Rockies 2018 Position Breakdown: Colorado has a ton of potential at corner infield

The Colorado Rockies have, once again, confounded the consensus.

Conventional wisdom suggests that if your baseball team has a weakness, you go outside the organization looking for help to mitigate that weakness or even turn it into a strength. News could still break, but with spring training games starting in just a matter of days, Rockies GM Jeff Bridich appears more than happy to look at his own homegrown players to help keep pace in the ever-improving NL West.

Nowhere is this more evident than the current situation at first base. A spot that many (still) believe was a chance for the Rockies to get a big upgrade on offense by securing a well-known bat looks like it will be filled by a relative unknown.

On the corners of the infield, the Rockies have one of the most reliable players in the game at one spot and a ton of questions at the other.

The Starters

Nolan Arenado

Let’s start with the obvious. Simply one of the best all-around players in MLB, Arenado has inched up the NL MVP ranking by improving his numbers each of the last two years and will look to continue that trend.

It’s hard to imagine how he could possibly improve defensively, though he’s become a specialist at showing us things that were previously hard to imagine. He aims to take home his sixth consecutive Gold Glove. Only Ichiro Suzuki has more (10) consecutive wins of that award to begin a career.

Arenado has said numerous times that he is a “run producer” and will look to finish first in RBI for the third time in four years, ranking second to Giancarlo Stanton in 2017. If he can reach 130 runs driven in, it will be the fourth season in a row. The only question for the superstar who has averaged 159 games the last three years is whether he can hit that mark again or if there might be a strategic advantage in getting him just a bit more rest.

Health permitting, there is no reason to expect anything less than another stellar campaign from one of the game’s best.

Ryan McMahon

It’s late February and, despite the cries from some fans and media, the Colorado Rockies have not signed a veteran, power-hitting first baseman. While we are of the belief Ian Desmond will rebound in 2018 and get plenty of playing time at first and in left field, right now “RyMac” appears to be the man for the job.

Of course, with any young player who has limited MLB experience, there are going to be a ton of questions about what McMahon can provide. All the tools are there. He has a beautiful left-handed swing built for gap-to-gap power. Last year, he took huge strides in terms of zone awareness and pitch recognition, leading to a .374/.411/.612 slash line over 70 games at the Triple-A level. He has been an above-average-to-elite hitter at every stage of his MiLB career despite regularly being among the youngest players in each given league.

His defense at first is still a bit of a work in progress but (again) all the tools are there. He’s a legitimate 6’2″, came up as a super-athletic third baseman who only struggled a bit there with throwing accuracy (caused in part by some footwork issues) who played quarterback in high school and has taken suddenly to stealing bases, swiping 11 bags in each of the past two seasons. The finer details of the mechanics of playing first and second still need to be ironed out, but he has a chance to be a valuable five-tool player.

Only a terrible spring or a roster move should keep him out of the Opening Day starting lineup.

Reserves

Ian Desmond

If Desmond’s 2017 was proof of anything, it’s that you can plan all you like, but you better have a backup. Desi was originally signed to play first base but that idea was sidelined when he sustained an injury in spring training and further delayed as Mark Reynolds emerged as a vital piece in the first half.

When he returned, it was clear his bat was needed more in the outfield and that appears to be the case as it stands today. With one gruesomely glaring exception, Desmond mostly looked fine at his new position on the handful of occasions he did get reps at first last year. We expect to see him there a ton in spring with the club hoping to get him better acclimated to the spot.

In the event young outfielders David Dahl and Raimel Tapia burst onto the scene, you could see them both in the lineup with Desmond at first, giving the Rockies a speed element they simply did not have in 2017.

The keyword since the day Desmond was signed to his now-infamous contract has been “versatility” and with good health, Ian could finally fulfill that Ben Zobrist-type role so many envisioned for him on this team.

It feels a bit odd to categorize him as a “reserve” since he will probably start 90-100 games and play in even more. In a division with Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, and Robbie Ray, the Rox are gonna need his right-handed bat that produced an average of 22 home runs a season in the five years before coming to Colorado.

Pat Valaika

Without an addition to the roster, Valaika appears to be the backup… just about everywhere. It’s unlikely he gets much, if any, time at first unless there are simultaneous short-term injuries to Desmond and McMahon. Still, he’s there if you need him. Gerardo Parra, too, I guess.

Longshots

Jordan Patterson

The Rockies had an opportunity to call Patterson back up to the MLB level in September and chose to forgo it despite his strong finish in Triple-A. He’s proven to be a capable defender in the corner outfield and at first but it remains to be seen if his bat can play at the highest level. If he doesn’t emerge in spring or in the early season as a potential bench option, Colorado would do well to make sign someone with experience at first base.

In Conclusion

The Rockies have polar opposite situations at opposite ends of their infield.

They could not feel more confident in what they have at third. While there are plenty of possible answers, there is a series of question marks at first. Furthermore, because McMahon came up at the hot corner and Valaika has played plenty of innings there as well, Colorado even has better depth at that spot.

But they’re also in a tight spot because of the sheer insane potential of McMahon and the resume of Desmond. Adding someone to put above those to players on the depth chart could end up creating more problems than it solves. Adding someone to put below them is tricky as well.

Would Mark Reynolds accept another cheap, one-year deal and agree to step aside for the rookie should that be best for the team? If he would, that seems the best route to go since he has expressed interest in rejoining the team and the Rockies could really use another bat off the bench.

But the Rockies seem to be signaling loud and clear that McMahon is their guy, a strong pivot from his lack of playing time at the end of last season. Unlike that situation, he will get his chances in 2018. It’s time to see what he’s got.

The Rockies take the field on Friday afternoon, February 23, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.