Ranking The Rockies: 44 Dustin Garneau

We at BSN Denver are running a series where we rank how valuable each of the Rockies’ 51 players was to the team in 2015. Value was calculated by statistics, viewing, and how memorable each player’s contributions were. The rankings will be from last to first, you may view the full rankings (here).

Player: Dustin Garneau

Stats: 22 G, 76 PA, .157 AVG, .224 OBP, .286 SLG, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 13 wRC+, WAR -0.3

Big Moment: September 11th, Garneau hits a home run in his second consecutive game. This one came off of Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma at Safeco Field in the 7th inning of a tie ball game. Led by a stellar pitching performance from Chad Bettis, the three run shot was just enough for the Rockies to win 4-2. Bettis’ battery mate that night was Garneau who did not show any sings of being a rookie while catching the Rockies’ win.

Season Recap: Garneau played 81 games for the AAA Isotopes as the starting catcher, slashing .274/.335/.475. It was the 28 year old’s second straight season at the AAA level, and he made quite the jump offensively, boosting his wRC+ from 80 to 112. Garneau got his first taste of big league ball this season coming up to replace Michael McKenry, who finished the season on the DL. Garneau showed this season that he has the defensive capabilities to be a fine backup catcher in the majors, he also has displayed at every level in the minors that he can hit. His 22 games in the bigs are most likely not indicative of his bat which he should get the chance to show what it can do in the backup catcher’s role. The reason he is low on this list, is because his contributions in ordinance with the amount of time he had to make them, did not have any true effect on the Rockies.

What’s Ahead: Garneau will be fighting for a 40 man spot this offseason because most teams don’t carry four catchers on their 40 man. With Nick Hundley sure to be the starter in 2016, Michael McKenry’s affordability and plus play as a backup, and Tom Murphy‘s talent, it’s hard to see where Garneau will fit into the mix. Even the Isotopes have a solid catcher in the form of Ryan Casteel, but depth, particularly at catcher is important. It’ll be interesting to see how the Rockies view each of the players going into 2016, and if the Rockies tie up a valuable extra 40 man spot on a postion they fair well at.