Wednesday’s Non-Tender deadline saw dozens of players around the big leagues turned loose by their respective teams. The Colorado Rockies were no exception after choosing to not offer 2021 contracts to three players. One of those players was primary catcher Tony Wolters. So the catching torch will be passed to rookie Dom Nunez.
Background
The 25-year old was the Rockies sixth-round pick in the 2013 draft out of Elk Grove High School in California. Nunez found his way through the Rockies farm system as catching prospects ahead of him like Tom Murphy and Dustin Garneau got their shots at the big league club, then moved on to other organizations. After repeating a season at rookie-level Grand Junction, Nunez moved through the Rockies’ system promptly. At the age of 24, Nunez mixed well with veteran players at the Triple-A level like Antonio Senzatela, Drew Butera, and Yonder Alonso demonstrating solid maturity.
On the field, Nunez offers a skillset that offers some overlap with that of Wolters but has other stronger features. Nunez is also a left-handed hitter affording him the opportunity for the larger stake of playing time. Hitting out of a moderate crouch, he uncoils and turns the bat loose with a potent power stroke. The standard approach for Nunez is to grind at-bats always looking for a pitch to drive. An on-base percentage ninety to a hundred points higher than his batting average is not uncommon. The batting average may be lower than some are comfortable with, but Nunez has developed into a high OPS potential hitter. Nunez showed that in his only season at Triple-A in 2019. Nunez popped career highs in home runs (17), slugging percentage (.559), and OPS (.921) all in just 217 at-bats.
Outlook
Rockies fans should look for Dom Nunez to step into a familiar-looking job share behind the plate with the right-handed-hitting Elias Diaz. Both should occupy the eighth place in the batting order in a near-classic platoon system. Of the two, Nunez looks to be the stronger hitter and might even garner some pinch-hitting duty when he’s not starting. Another attribute the potential power source demonstrated at the Triple-A level was hitting in the clutch. Of his 17 Triple-A homers, three were of the game-tying or go-ahead varieties late in games.
Defensively there will be a drop-off when compared to the defensive prowess of Wolters. However, Nunez is an above-average defender with solid mechanics behind the plate and good arm strength. Throughout his minor league career, the young backstop has had no trouble working with pitchers and executing game plans.
What To Expect In 2021
Dom Nunez should be in the lineup almost exclusively against right-handed starters. If he holds to his minor league track record, his batting average will be in the .220 to .250 range. Nunez’ ability to grind out at-bats and take a great number of pitches will provide a number of walks and elevate his on-base percentage up to a hundred points above his batting average. A healthy season as the heavier side of a platoon will net around 400 at-bats. Such playing time should give Nunez the opportunity for 15-20 home runs and 65-75 RBI. If the young man continues to develop into the major leagues the way he did through the minors, Colorado Rockies fans could find themselves quite happy with their rookie catcher.
Main Image Embed from Getty Images
