Colorado Rockies Mid-Season Review

By Patrick Kaplan

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: the Rockies' first half of the 2024 season has been abysmal. From the pitching staff to the sloppy sophomore year of Nolan Jones, the Rockies have not played up to their potential. You can start to see a core forming, but there are still some things that the Rockies need to change for there to be a winning season at 20th and Blake. But before we look ahead, we have to take a look back on this disastrous first half.

Starting back in the third inning of the season, the pitching gave an early look at what their season was going to look like in the form of a 13-run inning! The Rockies have the second-worst ERA in the first four innings (2.60), only behind the abandoned Athletics, who currently sit at a 2.64. This has been a trend for Colorado over the past few years. Last year they landed themselves the worst first four ERA with an ugly 2.70. The starting arms however have not been the striking problem. The most noticeable issue the Rockies arms have been the ones coming out of the bullpen. The second-worst bullpen in the league carries an ERA of 4.98 out of Toronto, giving up 182 runs. Those numbers don’t even compare to the Rockies ‘pen, which currently sits at the bottom of the league with a 5.86 ERA with 227 runs given up. In the last three innings of a game, they have a 2.04 ERA and have blown 19 save opportunities. Jalen Beeks leads the league with 6 blown saves on 15 opportunities. Now, if you look at the arms as a whole, they have the worst ERA at 5.61, which is 1.21 more than the second-worst team. They have given up the most hits, 980, 107 more than #2, the least amount of strikeouts at 651, and have a BAA of .289, also the worst in the league. Some arms have been noticeable at times, such as early-season Mears, post-injury Freeland, and the on-and-off rookie Victor Vodnik. The problem is consistency, and just like young golfers, they don’t have any.

Down in the minor leagues, pitchers like Carson Palmquist and 2023 first-rounder Chase Dollander have been tearing it up. Palmquist is second in strikeouts with 98 in just 69 innings. He also has the seventh-best ERA, seventh-best WHIP, and has given up just six homers and 26 earned runs. He could find his way out of double-a very quickly. Down in Single-A, Rockies 9th overall selection in the 2023 draft has become a strikeout machine. Through his first 70 innings, he’s struck out 111, which leads the league by 25! Through those 70 innings, he’s given up 22 earned runs on 60 hits, which lands him sixth in ERA with a solid 2.83. Dollander also started the futures game for the NL this past Sunday, giving up only one hit and one walk in the first inning. By the end of July, he should be in double-a with the Yard Goats. It might be another year or two before the Rockies have their rotation core, but the progress in the minors is positive.

Behind the pitching in Colorado is probably the best fielding we’ve seen since the 2018 Rockies, and the 2024 team blows them out of the water. The Rockies are currently seventh in errors, second in assists, third in double plays turned; they’re one of three teams with no passed balls, and second in caught stealing. Gold glover Brenton Doyle is sixth in OAA, sixth in runs prevented, and first in putouts. Gold glove finalist Ezequiel Tovar is seventh in OAA and runs prevented for all shortstops. Nolan Jones and Doyle are one and two in average arm strength, and Doyle leads in runners held. As a whole, the team has three gold glove candidates outside of their already gold glove second baseman, backup shortstop, and IL merchant Kris Bryant. These young guys have some mentors to help them with their gloves, and it shows.

Not just the gloves have been shown off in the first half, but the bats have been making appearances too. Rockies young stars had a great offseason, and it shows at the plate. Tovar is second in doubles, and seventh in total hits! He ended the first half with a three extra-base hit game that included two homers. He’s still on track to have an even better year than his rookie year, and he can break some career records fairly quickly in the second half. One of the few delightful surprises this year has been the bat of Doyle. He’s already eclipsed his home run total, his walk total, his hit total, his total bases total, and is close to breaking all of his other rookie stats as well. Coming off of a historical performance to begin July where he joined a club of five hall of famers to record at least 15 hits, 11 extra-base hits, six home runs, six walks, and one stolen base in an eight-game span. You match his bat with his fielding and speed, you’ve got yourself a six hall of famer club. He’s making himself a case for July Player of the Month as he currently leads the MLB in homers and slugging, as well as being second in OPS. Thanks to this hot July, Doyle is now second on the team with 15 home runs.

A couple of big bats finally broke through to the majors this year in the form of Michael Toglia, Hunter Goodman, and Jordan Beck. Toglia became the second-fastest Rockie to 10 home runs, doing it in only 155 at bats. He is currently first on the team in long bombs at 16, following a three-homer game to end the first half. Goodman, on the other hand, was someone who wouldn’t stop homering in the minors but couldn’t find that ability in the majors. His first two hits in the majors this year were 440+ foot home runs. Goodman now averages 425ft per home run, and his longest measured 448ft, which also happened to be his first of the year. He’s sitting at fourth on the team with seven. Beck was someone who showed off at spring training before being sent to Triple-A, and he didn’t slow down. He led the Isotopes in most offensive categories before his call-up, and he quickly found his groove. He produced two hits in his debut, including on the first swing of his MLB career. Beck would find a hot streak in May, but by the end of May, he would fracture his fourth metacarpal in his hand while making an amazing diving catch. He’s yet to find his way off of the IL, but it should be happening within a month.

Speaking of the IL, there have been some notable names on the IL for the Rockies this year. To the surprise of no one, Bryant has only played 24 games this year, thanks to the two separate IL appearances. That doesn’t even seem to be the worst part. It took Bryant six games and 19 at-bats to get his first hit of the season. In those 19 at-bats, he struck out 10 times! Bryant hasn’t played since June 2nd.

Nolan Jones has been another big name who has spent time on the IL this year. Even before his IL trip, though, Jones was struggling at the plate this season, which is worrisome for the 20-20 rookie. Now in his sophomore season, he’s hit just three home runs in 49 games while hitting .202 and striking out 63 times. He had a hitless streak in April of 25 AB with 10 strikeouts in eight games. He’s been able to find his bat with a .296 average in July.

Before the first half ended, German Marquez made his triumphant return from TJ surgery to pitch the final game of the first half. It was his first start since April 26th of the 2023 season, and it took him four batters to strike out three batters and become the all-time strikeout leader in franchise history.

Other notables who’ve spent time on the IL this season: Bard (full season with Elbow/Knee), Senzatela (TJ), and Gilbreath (Elbow/Shoulder).

Now, you can’t finish talking about the Rockies offense without talking about Ryan McMahon. In the first home game of the 2024 season, McMahon hit a walkoff grand slam, becoming the third Rockie to do so. McMahon leads the team in RBIs (45), OBP (.350), walks (42), and games (95). He is also top three in home runs (14), AVG (.272), runs (48), slugging (.471), OPS (.797), hits (98), doubles (21), and at-bats (360). He also has the most assists by an MLB third baseman and the most putouts by an NL third baseman. These numbers earned himself his first all-star selection.

The Rockies are currently ranked 28th in the MLB with a record of 34-63, the worst franchise record to begin a season since 2005, when they were 32-59 at the break. They have had only one month over .500 this year, and that was a 14-13 May. That included a seven-game win streak that included a sweep of the Rangers and the Padres in San Diego. They gave up only 14 runs during that streak and scored 43 times! Since then, they’ve had three separate win streaks of two and one of three. They’ve had two separate five-game losing streaks since May, one before May, and a season-long six straight losses in April. They did end the first half with an 8-5 win over the Mets to cap off a record-breaking series where they hit 12 home runs in a three-game road series for the first time in franchise history.

The MLB Draft saw the Rockies take Charlie Condon third overall out of Georgia. Condon won the 2024 Golden Spikes Award and the SEC Player of the Year. He led NCAA DI with a .433 AVG, 37 home runs, a slugging percentage of 1.009, and a 1.565 OPS! They also selected RHP from Iowa Brody Brecht 38th overall and OF Jared Thomas from Texas 42nd overall to end night one.

The Rockies won’t be winning many more games this year, but that doesn’t mean the Rockies don’t have some winners in their system. Both the Double-A Yard Goats and the High-A Indians won the first half, which automatically clinches them a spot in the postseason.

I keep comparing this season to the Avs 2016-17, where they finished with 22 wins and only 48 points, which was the worst season in modern NHL history. The Avs had a core showing, but it took them five more years for them to finally make it back to the top. Just like the Avs, the Rockies have a core showing, and there’s starting to be a path forward; you just have to stay on it.