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Highlights and lowlights from the first half of the Sim Rockies season

Sim Rockies news and statistics from July 6-12, 2020

We have officially hit the Sim All-Star Break 2020! The Sim Rockies have played 96 games and are 42-54 — 15 games behind the 57-39 first place Sim Dodgers in the NL West. Despite their record, there have been plenty of highlights (and lowlights) during this unprecedented season.

The highlights

Super Arenado

Was there ever any doubt that Nolan Arenado would make this list? Arenado was just named to his sixth straight All-Star Game and his first Sim All-Star Game. He is the starting third baseman for the National League for the fourth consecutive year as well.

At the moment, Arenado is hitting .326 (117-for-359) with 27 home runs, 68 RBI, 65 runs scored, and a 1.035 OPS. By this point in 2019, he was hitting .312 (106-for-240) with 20 home runs, 67 RBI, 61 runs scored, and a .939 OPS. That’s a pretty crazy difference, and if he keeps up this pace, maybe he’ll finally win (sim) MVP!

Catching Tandem

The Sim Rockies catching tandem of Drew Butera and Elias Díaz has been playing fairly well. Early in the season, Tony Wolters was the team’s primary catcher, but he was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 29 when Butera’s contract was selected.

Díaz began the season serving as Kyle Freeland’s personal catcher. However, he has proven his worth by slashing .273/.315/.383 with three home runs, 17 RBI, and eight runs scored. Butera, on the other hand, has been slashing .283/.383/.370 with a single home run, eight RBI, and ten runs scored. They may not be the flashiest of numbers necessarily, but both catchers have proven to be assets behind the plate and have come up with plenty of hits in clutch situations when the Sim Rockies needed them.

#MustSeeKinley

Tyler “Must See” Kinley has perhaps been the biggest surprise of the Sim Rockies season. He was a bit of a last-minute addition to the roster and has certainly pitched his keep, even ousting Wade Davis for closer at one point in the early season (Scott Oberg did it first, but then got injured so Kinley took his place). Now he is back as a set-up man.

Kinley has made 29 appearances and pitched 29 23 innings. In those 29 23 innings, he has posted a 2.12 ERA (lowest amongst the entire pitching staff) and a 0.910 WHIP (lowest amongst relievers — Jack Wynkoop has the lowest on the staff after his Sim MLB debut on Tuesday). Kinley has also only allowed seven runs (all earned), 11 walks, and 36 strikeouts. His 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings ranks third on the pitching staff, but his 3.3 walks per nine are fourth worst — tied with Germán Márquez and Jeff Hoffman.

The 29-year-old righty has yet to make the Real Rockies roster, but if he pitches as well for them as he has for the Sim Rockies, he should definitely be a staple in that bullpen.

The lowlights

Starting pitching

The starting pitching has been shaky at best. Multiple players have been up and down I-25 to Albuquerque and others have been in and out of the bullpen. The most consistent starter has been Kyle Freeland, who boasts a 4.15 ERA and a 1.290 WHIP in 17 starts. Jon Gray and Germán Márquez have perhaps been the most disappointing of the bunch, especially after such great years in 2019. Márquez has been pegged as the “ace of the staff” for 2020 but he has pitched the worst of the “Big Three.” In 18 starts, Márquez has a 6.22 ERA and a 1.670 WHIP — both worst amongst the starters. He spent time in Albuquerque from May 15-May 29 where he pitched well, but has been pretty mediocre since then.

Gray was another big name to spend time in Albuquerque. He was there from May 29-June 21. The “Gray Wolf” has posted a 5.84 ERA and 1.520 WHIP in his 15 starts. Prior to his option, he had a 5.68 ERA and 1.430 WHIP in 10 starts. Both he and Márquez have been inconsistent and unfortunately disappointing, so hopefully they can figure some things out during this All-Star Break and return to the form that we’re used to seeing from them.

Slow offensive start

The Sim Rockies offense got off to a horribly slow start, especially from 2019 All-Stars David Dahl and Trevor Story. Dahl has finally taken off, but he started the season slashing .098/.229/.171 with just four hits through 41 at-bats in the first week. Story slashed .163/.200/.279 through his first week of play and also hit a home run.

Dahl is now hitting .249/.303/.470 with 13 home runs (5th), 46 RBI (4th), and 42 runs scored (5th). Story is hitting .251/.316/.543 with 24 home runs (T-2nd), 59 RBI (2nd), and 56 runs scored (2nd). He also has 11 stolen bases — four more than the rest of the team combined.

The record

The 42-54 (.438) record is certainly the most disappointing aspect of this sim season so far. In 2019, they were 44-45 (.494) going into the All-Star Break. With this abysmal record, they are 15 games out of the Sim NL West and tied with the Sim Mets for last place in the NL Wild Card race.

The 10-game losing streak from May 7-16 certainly did not help, but they did have a six-game winning streak from June 21-27. They’ve had some small streaks, but have been unable to really string together long winning streaks.

If the Sim Rockies hope to contend for the rest of this season, they will have to figure some things out. But for now, we can all watch Nolan Arenado represent the Sim Rockies in the Sim All-Star Game, which we will broadcast live on YouTube tomorrow night at 6:00pm MT!

★ ★ ★

Sim Rockies Batting Stats through July 12, 2020

Name AB HR RBI SB AVG R H OBP SLG OPS BB K WAR
Name AB HR RBI SB AVG R H OBP SLG OPS BB K WAR
Nolan Arenado 359 27 68 0 0.326 65 117 0.402 0.632 1.035 46 66 5.2
Charlie Blackmon* 305 17 42 1 0.298 49 91 0.351 0.570 0.931 30 70 2.4
Drew Butera 92 1 8 1 0.283 10 26 0.383 0.370 0.753 14 19 0.8
David Dahl 353 13 46 1 0.249 42 88 0.303 0.470 0.773 27 79 0.7
Yonathan Daza 8 0 0 0 0.250 1 2 0.250 0.250 0.500 0 1 0.0
Elias Díaz 154 3 17 0 0.273 8 42 0.315 0.383 0.698 10 30 1.2
Garrett Hampson 150 5 14 2 0.247 25 37 0.323 0.400 0.723 15 31 -0.1
Sam Hilliard 124 10 20 1 0.234 17 29 0.291 0.565 0.856 10 38 1.0
Matt Kemp 25 1 1 0 0.320 5 8 0.393 0.560 0.953 3 4 0.3
Ryan McMahon 329 24 53 0 0.240 52 79 0.324 0.535 0.858 38 112 0.8
Brian Mundell 32 0 4 0 0.344 8 11 0.421 0.375 0.796 5 3 0.3
Daniel Murphy 318 6 30 1 0.261 31 83 0.310 0.396 0.706 21 47 0.0
Trevor Story 374 24 59 11 0.251 56 94 0.316 0.543 0.858 36 112 2.6
Raimel Tapia 68 1 7 0 0.162 6 11 0.247 0.235 0.482 8 11 -0.3
*IL

Sim Rockies Pitching Stats through July 12, 2020

Name W L IP K ERA WHIP SV BB G GS R ER WAR K/9 BB/9
Name W L IP K ERA WHIP SV BB G GS R ER WAR K/9 BB/9
Tim Collins 2 1 29.0 30 3.41 1.620 0 19 34 0 12 11 0.1 9.3 5.9
Wade Davis 1 3 37.1 39 6.51 1.580 3 12 47 0 27 27 0.5 9.4 2.9
Carlos Estevéz 1 4 54.0 77 4.50 1.130 0 14 56 0 28 27 0.3 12.8 2.3
Kyle Freeland 3 8 89.0 47 4.15 1.290 0 21 17 17 49 41 0.6 4.8 2.1
Jon Gray 2 9 77.0 69 5.84 1.520 0 39 15 15 50 50 0.2 8.1 4.6
Joe Harvey 0 2 9.2 8 14.90 2.170 0 1 13 0 17 16 -0.3 7.5 0.9
Jeff Hoffman 5 1 74.1 55 5.45 1.450 0 27 44 2 45 45 0.5 6.7 3.3
Tyler Kinley 3 0 29.2 36 2.12 0.910 9 11 29 0 7 7 0.6 10.9 3.3
Germán Márquez 7 8 89.2 87 6.22 1.670 0 33 18 18 65 62 0.1 8.7 3.3
Scott Oberg 0 1 23.0 28 2.35 1.090 16 13 26 0 6 6 0.6 11.0 5.1
James Pazos 1 1 51.2 52 3.14 1.350 0 18 50 0 18 18 1.0 9.1 3.1
Antonio Senzatela 5 4 74.2 61 4.70 1.500 1 24 25 12 42 39 0.5 7.4 2.9
Jack Wynkoop 0 0 12.0 9 2.25 0.670 0 2 2 2 5 3 0.4 6.8 1.5

Sim NL West Standings through July 12, 2020

Team W L GB
Team W L GB
Dodgers 57 39 --
Padres 56 41 1.5
Diamondbacks 49 47 8.0
Giants 45 50 11.5
Rockies 42 54 15.0

Sim NL Wild Card Standings through July 12, 2020

Team W L GB
Team W L GB
Padres 56 41 --
Pirates 51 45 --
Nationals 50 47 1.5
Diamondbacks 49 47 2.0
Reds 47 49 4.0
Cardinals 46 51 5.5
Giants 45 50 5.5
Marlins 45 51 6.0
Cubs 45 51 6.0
Phillies 45 51 6.0
Rockies 42 54 9.0
Mets 42 54 9.0