It’s that time of year again. The return of Nolan Arenado to Denver. Regardless of how salty you might feel over the separation between Arenado and the Colorado Rockies, you can’t deny the outstanding career he’s put together so far during his ten seasons in Major League Baseball. “If I’m thinking back to everything, the walk-off cycle is one of...

When you’ve been around as long as Charlie Blackmon, you’ve seen a lot of things change during the course of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball. Houston Astros were once in the National League. September call-ups packed the dugout full of 40 players. Extra innings could be really extra at times. And pitchers were forced to stand at home plate and politely swing at a 96 mph fastball. What hasn’t changed is Blackmon. That same mullet and beard still tackles post-game workouts of up to an hour and, for the first time since 2019, is back batting leadoff for the Colorado Rockies. A total of 826 times in his career, Chuck Nazty has stepped to the plate before those other…

According to Connor Joe, “Tony Gwynn is San Diego.” For fans of the Colorado Rockies cult hero, the SoCal city and CoJo are starting to become rather synonymous, too. Joe’s rise to prominence happened quickly in 2021 with the Coors Field faithful immediately connecting with a bright smile and courageous story. The magic was present even before smacking his first career home run on the one-year mark of a cancer-free declaration that raised his arm high after a successful battle with testicular cancer. The fact that the second in his career came back home in San Diego was another victory of sorts.  Raised in nearby Poway, Joe frequently made the 30-minute trek with his family to watch the Padres growing…

I am, to a fault much of the time, a pragmatic person to my core. If you’re familiar with me at all from my work over at DNVR Avalanche, you’ll know that I’m guided but tangible things, logic, reason, data. All the stuff that makes you a big sports nerd these days, I suppose. That’s part of what made things so interesting to me when I went to Coors Field recently. You see, like many Rockies fans, I hadn’t been back since Nolan Arenado’s trade to the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m sure my anger is familiar to many of you reading this. In a lot of ways, that deal is what broke me. I understood that the relationship had soured…

Entering the last day before MLB Trade Deadline with the 10th-best record in the National League and a full 10 games out of the third and final Wild Card, the Colorado Rockies stood pat. They made zero deals, not the first time they’ve handled a situation like this, and were the only team in MLB to not find a dance partner with which to improve the future of their franchise. “We had some communication today with a few clubs,” GM Bill Schmidt of the inactivity. “At the end of the day, we weren’t able to pull anything off that we thought made us better at this point in time and going forward. So, we decided to stay where we are.”…

Pyrrhus of Epirus was a Greek king who was considered to be one the great commanders of all-time despite not being the wisest among his peers. It’s for the latter reason his name is given to the type of decision-making that can result in a win whilst suffering severe losses: a Pyrrhic victory. If the Colorado Rockies want to get...

Dating back to their first MLB Draft in 1992, the Colorado Rockies have made over 1,400 selections and have signed roughly 900 of those players with nearly 150 having made it to the Majors. On Wednesday, the club welcomed a group of eight at Coors Field to sign their professional contracts, meet the Denver media and, ultimately, get a taste of what life could be like in their near future. The draftees traveled from all across of the United States. Some from southeastern states like Florida (2B/OF Sterlin Thompson) and others from the opposite corner in the Pacific Northwest (RHP Gabriel Hughes).  None were taller than 6’4” (RHP Connor Staine) and none shorter than 6’1” (RHP Jackson Cox), ranging from…

Kyle Freeland isn’t a licensed electrician, nor has he ever discussed feng shui or interior design during his six seasons with the Colorado Rockies. But he is smart enough to know when something is not right. “Didn’t like where that light was in the dugout,” Freeland explained following a dugout outburst on July 14. “Didn’t look good.” https://twitter.com/DNVR_Rockies/status/1547696758888599552 What prompted...

The Colorado Rockies ended the first half of the season fourth-place in the National League West, 6.5 games out of the final spot for the NL Wild Card thanks to a 43-50 record. Though no one from ownership made any proclamations about how many games the club would win in 2022, the return on the investment made in free agents...

If you were walking down the street in Colorado, and you saw a “7” jersey coming your way, there’s only one name you’d expect to see on the back, and it ain’t Joe Girardi.

With four selections in the top 50 picks of the 2022 MLB Draft, not to mention the fifth-most bonus pool money among the 30 teams, the Colorado Rockies have an opportunity to bolster their farm system in a major way over 20 rounds and three days worth of picks. That process began by taking RHP Gabriel Hughes from Gonzaga University...

Other than the traditional post-game handshakes that punctuate a win at Coors Field, at no point during Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the San Diego Padres did the Colorado Rockies unveil any celebratory ritual. Some clubs will bestow players with a football helmet, cowboy hat or a suit jacket following a home run, while others will give teammates a spin through the dugout in a laundry cart during the game. To this point in the season, the Rockies opt for a celebration post-game by honoring the stand-out player or staff member with the MVP chain. But now, there’s a new unifying item in their clubhouse. Crocs. “I came in wearing Crocs and (Austin) Gomber definitely noticed, (Lucas) Gilbreath noticed,” Chad Kuhl…

After nine seasons in the Major Leagues and over 11 years since first being drafted – not to mention 32 years on the blue marble we call Earth – C.J. Cron has earned a spot in the All-Star Game. “It’s cool,” Cron said in front of his locker back at Coors Field for the first time since Sunday’s announcement. “Pretty...

Following the typical adjustment period that comes with joining a new organization, the upside for a player like Austin Gomber was evident through nine starts last season when he held a 1.97 ERA during his most successful campaign as a starting pitcher in his young career. The 28-year-old came to the Colorado Rockies as the lone big league player in...

Ideally, the teams with two best records in their sport meet in the championship to stake claim as the best in the world. With a playoff format that can oftentimes take a month and prevent such a scenario from happening, the two best records in MLB actually clashed in the National League Division series last season. The NL West produced 213 combined wins between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers last season. Just when it seemed the division can’t get any better, the San Diego Padres started to play up to their potential this season- even without Fernando Tatis Jr. – and the rebuilding Arizona Diamondbacks have been much better than advertised. Despite all the typical turnover of…

With the 10th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, not to mention three selections in the top 38 and four in the the top 50, there’s a major opportunity for the Colorado Rockies to improve a farm system currently rated amongst the worst in the sport. Believe it or not, that evaluation is set to improve following some recent...

There is not a lot that the Colorado Rockies have in common with the Minnesota Twins. Heck, the two teams haven’t even orchestrated a trade together in over a decade. (Anyone remember the Kevin Slowey deal from Dec 2011 that kept the right-handed starter around for 46 days before he was promptly shipped to Cleveland?) The first general manager of...

As you sit down to watch the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night against the Miami Marlins, there will come an exchange in the bottom of the second or third inning that will flash by faster than you should be able to catch. With Rockies’ starting pitcher Chad Kuhl toeing the slab, awaiting the sign from his catcher, Marlins’ Jacob Stallings...

Nothing in life is ever guaranteed, not even for professional athletes. It stands to reason that when a player makes their Major League debut, it’s a culmination of a life-long pursuit, a moment in time seared into the mind forever. For 4,714 ballplayers – or 20.8% percent of 22,718 players in the history of the game – that first base...