Colorado’s slumping offense makes a playoff bid a long shot
If there is a game that should be sealed in a time capsule to represent Colorado’s frustration this season, it would be its 4-3, walk-off loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 22 in Los Angeles.
The Rockies were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado — traditionally the Rockies’ best clutch hitters — were 0-for-5 in those situations.
“That’s the frustrating part, and mostly for them,” manager Bud Black said after the Rockies lost for the 11th time in 13 games. “These fellas are used to producing. It goes back to a little bit of over-effort, trying too hard, trying to get it done. You can see it. It’s a combination of that, the shorter season, the urgency, it’s sort of working against us.
“(But) we’ll get there. We’ll get there soon.”
The problem is, they haven’t gotten there and there are only 23 games left in this 60-game season. And the team’s playoff hopes are fading.
As the Rockies entered a crucial weekend series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, there were plenty of statistics to illustrate the Rockies’ offensive woes. Their road batting average, for example, sat at .216, the lowest in franchise history. They were averaging 4.92 runs per game, seventh in the National League, and their team OPS of .748 ranked ninth. This for a team that plays its home games at Coors Field, the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the majors.
The statistic that perhaps best illustrates the Rockies’ shortcomings is its 86 OPS+, which ranks 11th in the National League and 24th in the majors. OPS+ takes players’ on-base plus slugging percentage and normalizes the number across the entire league. It accounts for external factors like ballparks. It then adjusts so a score of 100 is the league average, and 150 is 50% better than the league average.
After an 11-3 start, the Rockies (18-19) had gone 7-16 entering the weekend. Over the last 14 games at home, the Rockies were 4-10 and were outscored 131-77 as their pitchers posted an 8.86 ERA.
Quality pitching carried the team early on, but now it’s wobbling, too. But big things were expected of the offense. Thus far, it has failed to deliver.
Years ago, a small sign hung in the Rockies’ clubhouse near the lockers of Todd Helton and Brad Hawpe. It read: “A man is measured by his batting average with runners in scoring position.”
Unfortunately for the current Rockies, the crux of their woes has been a lack of clutch hitting. Their .260 average with RISP ranks 22nd in 28 seasons of Rockies baseball.
“Collectively, we’re not very consistent right now,” star third baseman Arenado said this past week. “It’s frustrating. … We have to clean it up and be better. And I see myself, I just gotta be better, and go from there.”
Arenado has earned a reputation as one of the game’s best clutch hitters. He has a .325 career average with runners in scoring position, but it’s .167 (7for-42) this season. He has a .317 career average with runners in scoring position and two outs, but it’s .056 (1-for-18) this season.
All of the weight, of course, does not rest solely on Arenado’s shoulders. Veteran first baseman Daniel Murphy, who’s batted fifth in the order for much of the season, is hitting .265 with a .685 OPS, well under his career marks of .297 and .799, respectively. Murphy, however, is hitting .385 (10-for-26) with runners in scoring position.
And Charlie Blackmon has plunged back to earth after a sensational start. The right fielder is 5-for-37 (.135) since his sevengame hitting streak ended on Aug. 21.
“Collectively, our approach hasn’t been as great as we want,” Arenado said. “It’s the little things we have to do, like moving guys over. But we have to get on base to move guys over.”
The Rockies’ .326 on-base percentage ranks 10th in the National League.
The funk has left the Rockies searching for answers as to what’s happened to an offense that seemed to be a team strength when the season began.
“It feels like the game is speeding up on us a little too much right now, at the plate,” Arenado said.
The biggest issue, according to Black, is the lack of key hits in key moments.
“The thing that I see, the coaches see and even the players see … is we haven’t got that critical hit, to extend an inning or to break open a game, to keep the momentum going,” he said. “That just doesn’t seem to have occurred as often as you would like to see.
“There have been some at-bats from some of our younger guys where they have tried too hard, they have expanded the zone a little bit in big situations, where maybe the calmness and the poise has come into play.”
The prime example is infielder Ryan McMahon, 25, who had a breakout 2019 season when he hit .250 with 24 home runs and 83 RBIs.
This season, in 31 games, he’s batting .212 with six home runs and a .217 RISP average and has struck out 47 times in 131 plate appearances entering the weekend.
Last week, general manager Jeff Bridich traded for veteran outfielder Kevin Pillar to help boost the offense and provide a solid glove in center field. Pillar responded with a game-winning, two-run triple in Colorado’s 9-6 comeback win over San Francisco on Wednesday.
“Offensively, there are some better days ahead,” Bridich said as he talked about the acquisition of Pillar.
The Rockies had best hope so.