The Colorado Rockies have struggled with depth and production in left field for several seasons ever since Matt Holliday left the franchise. He’s the only real star they have ever had anchoring the position. It’s been a rotating cast of underwhelming options for most of the past few seasons. Yes, Colorado’s outfield is huge, but the team shouldn’t struggle to find a competent hitter as much as they have. What are the available options as the team enters the 2021 campaign to occupy left field?
Colorado Rockies Left Field Depth
Major League Level
Raimel Tapia will receive the lion’s share of starts in the left corner when the season opens. There is plenty of optimism that the 27-year-old has figured things out after he hit .321/369/402 in 206 plate appearances last year. That translates to a career-high 96 OPS+. A .392 BABIP might indicate a hefty dose of good luck, but it’s hard to ignore an 18.4 percent strikeout rate. Tapia hit the ball harder than he had in previous years and more often per some of Fangraphs’ batted ball and plate discipline metrics. The team just needs him to be more consistent and build towards a full season. Tapia is the only true option in left field when you recall that Ian Desmond opted-out of the final year of his contract.
AAA & AA
Casey Golden presents an interesting option in the upper minors. The former 20th round selection from the 2017 Amateur Draft is 26-years-old and has shown some pop in the Colorado system. Golden has a career .271/360/555 slash line with 77 home runs. That production has taken place over roughly 1,200 plate appearances across three levels. His highest level was High-A in 2019, but he would have been in AA or AAA had the 2020 season taken place. It’s unlikely that we’ll see Golden in 2021, but he is getting older. The time is approaching to either see what he is capable of or cut him for a younger option.
High-A and Lower
A much, much deeper option for the future is Colin Simpson, who was a 29th round selection from the 2019 Amateur Draft, out of Oklahoma State University. He is one of the few Rockies farm hands to have the majority of their outfield innings in left. The 5’9″, left-handed batter only has one minor league season under his belt, but it was notable for its .309/383/667 slash line. Simpson also has experience as a catcher from his college years, but moved away from it in 2019. It will be interesting to see how the organization deploys him in 2021.
Overall Thoughts
If this looks thin, that’s because it is. The main issue with evaluating left field is that the position lies near the bottom of the defensive spectrum. Very few players are drafted and developed specifically for that position. It means that evaluating who might play left boils down to players who have already shifted over from center or are being moved around right now. It’s also hard to project players who are switching positions because some might just as easily end up as first basemen or right field.
Yet, there does seem like some optimism for 2021. Tapia performed at a solid level last year in roughly one-third of a year and will be given a long leash to start this season. Despite Golden’s lack of pedigree, he too can’t be ignored in the event of an injury. He has progressed far enough that he isn’t more than one good stretch away from being considered. Colorado also has one empty spot on their 40-man. The UNC-Wilmington product might be just the golden ticket in an emergency.
Main Image:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned: Matt Holliday, Raimel Tapia, Ian Desmond, Casey Golden, Colin Simpson
