Ranking The Rockies: 8 Troy Tulowitzki

We at BSN Denver are running a series where we rank how valuable each of the Colorado 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: Troy Tulowitzki

Stats: (with Colorado) 87 G, 351 PA, .300 AVG, .348 OBP, .471 SLG, 12 HR, 53 RBI, 104 wRC+, UZR -5.2, WAR 0.9

Big Moment: June 3, the Dodgers are at Coors Field on a rainy summer night. In a game that features a Brandon Barnes home run-robbing catch and five lead changes the Colorado Rockies walk-off the Dodgers for a 7-6 win.

Just a day after they allowed Alex Guerrero to hit a game-winning ninth inning grand slam the Rockies made up for it with a win in what was probably the most exciting game of the year. In the game, Tulowitzki was the most impactful player hitting an RBI single to take the lead early, a three-run home run to take back the lead in the middle innings and he drew an RBI walk in the ninth inning to get the Rockies rally started. Tulo finished the night with two hits in three at-bats, hitting one home run, walking twice and driving in five runs.

Season Recap: The right-handed hitting shortstop’s season was overshadowed by the trade that sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays. In the American League Tulo was almost twice as good this season in about half as many games. Tulowitzki’s 80 plus games with the Rockies this season was his worst stretch of baseball since his sophomore season. This could be explained by the major hip injury he suffered which derailed his 2014 MVP chance. When he initially had the surgery he was not to be expected back on the field until at least May but Tulo was able to not only play on opening day but have a full spring training. It was pretty clear that he was not completely healthy until summer rolled around.

The 31-year old was traded right before the deadline for pitchers Jeff Hoffman, Jesus Tinoco, Miguel Castro and shortstop Jose Reyes.

What’s Ahead: There are many questions that the Rockies have to answer in Tulo’s absence, a few are – who will be this team’s leader? Who will be the team’s shortstop? Do the Rockies have enough right-handed hitting? Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez look to be the team’s leaders and pending a CarGo trade, he now is the most recognizable Rockie. As for the team’s starting shortstop, Jose Reyes is the subject to legal issues and may not start the season on the club while the Rockies do also have Daniel Desclaso, they’d most likely go younger and have Cristhian Adames receive a lot of playing time. Trevor Story who had a great 2015 between Double-A and Triple-A is also knocking on the door but it is unlikely he’d be with the club until at least May. One of the areas where the Rockies have been subpar the last few years is right-handed hitting, the loss of Tulo just exacerbates that problem.

Tulowitzki will go down as one of the top five Rockies of all time even with the sour ending he had. He will be under contract with the Blue Jays until 2020 with a team option for 2021.