DJ LeMahieu is having himself a season in New York. He is slashing .341/.387/.527 with a 142 wRC+ and 3.5 fWAR. I expect Rockies fans (like me) to largely feel ambivalent about this—sad or angry that DJ is performing like this for another team, and happy about his success since he was so well liked here. Regardless, one thing everyone can agree on is how good it feels to have proof that DJ is not just a “Coors Field Creation.”
Ryan Fagan examines DJ’s season in New York and the historical precedence of Rockies All-Stars who go on to play for other teams around their age-30 season. He brings up names such as Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, Vinny Castilla, and more, and the results are a mixed bag—some hit well post-Coors, some not-so-good. Honestly, that’s probably the best result, as it shows that what counts is the hitter’s ability, not the field they play on.
Is there a Coors Field hangover? Numbers say Dodgers have suffered from it | Orange County Register
Bill Plunkett, a beat writer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, writes about a phenomenon we Rockies fans are all too familiar with—the Coors Field hangover. Bill brings attention to the difficulty of playing at high elevation and how it affects players when they leave Colorado.
The Dodgers, like the Rockies, historically have not fared well in games following a series at 20th and Blake, going 24-35 (.407 win%) since 2013. For contrast, they have a .587 win% overall in that same time frame. That’s pretty stark.
Bill and some members of the Dodgers organization offer reactions to this stat and try to give their best reasoning for it. Some say it’s the difference in how the ball breaks, others say it’s how fatigued they feel and how their bodies hurt after playing at high elevation. Those definitely make more sense than the guy who says Denver’s beds are just too soft... but whatever it might be, it’s real, and no one has to battle it like the Rockies do.
Arenado, Iannetta in disbelief over Skaggs’ death | MLB.com
News spread quickly on Monday about the tragic death of Tyler Skaggs, a 27 year old pitcher in the Angels organization. Fans, loved ones, and teammates began sharing their disbelief and sadness, and Thomas Harding spoke to Nolan Arenado and Chris Iannetta—both of whom had played with Skaggs in the past—about their friend’s passing. There is little solace at such a time, but sharing stories, love, and support is always a good start.
AT&T Considers Selling Regional Sports Networks to Slash Debt | Bloomberg
According to *adjusts eyeglasses, squints, furrows brow* ... “people familiar with the matter,” AT&T is considering selling their regional sports networks in an attempt to reduce their debt. This is, of course, important to us fans and the Rockies organization because they own AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, which broadcasts most of the Rockies games.
The only lead that is offered by the authors is a group named Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. “could be” among the potential buyers (they recently bought twenty-one regional sports networks from Fox), as well as—imagine this—Ice Cube’s Big3 U.S. basketball league.
Didn’t even have to blackout LA, I got to say it was a good day.
On the farm
Sam Hilliard (no. 11 PuRP) hit his twenty-second home run of the season last night for the ‘Topes and continues to impress with his power and speed combo. Sam has 15 stolen bases (only two caught stealing) to go with 46 XBH in 325 at-bats—that’s more than half his total hits (81) so far. Sam has a great shot to make his major league debut sometime this year.
Colin Simpson (Round 29, 2019 draft) hit his fourth home run of his young season for Grand Junction, and in a limited sample size (ten games) is slashing an impressive .323/.475/.742. It’s early, obviously, but Colin has been a nice storyline for the Rookie level Rockies so far.
Triple-A: Sacramento River Cats 11, Albuquerque Isotopes 2
Double-A: Bowie Baysox 6, Hartford Yard Goats 2
High-A: Lancaster JetHawks 5, Inland Empire 66ers 4
Low-A: Lexington Legends 6, Asheville Tourists 4
Short Season-A: Boise Hawks 4, Everett AquaSox 1