Ahead of the Colorado Rockies’ road series in Kansas City the club made a quartet of roster moves. Colorado recalled catcher Tony Wolters and outfield Raimel Tapia while catcher Ryan Hanigan was placed on 10-day DL and outfielder Mike Tauchman was optioned to Triple-A.
Hanigan, the club’s backup catcher since the acquisition of Jonathan Lucroy before the trade deadline, left Sunday’s ball game early with a leg injury. The 37-year-old also was scheduled to start on Thursday but was scratched due to illness. The right-handed hitting Hanigan has only played in five games in the entire month of August. Initially signed as a minor league free agent the journeyman backstop was called up in early May because Wolters was sidelined with a concussion. Hanigan has hit .250 with two homers and 12 RBI in 29 games across two separate stints with the Rockies.
Wolters, Colorado’s starting catcher before the acquiring of Lucroy was optioned to make room in the moves that followed the deadline. Skipping Triple-A after being acquired from Cleveland before the 2016 season, Wolters successfully transitioned from middle infielder to catcher. Backing up Nick Hundley in 2016 he OPS’d .723 in 71 games and by all accounts was more than serviceable behind the plate. This season the left-handed hitting 25-year-old has struggled to make the jump to the starting nine. In 67 games in 2017, Wolters has OPS’d .642 and the Rockies were displeased by his handling of their young pitching staff. This past month in Triple-A he’s played in 14 games and OPS’d .810.
One of the Rockies top prospects, Tapia, joins them for a series with an AL club. It’s easy to make the assumption that he will DH some in this series as he’s been one of the better hitters in the minors for some time, although for game one he’s riding the bench. Tapia has had trouble sticking with Colorado mostly due to limited playing time. In 48 MLB games this season he’s slashed .287/.341/.434 with five stolen bases. In 51 Triple-A games, he’s nabbed 84 hits which is good for a .361 batting average.
Tauchman was called up briefly for pinch hitting purposes over the weekend in spot of Ryan McMahon.
With roster expansion coming on Sept. 1 it’s likely that Wolters will stick in the big leagues the rest of the season and Tapia if he doesn’t, will be back then as well.
