Rockies Notebook: Brenton Doyle debuts, José Ureña DFA'd and Colorado Rockies defense an early contributor to 100-loss concern

When an errant throw to second base by catcher Elias Díaz traveled into the outfield allowing Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians to reach third base, the Colorado Rockies were charged with their 18th error of the season on Tuesday night during their 5-1 win.

An error by David Villa kept the San Francisco Giants tied with the Rockies for most in all of MLB this season. Even when accounting for the potential of having more opportunities as the cause for such a high counting statistic, think again. Colorado has the second-worst fielding percentage .980, behind only the Giants.

This defensive futility has seen the Rockies give up 19 unearned runs, most ever through the first 25 games of a season. Previously, 2006 held the top mark with 18 unearned runs.

The 2022 season had a similar start with Colorado towards the bottom of the defensive rankings before righting the ship somewhat for the remainder of the 162-game slate. Using Statcast’s Outs Above Average, the Rockies were 30th in April and 26th in May last year before finishing 19th in MLB with a total of -2 OAA. Since the start of the Statcast Era in 2016, that’s been one of the worst defenses we’ve seen in Denver.

Colorado is dead last in the sport with -15 OAA right now, a scary trend for a club that was once 6th-best in the game from 2016-2020 when it amassed 56 OAA. What happened next has impacted the club in just about every aspect: the highly-publicized trade of Nolan Arenado, who’s up to 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards at third base. Since that deal with St. Louis, the Rockies are ranked 22nd in Outs Above Average while the Cardinals are first.

There is hope that Colorado will settle back to league average, especially in the infield.

Elehuris Montero is tied for the most errors on the club (3), but he gets his mail delivered to Albuquerque now. Ezequiel Tovar has two and has flashed potential at shortstop for what could a career decorated with few pieces of golden hardware. Ryan McMahon, finalist for the 2022 NL Gold Glove Award, is back at third base with Alan Trejo bringing his shortstop sensibility and athleticism to second base. C.J. Cron and his three errors may be a tick below average, but Michael Toglia waits in the wings as the second coming of Todd Helton’s defensive abilities.

Triples Oddity

The only thing the ballpark at 2001 Blake Street loves more than the sunsets over the Rocky Mountains is triples. Home to more cycles than any other ballpark — one more than the 112-seasons seen by Fenway Park — this likelihood is enhanced by an increased probability to hit for triples in the deep and infamous gaps at Coors Field. (Believe it or not, you may be just as likely to witness a triple at Comerica Park in Detroit.)

Colorado leads all of baseball with nine triples… surrendered by their pitchers. Five of those came at Coors Field. On the offensive side, the Rockies have yet to hit a triple this season. (If you remembered that Randal Grichuk had the last three-bagger for this team last October in Los Angeles during Game 159, your memory is better than mine.)

The franchise entered the season with pitchers having surrendered 1,269 triples while their hitters have slashed for 1,239. In 2001, the club remarkably hit 26 more triples than they allowed. That year, Juan Pierre and Juan Uribe each recorded 11 and Neifi Perez had 8, the first and only season a Rockies’ team featured three players with at least 8 triples in the same season. 

If we want to keep on eye on whether well we have a new record for triple difference, keep 2008 in mind when 18 more triples were allowed. The count is 9-to-0 right now, so we’re halfway to tying history. 

Losing 100 Games

With wins on Monday and Tuesday in Cleveland, Colorado got two games closer to .500; however, at 8-17, they have a long way to go to reach owner Dick Monfort’s pre-season expectations.

Even with Monday’s 6-0 victory that saw Austin Gomber bounce back from a career-low performance last Wednesday, the Rockies were 61-101 in the previous 162 games played. Coincidentally, the franchise has actually had 102 different stretches of 100 losses over a 162 game span, something they’ve never done during a single season. (By comparison, the Pittsburgh Pirates have lost 100 or more games four times since 1993. A search of every 162-game stretch between seasons turned up 632 spans of 100 or more losses.)

Their five worst stretches all with a 58-104 record. And all five of those 162 consecutive games stretches came between May 18, 2014 and May 23, 2015. There were also numerous 103 loss stretches from July 31, 2004 to August 20, 2005.

Before this most recent 101-loss stretch, Colorado went 62-100 from July 5, 2019 to April 30, 2021. (The 2020 season featured only 60 games.) The wildest part about this poor play was that the Rockies entered July 5, 2019 two games over .500 and were just one game back of the second and final Wild Card spot in the National League. 

Cleveland Rox

Despite having a 4-10 record at Progressive Field and not playing a game there since 2017, Colorado won their first series of the year following Tuesday’s win led by Ryan Feltner. The Ohio native went six innings and did not allow an earned run while walking none and striking out six. Coupled with 5.2 scoreless innings last Thursday, Feltner has not allowed an earned run since April 15.

Just 24 hours after his Major League debut, Brenton Doyle broke through with his first big league hit before adding two more knocks, including a double and two stolen bases. The last time any member of the team had three hits and stole two bags in the same contest was Raimel Tapia back on May 2, 2021.

The 24-year-old was a fourth-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Shephard University, W.Va. Doyle dazzled in his first season as a professional with the Grand Junction Rockies, leading the Pioneer League in batting average (.383) and OPS (1.088). He won an MiLB Gold Glove Award with High-A Spokane in 2021 and posted a solid numbers in both power (26 home runs) and speed (23 stolen bases) categories at Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque.

After the game, Colorado designated for assignment starting pitcher José Ureña. The 31-year-old had a 9.82 ERA in five starts. He pitched well enough in 2022 (5.14 ERA in 17 starts) to prompt the front office to sign him to a one-year deal worth $3.5 million with an option for 2024. The team has 39 players on their 40-man roster after this transaction.

It was also announced that Germán Márquez will come off the 15-day injured list to make the start on Wednesday against the Guardians. Márquez was placed on the IL with right forearm tightness following some pain during his start at home on April 10.