The Rockies need to add another bat to their struggling lineup
Aug 20, 2020, 6:45 AM
The Rockies need more help on offense. Never thought we would say those words, right?
Well, the Rockies have lost eight of their last 10 games entering last night while averaging less than 5.0 runs per game. Before Colorado’s struggles, they started the season with a 11-3 record, averaging 5.5 runs per game.
The stats for the Rockies offensively will be skewed to look better than what they are because of the insane numbers from Charlie Blackmon. But if you were to look beyond Blackmon, we would be able to see that this team is struggling as of late.
Colorado’s best player, Nolan Arenado is only hitting .225 with six home runs and 14 RBIs. That’s not good enough from the typical MVP candidate. Going into last night’s game against the Astros, Arenado was 2-26 with runners in scoring position. This is a guy who is constantly leading the league in runs batted in year after year. Rockies manager Bud Black gave Nolan a day off to try and fix his slump and it helped the next day, but not weeks later.
It doesn’t stop there! Second baseman Ryan McMahon is seventh in the MLB in strikeouts with 33 on the year. Add that along with a .208 batting average. That’s down 42 points from last season.
The Rockies also aren’t getting much help from their outfielders, Sam Hilliard and Raimel Tapia. Hilliard entered last night’s game with a batting average of .171. Tapia has only batted in a whopping five runs this season. To be fair, Tapia has split time with Matt Kemp while playing at Coors Field, where he continues to have success, but Tapia has to be better in the key situations.
Colorado is hitting just fine at Coors Field, but they are struggling on the road. The Rockies are hitting .211 on the road, which ranks 26th in the MLB. Colorado has only scored 39 times away from Coors Field, which puts them 23rd in baseball. That’s not good enough.
If this was a normal season, there would be time and hope for this team to figure things out on offense. But with a shortened season, this Rockies team doesn’t have time to figure it out.
David Dahl opened the season on a hot streak, but then went into a slump. Dahl is now on the IL with a back injury and it’s unknown when we will see him back this season.
The Rockies pitching has been phenomenal this season so far, but in low scoring games the offense must come to life! Colorado can’t allow their pitchers to throw nine shutout innings and still lose the game in extra innings like what happened on Tuesday.
The pitching staff has been far better than what the Rockies could have asked for, but the bats continue to disappoint.
If the Rockies want to make a real playoff push and contend for a World Series title, they can go out and get a guy like Yasiel Puig to add to their lineup. Puig finished last season with 24 home runs and 84 RBIs. The young star also has a career batting average of .305 at Coors Field. I think Rockies fans would be excited about that.
Let’s hope that Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich realizes that this team needs real help on offense moving forward in a season that Colorado could really compete.
