Colorado Rockies: Top five standout performances from April | Rox Pile
As April ends, Rox Pile’s Luke Mullins focuses on five players who had particularly impressive performances in the season’s first month. Chad Bettis, Adam Ottavino, Trevor Story, Wade Davis, and Charlie Blackmon receive the spotlight.
In April, Bettis threw nearly as many innings as he did in all of 2017. While his 2.43 ERA is considered unsustainable by his 4.37 FIP, both his results and peripherals are looking better than a year ago. In Ottavino’s case, not many a reliever has looked better. As of Monday, Ottavino leads all qualified relievers in fWAR (0.8), FIP (0.45), and xFIP (0.86). Davis has made the most of his contract, as his numbers through 11 1/3 innings are looking like what he did as a closer for the Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs.
On the offensive side of things, Story is putting up a 102 wRC+, thanks to a .462 slugging percentage. That’s a significant boost from the 81 wRC+ he produced in 2017. Story has made improvements in both the strikeout and walk outcomes of his game, and is on pace to deliver more home runs as well. Speaking of home runs, Blackmon simply continues to add to his game, as his 9 homers are tied for the league lead.
Nolan Arenado debuted for Colorado just five years ago, but his accomplishments are colossal | Mile High Sports
Nolan Arenado has been a big leaguer for five years. He’s seen some very bad Rockies teams and he’s seen an organization that seems to be turning the corner to becoming a consistent contender. For his part, Arenado has gotten progressively better as his young career has trudged on. TJ McBride of Mile High Sports recaps Nolan’s offensive and defensive accolades.
BSN Rockies Podcast: Leaving the House of Horrors behind | BSN Rockies
In the latest episode of the BSN Rockies podcast, Drew Creasman recaps the Rockies’ recent series against the Miami Marlins. The Rockies lost 2 of 3 games, while scoring a whopping 2 runs in the entire series. The Rockies have never looked like an offensive juggernaut when playing in Miami, so Creasman provides some theories as to why this is.
Colorado Rockies: The Ideal Offensive Lineup | Rox Pile
So, what would be an ideal Rockies lineup to get the offense going? Quinn Ritzdorf of Rox Pile suggests calling up Tom Murphy and Raimel Tapia, two players who have been showing extremely well with the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Triple-A affiliate of the Rockies. Ritzdorf also posits that moving Carlos Gonzalez to first base would make for an optimized lineup, as his numbers have been better than those of Ian Desmond and Ryan McMahon thus far.
Colorado Rockies: The most memorable debuts in franchise history | Rox Pile
Rox Pile’s Jeramiah Penaflor runs down some of the greatest debuts in Rockies history. Making the cut are Story, Kyle Freeland, Mark Brownson, Jason Jennings, and Todd Helton. With PuRP No. 1 Brendan Rodgers potentially on track to make his Major League debut before 2018 comes to an end, we could be adding another name to this list soon.
Colorado Rockies add bullpen depth with Brett Oberholtzer | Rox Pile
On Tuesday, April 24, the Rockies signed lefty Brett Oberholtzer to a minor-league deal. In his first appearance for the Isotopes, a start, Oberholtzer allowed six hits and three earned runs in four innings, with one walk and one strikeout. While it’s not likely that Oberholtzer will make much of an impact at the game’s highest level this season, it never hurts to have depth.
Around Baseball
Dave Roberts benches Cody Bellinger for lack of hustle | NBC Sports
Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers was benched by Manager Dave Roberts for a lack of hustle in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco Giants. This is apparently not the first time that Roberts has taken issue with Bellinger’s efforts, despite the impressive power stroke that the consensus 2017 National League Rookie of the Year has provided.
Tigers quality control coach Joe Vavra on his job, using analytics and which areas are ripe for improvement | The Athletic ($)
Katie Strang of The Athletic delves into the world of Detroit Tigers quality control coach Joe Vavra. I personally greatly enjoy getting to learn about the people who work in the game who are responsible for being the conduit of statistical information from the analytics department to the players, and this interview with Vavra provides an excellent glimpse.