Rockies-Mariners Series Grades: All-Stars step up in big sweep

The Colorado Rockies are going into the All-Star break at the worst time, as the Rox are blazing hot after having just swept the 58-38 Seattle Mariners.

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

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

Trevor Story (105.00 — ⭐): Story’s been on an absolute tear in July getting at least a hit in every game he’s played except for one back on the 2nd of the month. This was an epic series for Story and not just because of his walk-off blast that gave the Rockies the sweep over the Mariners.

Trevor went 5-for-13 in the series, had two homers, five RBIs, scored three runs, and added a double. He was absolutely outstanding with his performance pushing his DPR to 69.76 on the season which is the highest of any shortstop in the NL.

Charlie Blackmon (97.06 — ⭐): Chuck Nasty might not be back to his 2017 DPR dominance, where he was averaging an absurd 81.70 and was the third best hitter in the MLB, but he’s been raking lately and should be primed for a huge second half.

This was another monster series for Charlie going 6-for-13 as he had multiple hits in each game, with a homer and two doubles. When guys like Story and Blackmon are hitting the ball like this, Colorado’s a tough team to beat.

DJ LeMahieu (77.20 — B+): DJ appeared in only two games as he missed game two due to some lower-back tightness. However, he still had an impact in the series, reaching the base pads twice in both games he played with a double, two singles, and a walk.

Nolan Arenado (80.81 — A-): Going into the All-Star break, Arenado’s averaging the highest DPR of any position player in the NL and 10th best in the majors. His series against Seattle wasn’t full of extra base hits but he was very solid, especially in game three where he managed two singles—getting an RBI on one of them—and a walk.

Ian Desmond (83.12 — A-): Like most of the top guys in this series, Desmond’s been outstanding in the month of July and continued to be productive in the Mariners sweep. He had two hits in each outing with two triples, three runs, and two RBIs. His DPR would be even higher if not for three strikeouts in the series and a grounder into a double play in the third game.

Carlos Gonzalez (82.23 — A-): CarGo came up huge in a high scoring game one in which he had three hits and two walks, getting on-base every single plate appearance he had. He was terrific in game two as well, with a two-RBI jack and a walk while stealing a base. His game three performance was pretty bad with two strikeouts and two more groundballs into double plays, but a really good series all considered which raised his grade into the A- level.

Gerardo Parra (74.99 — B): Parra was key in the high scoring game one contest coming up with a double, a single, scoring a run, adding an RBI, and walking once as well. He managed a single in each of the next two games adding a stolen base in game two but he struck out once which brought his rating down.

Tom Murphy (20.29 — F): Murphy started game two and was a bit cold offensively with his only “contribution” coming on a grounder into a double play.

Pat Valaika (30.72 — F): Playing in LeMahieu’s place in game two, Valaika managed a walk but struck out twice resulting in a -0.025 win probability added (WPA) and his low DPR.

Chris Iannetta (34.20 — F): Appearing in game three, Iannetta had a sac fly RBI but struck out once and had a negative WPA.

Tony Wolters (63.47 — C+): Playing only in game one, Wolters came up with a big two-RBI single with two outs. His rating is lowered a bit by a strikeout and a few more ho-hum ABs, but that one hit was huge.

Jeff Hoffman (30.80 — F): Hoffman had a rough outing in a spot start in game one, appearing in only 3.1 innings while allowing three runs. It wasn’t all bad as he induced more grounders than he did fly balls, had a FIP of 2.86, struck out two, and threw 63-percent of his pitches for strikes. He did allow eight hits, though, and struggled overall.

Jon Gray (87.32 — A): Gray returned to the mount and had his fourth best outing per DPR of the season in 7.1 innings of work. He didn’t wrack up the Ks like he typically does—six on the day—but was much more efficient with runners on base.

He induced a ton of grounders, threw a high percentage of pitches for strikes, and had one of the highest WPAs of the series. A really promising outing.

Tyler Anderson (79.22 — B+): Anderson’s been awesome in his last three starts. He wasn’t electric necessarily in this one (six Ks) but absolutely pounded the strike zone, throwing 71-percent of his 91 pitches for strikes on the day. His FIP of 1.66 is tied for his second best of the season as he induced 10 grounders in six innings of work while only allowing two runs and walking one batter.

Harrison Musgrave (40.89 — D): Spotting Hoffman in long relief, Musgrave had a less than ideal outing himself allowing three runs in three innings. His strike percentage was below 50 percent, allowing two hits and walking three. His saving grace was a positive WPA of 0.144 getting the win in the process.

Chris Rusin (-19.80 — F): Rusin’s outing in game one was catastrophic, throwing one pitch that resulted in an RBI triple.

Adam Ottavino (94.53 — A+): Appearing in two games, Otto was lights out, striking out three and inducing two more ground ball outs. He pounded the strikes zone, throwing 70-percent of his pitches for strikes.

Wade Davis (89.61 — A): Davis has been absurdly consistent in his last three outings scoring almost identical DPRs. He appeared twice against Seattle and was on top of his stuff striking out a batter each outing and shutting down the Mariners in full.

Jake McGee (42.45 — D): Playing in game three, McGee gave up two hits and allowed a run. He managed to get out the inning inducing three grounders and striking out one. That said, he was far from perfect.

Bryan Shaw (44.86 — D): Shaw wasn’t great in 0.2 innings of work in game three, allowing two hits. No runs scored on his watch in part thanks to Scott Oberg who came in and got a ground ball out for him.

Scott Oberg (84.03 — A-): Oberg was asked to pitch in both game one and three, which were close affairs, and the righty did a really nice job. In game one he allowed a hit and then shut things down with two Ks, while in game three he pitched 1.1 innings throwing tons of strikes and showing no mercy to Seattle’s lineup.