Rockies-A's Series Grades: Rockies cool off A's in an all-around statement win

Coming off a sweep of the white-hot Oakland A’s, the Colorado Rockies are firing on all cylinders as they were in complete control in three close wins. Colorado took care of business on the mound and found some solid performances offensively to get the job done as they keep on inching closer in the NL West division race.

As we do after each series, using our advanced statistics and our in-house all-encompassing metric DPR, here are our individual grades.

Note: The scores below are each player’s average DPR for the series. All Rockies stats can be found here.

Charlie Blackmon (77.59 — B+): Blackmon’s series was a model of consistency as he had five hits and three doubles in 13 at-bats while only striking out once.

Nolan Arenado (82.24 — A-): Nolan was key in the first two games of the series, scoring a DPR over 100 in both outings as he went yard in both games while adding a single in game one and two walks in game two. His game-three performance wasn’t nearly as impactful, as he walked once while striking out twice for a negative WPA. His DPR remains among the MLB’s top 10 and would be the NL’s best if not for Manny Machado’s addition to the Dodgers.

Trevor Story (52.96 — C-): Story’s grade is brought down by an absent game one performance. The rest of the series, while he wasn’t raking, he was able to get on base consistently, though his WPA was in the negative every game this series. It was still fun to watch him leg out a couple hits in game three, scoring from first to third, and he added a double in game two as well.

Ian Desmond (45.91 — D+): This was the first series in a while where Desmond scored a low grade. He did get a single in the two games he played with an RBI in game one but struck out three times in eight ABs.   

Carlos Gonzalez (92.73 — A+): This was a big series for CarGo who had six hits in 12 plate appearances, four of which were doubles. He also had himself a walk and only struck out once. His performances in the first two games were monumental as he was one of the big stars in this sweep. He’s now firmly in the Rockies’ top five DPRs this season and has 20 doubles, which is more than Blackmon and 32nd best in the NL.

Garrett Hampson (54.87 — C-): Hampson’s now hit in four of his five starts and that trend continued in game one of the series where he had an RBI single. He did strike out, and though it’s not accounted for by DPR, he did have an error as well.

Gerardo Parra (35.04 — D-): Parra’s had a rough stretch in the last three series, presumably a big reason why he only appeared in two pinch-hit opportunities in the first two games. His start in game three only hurt his grade as he struck out twice. His best moment in the series was a pinch-hit walk in game two.

Noel Cuevas (43.76 — D): Cuevas started the first two games and struggled a bit, getting a single he scored off of in game one while striking out once, and struggling at the plate in game two for a negative WPA before being replaced by Parra.

Ryan McMahon (105.60 — ⭐): McMahon had a terrific return getting two clutch doubles in game three, scoring a run and adding an RBI as well. While not accounted for in DPR, he showed some nice glove work at first base too.

His first stint in the majors wasn’t great earlier in the year, though he did have a big three-RBI performance prior to being sent down. If he can keep this up, the offense is bound to take the next step and become truly scary.

Pat Valaika (90.32 — A+): Patty Barrels made an appearance in game two with a solo homer and an RBI single, two big hits that gave the Rockies the early lead in a close game. He managed a single in game two as well, with two quality appearances in the series.

Tom Murphy (81.06 — A-): Murph was awesome in the final two games of the series getting three RBIs, scoring two runs and homering in game three, while also getting himself a triple in game two. He struck out twice in game three which hurt his grade a bit, but overall he had a great series with a big impact offensively.

Kyle Freeland (75.75 — B+): With two of his worst outings since may coming in July, Freeland got back on track to end the month with six scoreless innings against the A’s potent offense. It wasn’t a dominant start as the lefty still allowed five hits, had a FIP of 3.49, a low strike percentage—only 60 percent—and a 10-to-8 ground ball to fly ball ratio. What really helped his DPR, aside from shutting the A’s down, was a WPA of .354 which was his highest since June 27th, his second best start of the season.

Antonio Senzatela (67.53 — B-): Senzatela continued to do solid work since he’s been asked to start this month, with 5.2 innings of one-run baseball getting himself the ‘W’ in the process. He was far from perfect though, walking four and having a 57-percent strike rate with a 2-to-1 fly ball to ground ball ratio. That said, he battled and got the job done with a .184 WPA.

German Marquez (81.11 — A-): Purely based off of DPR this was Marquez’s fourth-best start of the season, as he absolutely pounded the strike zone in a really commanding and aggressive showing on the mound. The Venezuelan was awesome on the mound striking out eight in 7.2 innings while allowing five hits, a walk, and the two solo home runs that were the only real trouble he got into. Worth noting, his 4.86 FIP was very high, but all in all, German was dominant in a key game three outing to get the sweep.

Adam Ottavino (90.26 — A+): Otto was simply Otto with two lights-out games in which he pounded the strike zone and left unscathed in close affairs where his impact was as necessary as ever. His game two performance really stood out as he threw nine pitches, eight for strikes, struck out two and had a ridiculous FIP of -0.84.

Wade Davis (90.10 — A+): Davis had almost identical scores in his two appearances against Oakland, getting two saves in the process—giving him 30 on the year. It’s baffling how statistically he was identical in both game two and three, with one K in each, a 1-to-1 ground ball to fly ball ratio, a strike percentage in the low 70s, and a FIP of 1.16 both outings. Davis was simply solid shutting down the A’s with ease.

Scott Oberg (78.02 — B+): This is where our metric can get a little tricky, as Oberg’s score would be higher if not for two hits and a walk he allowed in 1.1 innings in game one, however, his best moment of the series was getting out of a bases-loaded mess in that same game by striking out Oaklands best bat in Matt Chapman, after allowing all that traffic on the bases. His high WPA does reflect how clutch that moment was but his DPR was definitely affected by it.

Oberg was incredibly solid in game three and had three Ks in the series as his ERA is now below 3. The righty’s DPR’s now climbed to 65.48, which is among the 40 best in the NL and third best for Colorado after Ottavino and new addition Seunghwan Oh.

Bryan Shaw (29.43 — F): Shaw’s one appearance in the series was almost disastrous, as he allowed two hits and a run in 0.2 innings in game one. In fairness, his 83-percent strike percentage was top notch and his FIP of 0.13 is encouraging too, indicating that maybe he was just a bit unlucky as he struck out a batter as well.

Seunghwan Oh  (50.30 — C-): We have a new reliever making an appearance in our grades as Oh came in to get a scoreless 22-pitch inning in game two. His DPR isn’t higher due to a really high FIP of 6.16 stemming from him allowing a hit, walking one, and conceding four fly balls, but hey, as long as he got the job done and didn’t implode in his first appearance at Coors Field it’s a passing grade.

Jake McGee (100.77 — ⭐): With runners on first and second that Senza left on, McGee came in to get one out and struck out Josh Phegley on five pitches.