Colorado Rockies News and Notes for Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Back in mid-March when everyone was making their 2024 projections, there was general consensus that the Colorado Rockies would not be a very good baseball team but that their exceptional defense would continue.
After all, Brenton Doyle won a Gold Glove while patrolling the most challenging outfield in baseball while Ryan McMahon and Ezequiel Tovar were Gold Glove finalists. Plus, Nolan Jones had been very good defensively, and it was widely held that he, too, would have been a Gold Glove finalist had he played enough innings to qualify.
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello projected that the Rockies would fie for the fourth-best defense with the Texas Rangers. His analysis is worth quoting:
Colorado is a little more of a boom-or-bust team, in that it has some absolute superstars with the glove, but some weak spots as well. Two second-year players, outfielder Brenton Doyle and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, are projected as two of the top 15 defenders in baseball in 2024 – though Doyle will have to hit considerably more to allow his glove to stick in the Majors all season – while veteran Ryan McMahon is well-regarded. Throw in backup catcher Jacob Stallings, who had long been a strong defender before a 2023 downturn, and the possibility that the strong-armed Nolan Jones improves his ability to collect the ball in his second year, and there’s a core of a very good defensive team here.
The only reason that they’re not higher is that absolutely no one here is average, meaning if they’re not great, they’re poor. The veteran duo of Kris Bryant and Charlie Blackmon each do not project well with the glove, though it’s likely that Blackmon is a DH more than he is an outfielder, while catcher Elias Díaz gives back much of his hitting value with his defense. This is a good defense that could be an excellent one, if some of the leaky spots were tightened.
We’re just over a month into the season, so leaving small-sample-size territory. Has the Rockies defense delivered?
The early numbers are a bit surprising. In evaluating this, I’ll look at a number of metrics and try to draw some conclusions.
Errors
Let’s start with the tried and true error. It’s an old metric, but it provides a nice starting point.
As a team, the Rockies have accumulated 18 errors, which ties them for ninth place. (Leading all teams are the Miami Marlins with 28.)
With five errors, Ryan McMahon is tied for second among all MLB players. Nolan Jones is in a tie for third with four.
So from just the errors standpoint, the Rockies are not off to a good start.
Defensive Runs Saved (DRS)
Consider, then, Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which provides a more-sophisticated measure. The Rockies have a 4 DRS, which ties them for 12th in baseball. (The Kansas City Royals lead the league a collective 30 DRS.) The players with the highest DRS are Marcus Semien with 11 and Christian Walker with eight.
Among the Rockies, currently Jacob Stallings has the highest DRS with three followed by Jake Cave and Ryan McMahon with two. (Notably, Cave has appeared in only 64.1 innings while Stallings and McMahon have over 100.)
Here’s the Cave Man in action:
Elias Díaz has one DRS.
The worst Rockies in terms of DRS? Brenton Doyle with -4 DRS while Sean Bouchard has -2 DRS.
Although the numbers are improving, this is not an impressive team when measured by DRS.
Outs Above Average (OAA)
The team with the most Outs Above Average (OAA) are the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays with 13. Conversely, with -6 OAA, the Rockies are 16gh. (The Miami Marlins have the worst OAA with -20.) The player with the highest OAA? Marcus Semien (nine).
As for the Rockies, Charlie Blackmon, Jake Cave, Brenton Doyle, and Ezequiel Tovar have an OAA above zero — each has one. All other players are either zero or lower. McMahon has the lowest score at -2.
Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR)
Consider, then, Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), which is not unlike DRS.
The team with the highest UZR is the Royals (8.5). Here, the Rockies are slightly better with a positive 0.5 ranking (17th). The player with the highest UZR? Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres (3.3).
When looking at the Rockies, Tovar’s 2.6 is the highest score followed by McMahon’s 2.0 — and it’s worth noting that Tovar’s score is sixth among all MLB players while McMahon is 11th.
Brendan Rodgers’ 0.8 is a distant third. The lowest rating goes to Brenton Doyle’s -1.4.
Fielding Run Value (FRV)
Fielding Run Value (FRV) is a metric MLB rolled out last year that attempts to measure a player’s overall defensive performance — and last year, no one had a higher FRV than Brenton Doyle
When measured by team, again, the Royals have the highest FRV with 17. The Rockies have a cumulative FRV of 0. The MLB player with the highest FRV is Marcus Semien with seven.
As for the Rockies, Elias Díaz’s four is by far the highest score and ties him for second among all MLB players.
Jake Cave is second with one. All other Rockies follow an FRV of zero, or lower, including last year’s leader, Brenton Doyle (0).
The lowest FRB goes to Ryan McMahon (-2).
Closing thoughts
Clearly, it’s still early in the season, and these numbers will change. Actually, I initially drafted this piece over a week ago, and the Rockies have seen modest improvement since then. After all, the Rockies have a solid defensive core — we know that.
However, this is an early unexpected weakness the team will need to address soon.
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