Thanks to Tuesday’s nail-biter over the Phillies, the Rockies are now (at least temporarily) duking it out with Oakland for the undesirable mantle of “fewest wins in baseball.”
At 14-22, a full nine games back in the division almost a week before Memorial Day, hope is fading fast at 20th and Blake.
And having lost two key contributors already this month – Adam Ottavino for the season and Corey Dickerson to the 15-day DL – good news for the club remains few and far between.
But last night’s 6-5 victory, thanks to a two-out eighth inning home run from Nick Hundley, offered some glimpses of hope for the Rockies. Specifically, that the club could land more than one All-Star come July.
Here’s a quick look at the candidates and their cases for Cincinnati…
Nolan Arenado | 3B
The Gold Glove third baseman should be a lock, if just for his defensive prowess, but he’s also putting up offensive numbers that could translate to the best year of his young career.
His .273 batting average is just a few hundredths below his career number. He’s already sitting at seven home runs through 34 games, putting him on-pace for 34 for the year – nearly double his career high. He’s also nearly a third of the way to his RBI total from last year, which was also a career high.
Fans across MLB are used to seeing Arenado flash the leather; this could be the year he shows them what he’s capable of doing with the lumber.
If the Rockies only place one player on Bruce Bochy’s National League squad, Arenado is the safe bet. But there are three more who could, and maybe should, make the midsummer classic roster…
Troy Tulowitzki | SS
Tulo can already claim “Major League Baseball All-Star” on his resume four times over, but a fifth appearance would mean big things for the shortstop and his club.
Currently, Tulowitzki sits tied with Dante Bichette and Larry Walker as four-time All-Stars, good for second in franchise history. A 2015 bid would move him into a tie with Todd Helton as the only players to make five All-Star appearances as members of the Colorado Rockies.
If he can stay healthy (and avoid being traded) Tulo stands a good chance to pass Helton in 2016 and take sole possession as the club’s most-honored All-Star.
Our next candidate has provided some much needed stability to an important position…
Nick Hundley | C
Wilin Rosario’s three years leading the Rockies in starts by a catcher (2012-14) were the longest such stretch since the club’s first-ever catcher, Joe Girardi, posted that same number (1993-95).
Girardi is now managing the New York Yankees and Rosario is now platooning for Colorado between first base, catcher and DH (for interleague games). Meanwhile, Nick Hundley has stepped into the all-important role of managing a Rockies pitching staff that has been sub-par (at best) over the several seasons.
Not only does the eight-year vet call a decent game (he can’t help it if his staff doesn’t deliver the pitches he calls for), he’s also bolstering the bottom-half of a lineup that was called “the toughest lineup in the national league” by Zach Greinke earlier this season, but hasn’t fully lived up to the billing.
Hundley carries a .307 average and .814 OPS with him as Colorado inches closer to Memorial Day weekend, good for third in both categories among catchers with at least 25 starts and made all the more impressive considering his position in the lineup.
Buster Posey (SF) and Brayan Peña (CIN) will likely end up on the roster, but Hundley is making a strong case to make the first All-Star appearance of his career.
The final candidate has had limited success in 2015, but that’s no fault of his own…
John Axford | RP
2015 has proved to be quite the rollercoaster year for John Axford. After spending parts of the past two years with a total of four clubs, Axford finally found what should be a stable stopper/setup role in Colorado’s bullpen. But after LaTroy Hawkins showed his arm may have given out before his heart and Adam Ottavino went down for the season, Axford was thrust into the mercurial role of Rockies closer.
Add in the Spring Training scare when his 2-year-old son was bitten twice by a rattlesnake while in Arizona. The frightening ordeal left the youngster in the hospital for four weeks and caused Axford to miss a full 10 days while tending to the recovery.
On the field, Axford has gone five-for-five in save opportunities with a 1.13 ERA in nine games. His WHIP is also at 1.13; both are best among active Rockies.
After all he’s gone through this year, there’s probably no Rockie more deserving of a spot in the midsummer classic. But nine games is probably not a healthy enough workload to warrant an All-Star bid, so the Rockies are need to get to work in creating more save opportunities for the hard-throwing righty if they hope to send him to Cincinnati.