Joe finding success with Rockies

SAN FRANCISCO » There’s a former Giant who has been a pivotal part of the Rockies’ hot start, and he made his return to Oracle Park this week.

It’s not Kris Bryant, who is at the Rockies’ facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona rehabbing a back injury.

Leading off for the Rockies in each of their first two games in San Francisco has been Connor Joe, who has followed up his breakout 2021 (179 at-bats, .285/.379/.469, 116 wRC+) with more of the same to start this season (105 atbats, .267/.347/.467, 125 wRC+).

You can call him the one that got away.

Joe was one of the first players Farhan Zaidi acquired as San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations, all the way back before the 2019 season. The Giants parted with cash and a right-hander named Jordan Johnson to pry him away from the Cincinnati Reds, who had acquired

Joe in the Rule V draft. A few days later, Zaidi traded for Michael Reed, and the pair both made surprising starts for Bruce Bochy’s final Opening Day with Joe becoming the 12th starting left fielder since Barry Bonds last played (a streak that increased to 15 this year).

His entire tenure in San Francisco lasted less than three weeks, ending well before current manager Gabe Kapler even arrived. Joe had one hit in 16 plate appearances and was sent out to create roster space for other outfielders, Kevin Pillar and Tyler Austin, who had mixed results. It wasn’t another month until another under-the-radar Zaidi acquisition, Mike Yastrzemski, debuted in the majors and hit the most home runs by a Giants rookie since 1972.

Reed is out of professional baseball. Joe has blossomed into one of the big leagues’ top young hitters, showing the plate discipline and contact skills that first drew Zaidi’s attention when he was a prospect in the Dodgers system when Zaidi was general manager. So far this season, Joe’s strikeout rate, whiff percentage and chase rate all rank better than 80% of MLB players.

Kapler wasn’t surprised to see the player Joe has become, understanding the traits that made him attractive to the Giants.

“At least to our front office, I don’t think it’s been much of a surprise that he’s gone over and had success in Denver,” Kapler said.

At the time, Zaidi said it was “disappointing that we weren’t in a situation to give Connor Joe more of an opportunity and more rope.”

“When you have a Rule-5 guy or an out-of-options guy, you need one of three things to keep the situation alive,” Zaidi said in 2019. “You need immediate performance and immediate returns, or you need your team playing well where you can buy that player a little bit more time, or you’re in a full rebuild mode and you’re willing to work through that. Unfortunately,

none of those apply in this case.”

Fast forward two years later, and Joe is one big reason why the Rockies aren’t the same pushovers as last season.

The Giants won 15 of their 19 meetings with the fourth-place Rockies last season. They took 17 of 19 from last-place Arizona. But the landscape is different this season. Entering play Tuesday, all five teams in the National League West were at least two games over .500.

“It’s going to be a dogfight, for sure,” third baseman Evan Longoria said recently, noting the impressive records of each NL West team.

Joe has been, second to C.J. Cron, the Rockies’ best hitter, in a lineup that includes the $182 million dollar man, Bryant (or did, until he hurt his back in the last week of April).

Monday’s series opener served as a strong example of the reasons why Joe fit the Giants’ profile. When few others, including Cron,