Playing in the Colorado Rockies outfield is usually tough. The dimensions at Coors Field take their toll on even the heartiest defender after a while. This year is no different as the team’s unit has one standout and several struggling players.
Colorado Rockies Outfield Overview
The 2020 Rockies outfield is a tale of two stories. There’s Charlie Blackmon‘s dominance at the plate and everyone else. First, a bit about Colorado’s veteran. Blackmon is simply doing everything he can to win games. His average was briefly at .500 in the team’s recent series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It fell after the past two games, but he is still hitting .472/506/681. He has three home runs and 20 RBI in 79 plate appearances. He is tied in RBI with star slugger Aaron Judge despite six fewer home runs. Blackmon has an unsustainably-high BABIP of .508, but he isn’t walking or striking out. This is simply one of the great hitting performances people have seen in years. Blackmon is still in decline as a defender, but his bat can carry him if it stays even remotely this hot.
The same cannot be said of most of the other options. The team has used five other players in the outfield next to Blackmon but only three have positive WAR values. Two of them are Garrett Hampson and Chris Owings. Both are fine utility options, but each of them has more career innings on the infield. One of them would have to shift inward if someone gets hurt. The team has also played 35-year-old Matt Kemp for one game in left field. Kemp is still showing offensive skill with Colorado, but nobody should rely on him as a defensive option at this point in his career.
Who is Struggling the Most?
That brings things to three players who are very necessary if this team wants to reach its ceiling. David Dahl is having the biggest struggles at the plate of any non-catcher on the team. The 26-year-old is hitting just .203/253/261 with 19 strikeouts in 75 plate appearances. His career slash line is a respectable .290/339/501, but something is very wrong in 2020. Dahl’s walk rate is slightly down compared to his career average, but his strikeout rate is consistent. He also isn’t putting the ball on the ground like usual — Dahl’s career groundball percentage is 41.5, but this year it’s at 37.3. This feels like an extreme case of bad luck. Dahl’s career BABIP is .361, but that is at just .275 right now. He is also having a poor year in the outfield with -5 defensive runs saved according to FanGraphs, but the bat is the bigger concern.
It’s also not great to see Raimel Tapia and Sam Hilliard having issues, but they have had their moments. Tapia produced five hits against Arizona so he might be turning it around. That performance increased Tapia’s OPS+ for 2020 to 89. His .304/370/348 slash line would be the best of his career if he can maintain this production. Hillard is hitting just .194/286/323, good for a 58 OPS+, but this is just his second season in the majors. There isn’t a lot of time this year for us to gauge Hilliard’s true talent, but a good series or two coming up will help fix those numbers. His power/speed combination is still among the best in the Rockies’ system.
Can This Be Fixed?
The season is already 1/3 over, but there is still plenty of time for Dahl to get back on track. Getting him on the right foot will make up for Blackmon’s likely regression. A Dahl recovery will also ensure the team doesn’t have to rely as much on utility infielders as regular outfielders.
The team will hope that Dahl or Hilliard takes a step forward in 2020 because the outfield options behind them are slim. Yonathan Daza is the only true outfielder in the team’s player pool that is also on the 40-man roster. The 25-year-old had a great 2019 in AAA Albuquerque while hitting .364/404/548 but he struggled in the majors. He hit just .206/25/237 in 105 plate appearances across 44 games. There is also Tyler Nevin, who hasn’t played above AA and has only 68 minor league innings in the outfield.
The team’s outfield will be fine if Dahl, Tapia, and Hilliard can improve even just a little bit. They are striking out a healthy amount, but their walk rates are fine as a group. Soft contact also isn’t an issue, as Hilliard is the only one of the three above 14 percent, but he has equal amounts of soft, medium and hard contact. Getting the otherworldly Blackmon some help will make a huge difference in maintaining Colorado’s strong start to 2020.
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