Painting by the numbers not only produces a portrait of the Rockies’ failures in 2023 but also a picture of what they need to fix for 2024.
Let’s get started:
5.67: The club’s ERA was the highest in the majors and the second-highest in franchise history, behind only the 1999 team (6.01). Ravaged by injuries — a franchise record 17 different pitchers made a start — and hurt by a lack of quality depth, the starting rotation posted a 5.91 ERA, the worst in the majors and the second-highest in franchise history, also behind the ’99 club.
Colorado had a National League-low 39 quality starts, the second-fewest for a full season in franchise history, ahead of only the 2012 “piggy-back” rotation’s 27 quality starts.
There is no mystery here; the Rockies desperately need to find and develop starting pitching. Can Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt pull off a trade like the one Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen made when he swapped infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm to the Marlins for Zac Gallen in July 2019? Gallen, who started Game 1 of the World Series Friday night, became the D-backs’ best pitcher.
33: The number of blown saves by the Rockies, tied with the American League champion Rangers for the most in the majors and the second-most in franchise history (2004, 34 blown saves).
Colorado must shore up its bullpen during the offseason to whittle down a 5.38 ERA that was the highest in baseball and the fifth-highest in franchise history. It also needs to find a reliable closer. Can Daniel Bard fix his mechanics and ward off the yips? Is Justin Lawrence the answer? Is Tyler Kinley? Can they find someone else to pitch the ninth?
85.3: The contact percentage allowed by Rockies pitchers on pitches within the strike zone, the highest mark in the majors, according to Baseball Savant. The 25.4 chase percentage and 20.9 whiff percentage were both the lowest in the majors. In other words, Rockies pitchers didn’t produce a lot of swings and misses.
Opposing hitters teed off on Colorado pitching, hitting .288 with a .847 OPS and launching 234 homers. Only the Nationals allowed more homers (245).
Several Rockies pitchers, led by Kyle Freeland, thrive on getting groundball outs, but there were far too many meatballs served over the middle of the plate. Manager Bud Black and pitching coach Darryl Scott have a lot of work to do.
.249/.310/.405: The Rockies’ slash line illustrates how ineffectual their offense was during their 103-loss season. Their .249 average and .310 on-base percentage were the lowest in franchise history, while their .405 slugging percentage was better than only the 2022 team (.398).
Given the Rockies’ desperate need for pitching and financial constraints, it’s difficult to imagine the team signing a free-agent slugger. That means they’ll need better production from veterans Kris Bryant, Charlie Blackmon, Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers, and continued growth from young players such as Nolan Jones, Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle.
1,543: Total strikeouts, the most in franchise history, topping 1,503 in ’19. Black repeatedly lamented the Rockies’ high chase rate, which at 32.1% was the second-highest in the majors behind the White Sox.
The Rockies’ coaching staff, led by hitting coach Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens, faces a huge project this offseason as it attempts to tweak the approaches and swings of the club’s numerous high-strikeout guys: Doyle (35.0% K rate), Elehuris Montero (36.2%), Michael Toglia (32.9%) and McMahon (31.6%). Keep in mind that the average MLB strikeout rate is 22.6%.
.272: We’ve gotten used to the Rockies losing on the road. After all, they’ve only posted three winning road records in 31 years of baseball, but their .272 winning percentage (22-59) was the worst in the majors and the second-worst in franchise history (2014, 21-60, .259).
Colorado’s road ERA was 5.18, the second-highest club history behind the 2003 club (5.35), and it gave up 119 road homers, the second-most in franchise history behind the 2019 team (126) during the juiced-ball season.
Also, the Rockies’ 70 home runs were tied with Cleveland for the fewest road home runs in the majors.
When Meulens took over as hitting coach, he said he didn’t want the Rockies’ dramatic home-road splits to become an acceptable norm.
“You should be the same hitter no matter where you play,” he said during spring training. “You can hit at Coors Field, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium … you should be able to hit anywhere. We aren’t emphasizing the negative. Hopefully, with the right type of preparation, we can solve some of our problems on the road. We’ll work to find a plan for every hitter and then we have to figure out how they can be successful, no matter what the situation is.”
Clearly, the plan still needs a lot of work. Check out these road slash lines: Montero, .175/.214/.307; Toglia, .147/.183/.324; McMahon, .219/.310/.380; Bryant, .230/.314/.324; Blackmon, .237/.337/.337; and Rodgers, .200/.261/.271.
