters and Chris Rusin, there’s a chance none of them are in first place in the NL West right now.
