The Colorado Rockies have locked down another player for the foreseeable future. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first broke the news Monday afternoon that the team had signed infielder Ryan McMahon to an extension worth $70 million over six years, or an approximate AAV of $11.67 million.
Versatile infielder Ryan McMahon and the Colorado Rockies are in agreement on a six-year, $70 million contract extension, sources familiar with deal tell ESPN. McMahon, 27, took a leap forward defensively in 2021 and has enough thunder in his bat for Colorado to commit long-term.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 21, 2022
The 27-year old McMahon was drafted by the Rockies in the second round of the 2013 amateur draft out of Mater Dei High School in California. After making his big league debut in 2017, he cemented himself as an every day player starting in 2019. McMahon has excellent defensive versatility, having played every infield position but catcher during his time with the team. This includes two appearances at shortstop during the 2020 season. The Rockies think so highly of said versatility that they considered playing him more at shortstop following the departure of Trevor Story at the end of the 2021 season.
McMahon is coming off his best overall season in 2021 where he posted a career high 4.0 rWAR in 151 games played, good for second best on the team behind Trevor Story’s 4.2.
He was nominated as a finalist for the Gold Glove at third base with superior defensive metrics over the other two finalists in the San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado and the eventual winner Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals. McMahon also had defensive statistics that could have easily won him the Gold Glove at second base as well. He finished the 2021 season as the MLB leader in defensive runs saved with 22, and an NL-best defensive rWAR of 2.6 according to Baseball Reference.
Nobody does it better than Ryan McMahon pic.twitter.com/c6lEuwcg3V
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 5, 2021
The Rockies also value the power in McMahon’s bat. In both of his full-length seasons as a starter, McMahon has hit over 20 home runs and plenty of doubles. 2021 was his best overall offensive season, where he slashed .254/.331/.449 with 23 home runs (third-best on the team behind CJ Cron and Trevor Story), 32 doubles (second-best behind Story), and 86 RBIs (second-best behind Cron).
McMahon’s new contract does include the option for an opt-out after the fourth year if he finishes top five in NL MVP voting in any of the first three years of the deal, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Not including the potential opt-out, this deal will keep McMahon in Colorado through his age 32 season in 2027.
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This is a developing story and Purple Row will continue to monitor it and post updates when necessary.
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