Can you believe this? Some knucklehead named–uhh–Taylor–umm–France-sin, wrote an entire column about how the Rockies pitching was questionable. Can you believe that guy? I mean honestly, how wrong could he have been?
The Rockies pitching is great this year! And no amount of expertise from some guy who definitely isn’t me, can change that fact. There are three Rockies pitchers so far that have a sub two earned run average, Greg Holland has nine saves, Tyler Anderson has 17 strikeouts and the Rockies currently find themselves atop the NL West having already beaten the two best teams in that division.
And the Rockies seem to be doing it without the spectacular hitting we’ve come to expect. In fact, that France-sin guy wrote that the Rockies, “have some of the best bats in baseball.” Well where are those bats now Mr. Taylor France-sin, hmm?
Arenado is still being Arenado, with a .356 average, six homers, 11 RBI, 21 hits and an on base percentage of .424 but that’s about the bulk of the offensive production.
The other bulk of the offense has come from an unlikely source in Mark Reynolds. Originally only put at first base until Ian Desmond came back, Reynolds now leads the team in RBI with 12, he has 16 hits, four home runs and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
Desmond’s nagging injury and Reynolds’ success, have made for an interesting competition for first base when Desmond comes back, which will be soon.
But the rest of the hitting has been very meh, for the first couple weeks of the season. Carlos Gonzalez has a .157 batting average, Trevor Story is at a .135 average, Blackmon is hitting .238 but his on base percentage is only .294. Story has also struck out 25 times on the year, and we’ve only played 16 games as of writing this.
And this goes back to that idiot columnist who actually had the audacity to wear his favorite Trevor Story jersey to work on opening day because he bought into the hype about the Rockies hitting. Well, my misguided friend–who again was definitely somebody else and totally not me–you bought into the wrong hype.
For whatever reason, the Rockies decided to heed the words of Bud “Buddy” Black, and actually build a solid pitching rotation. Scott Oberg, Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino have a 1.17, 1.23 and 1.35 ERA respectively. The highest ERA on the team is that of Tyler Anderson’s at 7.32, but Anderson makes up for it by having the most strikeouts on the team with 17. And that’s not even the rest of the rotation who have shined so far in this year.
Just to rattle off some names, Carlos Estevez, Mike Dunn, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and of course the hero of them all Tyler Chatwood.
All of these pitchers for the Rockies have contributed in some fashion to getting them on top of the division, bracing themselves for a home stretch of games against the Giants and Nationals before heading on the road to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “but don’t the Rockies always start out great and then fizzle out before the all-star break?” Well yes, they have in the past, but the same person that says they will again this year, is the same type of person who would say the Rockies will finish 81-81 and miss the playoffs. That kind of backwards thinking is exactly what got the Rockies in trouble in years past. We need forward thinking fans–like myself, Tyler Fransen–not backwards thinking–like Taylor France-sin.
Now will the Rockies make the World Series this year? Probably not, in fact you can almost guarantee it won’t happen. But, do I see a potential playoff run for the boys in purple? Most definitely. And if Taylor France-sin were here, he’d probably say the exact opposite, because he just revels in being wrong all the time. What a moron.