Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, May 6th, 2024
It’s no secret that the Colorado Rockies are a bad baseball team. Their 8-26 record ties them with the Chicago White Sox for the worst in all of Major League Baseball, and they are the only team in the league yet to win a series or even string together consecutive wins. The Rockies only on Friday snapped an MLB record streak of 31 consecutive games trailing at some point to start the season.
After being swept by fellow bottom feeders the Miami Marlins—twice in walk-off fashion—and a team meeting was called, general manager Bill Schmidt came to the defense of his team and coaching staff in an interview with Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.
The interview itself is largely frustrating, with Schmidt acknowledging the awful start the Rockies are off to yet defaulting to some of the standard lines we are used to from this organization. He states that the players need to play better, cut down on strikeouts, and execute on offense.
Towards the end of the interview, Schmidt attempts to offer some hope for long-suffering Rockies fans when it comes to the future.
“Good things are going to happen,” Schmidt said. “Some good things are going on in the (farm) system. And I think some of the young kids we have now, and those coming up through the system, see this as an opportunity to change things.”
However, It’s hard to believe the organization is fully bought into the youth movement of the future and the riches of their farm system when they seem so intent on repeating the mistakes of the past.
The Rockies summoned 1B/OF/C Hunter Goodman (no. 16 PuRP) to the big league roster on April 24th as the team was wrapping up a four game series with the San Diego Padres and preparing for their trip to Mexico City. The corresponding move was to option a struggling Michael Toglia to Triple-A Albuquerque so he could receive consistent at-bats.
Since being recalled, Goodman has yet to find consistent playing time despite hitting a three-run home run in his first start of the season against the Padres—a key contribution in one of the Rockies very few wins this season.
During this period of time we have seen Goodman languish on the bench for the most part. He has appeared in five games and started just three. He’s started two games in right field and one as the designated hitter.
In the same time frame, the Rockies have had 31-year-old veteran backup outfielder Jake Cave start four games with seven total appearances. Cave has appeared in 23 of the Rockies’ 34 games to start the season, including eight starts in the outfield. He usually comes into games late as a substitution for Charlie Blackmon.
Starting catcher Elias Díaz has also been getting reps even on his days off from backstop duties by operating as the team’s designated hitter. In the almost two weeks since Goodman was called back up, Díaz has four starts as the DH.
While some of these starts by veterans coincide with games in which Hunter Goodman was already starting or making an appearance, the Rockies are once again prioritizing veterans over younger players who need time to develop. This is a trend that continues from last season with Goodman.
When he was called up from Triple-A to make his debut last season Goodman made 12 consectuvie starts from August 27th to September 10th. However, from September 11th through the end of the season he saw a reduction in playing time despite the Rockies having been comfortably eliminated for some time.
Through the end of the season Goodman had just seven more starts with sporadic playing time in 11 total games.
We’ve seen this before in the team’s handling of Elehuris Montero and other prospects, and while Montero is now regularly starting at first base it has taken injuries to veterans to force the Rockies into starting younger players in both 2023 and 2024.
Like Montero, Goodman has very little to prove in the farm system. In 84 at-bats with the Isotopes this season over 20 games Goodman hit .298/.352/.690 with seven home runs. He has a career 1.161 OPS at Triple-A and a career minor league OPS of .933 since being drafted out of the University of Memphis.
The rest of Goodman’s development needs to come at the MLB level so he can continue to adjust to big league pitching and be given a chance to cement himself in a role for the future of this organization. The question that remains is what the Rockies will do to facilitate that development.
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Weekly Pebble Report: Pitching Everywhere All at Once (Except in Albuquerque). (April 29th-May 5th)
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (1-5, 9-24 Overall)
There isn’t much doubt that the Isotopes are struggling the most of any Rockies affiliate as they drop yet another series and have just one more win than their parent organization. Isotopes pitching was battered by the Texas Rangers affiliate Round Rock Express last week, including three games where the Isotopes yielded at least nine runs.
Stock Down: I’m not sure how much longer things can continue for Rule 5 draft pick Thomas Ponticelli. The former Cleveland Guardians prospect has yet to make it through five innings this season and has given up at least six earned runs in four of his seven starts. He has just 11 strikeouts through 22 1⁄3 innings with 23 walks and has given up ten home runs.
Stock Up: A hearty congratulations to erstwhile and current member of the Rockies organization Sam Hilliard. After returning to the club that drafted him this season, Hilliard had some unfinished business to attend to: the pesky matter of the all-time Isotopes home run record. With his 67th home run as an Isotope last week Hilliard is now in sole possession of the title.
Stock Up: Former Rockies prospect and Colorado native Reagan Todd made his return to the mound on Sunday night for his first inning of work in 623 days after recovering from Tommy John surgery. Todd—drafted by the Rockies in 2018—pitched a scoreless frame against Round Rock.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (2-3, 14-10 Overall)
The Yard Goats weren’t able to get their full slate of games in against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies of the New York Mets last week, but were able to play five of six thanks to a double header on Wednesday. Outside of a 2-7 loss on Friday, the Yard Goats displayed quality pitching all week by holding their opponent to three or fewer runs in every other game.
Stock Up: Jaden Hill (no. 19 PuRP) earned his fourth save of the season on May 1st with a three strikeout inning and allowed just one hit in a scoreless frame. Hill now has four saves and 11 strikeouts in eight innings of work with the Yard Goats.
Stock Down: Adael Amador (no. 1 PuRP) continues to struggle at the plate in Double-A. The Rockies’ top prospect was hitless in 14 at-bats in four games against the Rumble Ponies, and drew only one walk to six strikeouts in a break away from his usually impeccable plate discipline. Amador is hitting just .132/.330/.147 this season.
High-A: Spokane Indians (2-3, 15-7 Overall)
The Indians started to show some cracks in their armor against the San Francisco Giants affiliate Eugene Emeralds as they lost a series with some of the most runs given up for the team this season. The rotation can’t be perfect all the time and the usually solid bullpen had their struggles. The final game of the series was postponed due to inclement weather.
Stock Down: Connor Staine had a tough night on Saturday as he gave up seven earned runs on five hits and four walks against the Emeralds over 2 2⁄3 innings. He also gave up three home runs in an outing that had the Indians deep in the hole early on. It was Staine’s first real clunker of the season and raised his ERA from 1.13 to 6.75. He will look to rebound this week.
Stock Up: 2022 draft pick Carson Skipper has yet to give up an earned run out of the Indians’ bullpen through ten appearances and 9 2⁄3 innings of work. He’s struck out 15 batters and walked just two. Skipper had another two scoreless outings against the Ems and struck out four total batters.
Stock Up: Braiden Ward went 6-for-14 against Eugene for a solid week, but his true triumph came on Friday with a 3-for-3 effort and a record tying six stolen bases in one game. Ward also leads the Northwest League in batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.589), OPS (1.045), triples (4), and stolen bases (16)
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (3-4, 15-11 Overall)
The Fresno Grizzlies had a rare seven game set against the Inland Empire 66ers of the Los Angeles Angels organization. The series included a double-header with a makeup game from mid-April. Despite the lopsided series record, it was a week of bounce-back performances from the Grizzlies rotation.
Stock Up: Jace Kaminska had an excellent bounce-back start to kick off May against the 66ers. He worked a full six innings of shutout baseball, giving up six hits and walking one batter while striking out eight. Currently Kaminska carries a 1.90 ERA with opposing batters hitting just .205 against him.
Stock Up: Austin Emener also bounced back from a difficult start the week before by giving up just one earned run on two hits (including a home run) over six innings. He struck out seven batters and pushed his ERA back below 4.00.
Stock Up: Isaiah Coupet turned in his best start of the 2024 season with a whopping 11 strikeouts against the 66ers on Saturday. He went five innings for just the second time this season and only gave up two earned runs.
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‘We’re not performing’: A closer look at the Rockies’ early struggles | MLB.com
After the Rockies dropped the series finale against the Pirates for yet another series loss, Thomas Harding explores what has plagued the scuffling organization so far in 2024.
The Rockies have lost their heads on the basepaths | Purple Row
In case you missed it on Friday, Joelle MIlholm discussed a frustrating trend of the 2024 Rockies season: baserunning mistakes. The Rockies have been plagued by errors on the basepaths so far this season, with even more occurring over the weekend. Why?
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