Rockies-Padres Series Grades: A split with tons of missed opportunities

The Colorado Rockies had a huge opportunity in their four-game series against the San Diego Padres and just couldn’t come out victorious, salvaging a split after losing the first two games.

We make sense of it all, as we do after each series, using our advanced statistics and our in-house all-encompassing metric DPR, for our Rockies grades.

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

Trevor Story (79.72 — B+): Story was pretty special in the final three games getting a hit in each, with three doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored, while adding a stolen base to the mix. He was the catalyst for the Rockies offense and still had a walk and two runs scored in game one, by far his worst outing in SoCal. If not for striking out five times, his grade would’ve been even higher.

Nolan Arenado (59.79 — C): Nolan started off slow with two disappointing games, then picked it up with a big game three where he got a single and a double and scored a run. In game four he had a single but also struck out once. Nothing too spectacular as he lost some ground to the other top hitters in the NL this weekend.

Charlie Blackmon (72.43 — B): Blackmon was massive in the final game of the series, as Colorado’s bats woke up, with an RBI single, a double, and another single. He had another decent outing in game two with two more hits.

However, Chuck was really disappointing in game one with a 0-for-6 but had a pretty solid series after that.

DJ LeMahieu (44.89 — D): DJ started in all four games, but wasn’t great, striking out four times and only having one real worthwhile performance in game three, where he had a solo-jack. After that, there wasn’t much to take from his time in San Diego.

David Dahl (54.79 — C-): Dahl only started two games but had a valuable pinch-hit walk in game one and was stellar in game four with a two-RBI jack, though, his WPA was in the negatives for three of his four appearances.

Carlos Gonzalez (29.48 — F): CarGo had a rough series, getting only a hit and a walk in three games while striking out four times. As a result, he had a negative WPA in each outing.

Ian Desmond (64.47 — C+): Desmond didn’t do much in the first two games but was crucial in the final two with three hits, an RBI, and a run scored while also stealing two bags.

Ryan McMahon(34.27 — F): McMahon was called upon to pinch-hit in each game and managed a single in game one, probably his highlight of the series. The rest of the way he had a strikeout and really struggled in his one start in game two with two Ks. A series to forget.

Gerardo Parra (40.98 — D): Parra appeared in two starts and didn’t do much aside from a walk that he then stole a base off of and scored on in game four. The rest of the way he was fairly absent not managing a hit in six ABs.

Matt Holliday (82.18 — A-): Holliday was supremely efficient with three singles and four walks in eight plate appearances. A really nice contribution which will make it even harder to not see him get regular ABs in the future.

Chris Iannetta (71.55 — B): Iannetta was solid in game four with a two-RBI double and a walk, in his other start in game two, he managed a single and struck out once. Nothing off the charts but a valuable contributor without a doubt.

Tony Wolters (27.71 — F): Wolters struggled offensively in two starts, going 0-for-7 and grounding into a double play in game three.

German Marquez (97.99 — ⭐): It is an absolute shame that the Rockies couldn’t take advantage of Marquez’s lights-out start, losing in extra frames. Marquez was phenomenal, with his stuff dominating the Padres to the tune of a career-high 13 strikeouts as he had a strike percentage over 70. His FIP of 0.29 was untouchable as he only walked one and allowed two runs off of two hits.

Marquez has now had consecutive starts with a DPR above 95, a feat he only accomplished one other time this season. He’s breathing rarified air and is on the cusp of breaking into the top-40 best starting pitchers in the MLB per our metric. His average DPR of 84.32 in his last seven starts would be a league best.

Antonio Senzatela (77.45 — B+): Senza did a nice job in a quality start, going six frames while only allowing a run off a solo homer. He conceded four hits in all, walked one and struck out four. Where he made his mark was by inducing 12 grounders to only six fly balls in a really efficient performance.

Jon Gray (58.73 — C): Gray, much like in his last outing against the LA Angels, was far from lights out. However, he was effective, getting the win and going six innings, allowing two runs off of two solo bombs for a quality start.

Gray’s stat line was very atypical for his standards, striking out only one—he’s only had two Ks in his last 12.2 innings—walking another and conceding seven hits. The big righty got the job done by inducing 13 ground ball outs for a WPA of .097, though, his FIP of 7.66 was pretty ugly.

Kyle Freeland (64.37 — C+): Freeland’s start in game four got the Rockies the series split, so you can’t hold a less than perfect game against him as he was still efficient. That said, he didn’t have his best stuff, striking out only three and walking two while conceding seven hits. His 7-to-14 ground ball to fly ball ratio wasn’t stellar either, and his WPA was actually in the negative after he allowed three runs in six innings with a FIP of 3.16.

Freeland still got the ‘W’ but had his worst outing per DPR in his last six starts, he gets a passing grade for going a full six innings but nothing more.

Wade Davis (89.45 — A): In the Rocks one close win—game three—Davis was asked to come in and get the save and he did so perfectly, forcing two grounders and a strikeout. His 1.16 FIP was masterful in a really smooth performance.

Jake McGee (13.88 — F): McGee appeared in the first two outings of the series with a mixed bag. He was solid in the first game allowing a hit but getting out unscathed with a 69-percent strike percentage. His game two outing was atrocious, though, as he allowed three hits, four runs, and two homers without getting a single out for a FIP of 91.04. Simply the definition of a rough outing.

Scott Oberg (77.88 — B+): Boy, Oberg’s been incredibly reliable lately and would have a much higher grade if not for his first outing in game one, where he allowed two hits but got out of it by inducing a double play.

He got progressively better the rest of the series, appearing in game three and forcing three grounders and then topped that in the final outing with a two strikeout performance with a FIP of -0.84. His WPA was positive in each game as his DPR just keeps rising and his ERA keeps on dropping.

Adam Ottavino (80.44 — A-): Ottavino didn’t allow a hit or a run the entire series, appearing in three different games. His only blimps were walking two while striking out five in a masterful showing.

His grade is lowered a bit by his game one performance where he walked one and only threw 46-percent of his pitches for strikes for a FIP of 7.16, if not for that he’d have had an off the charts grade.

Seunghwan Oh (75.43 — B+): Oh, like Oberg, appeared in three games and was masterful in two of them. Where he struggled was in game two allowing two hits and a run, though he produced a FIP of only 1.16, so was maybe a bit unlucky.

The rest of the series he was on top of things, striking out four and allowing zero hits the rest of the way, as he pounded the strike zone to the tune of 70-percent for the series.

Bryan Shaw (23.29 — F): Shaw’s struggles continued as he allowed a run in each of the two outings he was called upon and was the goat of the series as he was walked-off with a homer in game one. He threw a lot of strikes but allowed five fly balls to only two grounders and had a FIP of 22.86 in his first game.