From A-plus to, wait, F-minus!? First-month grades for all 30 teams | ESPN
Given where things started, it’s kind of amazing that the grade for the Colorado Rockies isn’t an F. Instead we’ve got a C grade from Dave Schoenfield in this rundown of all the teams in baseball.
That seems fair to me thanks to the turnaround to get their record closer to the .500 mark. And the one mulligan for the Rockies? Why, it’s Ian Desmond in center field, of course. It does seem to be the case, at the very least, that David Dahl and Raimel Tapia are pushing him out of some playing time. We’ll see if Desmond can turn some positive signs into actual results.
Stark: Ten things we learned in April | The Athletic ($)
Home runs and strikeouts are way up. Triples are way down, although the aforementioned Tapia is doing his part to keep them alive. Stolen bases are down too, and I vote the Rockies go with that trend because watching them give outs away on the bases is bad for my health.
Those are among the league-wide trends that Jayson Start looks into in this article. He also looks at the heavy competition in the National League, a competition where the Rockies currently find themselves on the fringes. As for the NL West, Stark cites “every executive he talked to” in saying it’s a done deal for the Dodgers. Let’s hope not.
No setbacks for Iannetta (lat) during rehab stint | MLB.com
This update reminded me how surprisingly indifferent I have become to Drew Butera making regular appearances in the lineup. It also reminded me that an upgrade is on the way when Chris Iannetta is healthy, even if he struggled early this season.
Jim Hoehn provides an update on Iannetta’s rehab from a right lat strain. So far so good in terms of health, but Bud Black does say there’s “no timetable” for his return. That makes it sound like it might be a while yet.
Any artists out there who want to submit their vision of how the Colorado Rockies “Rise to the Rockies” of their home state? Here is a call for entries for a mural at Coors Field. Cool stuff.
On the farm
Brendan Rodgers (PuRP no. 1) and Josh Fuentes (PuRP no. 16) each had doubles in Albuquerque’s game. Vince Fernandez (PuRP no. 21) had another nice game with three hits and a run driven in as the Yard Goats won.
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 6, Sacramento River Cats 5
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 2, Portland Sea Dogs 0