It can be difficult, with so many moving parts, to tell the key factors in why baseball clubs win games. When you have the volatility that comes with youth, like the Colorado Rockies have in abundance, it can get even trickier. Some statistics suggest that the Rockies’ key to winning is simply getting a quality outing (not necessarily a quality start) out of their starting pitching. That’s a key for most teams, though they are a remarkable 36-6 when they do get a quality start.
Additionally, Colorado is dramatically better when they play clean defense. Again, not a unique characteristic, most teams win more the fewer mistakes they make. Though it’s still worth pointing out that the Rockies are 45-21 when they commit zero errors and are 13-21 when they commit at least one.
But no team in the vast history of the game has secured a single victory whilst scoring zero runs. It can’t all be run prevention, there must be some creation. And the Rockies have two players who are among the very best in MLB at creating runs.
Nolan Arenado needs no introduction. Always at the top of the RBI and home run leaderboards, Arenado has anchored the Colorado lineup for the last four years. The Rockies often go as Arenado goes, but their other MVP candidate this season, Charlie Blackmon, might be even more pivotal toward affecting the outcomes of games.
Blackmon leads MLB in multi-hit games with 44. Colorado is 30-14 in those games.
When Blackmon is on base, everyone else’s job becomes easier. DJ LeMahieu can settle even deeper into his opposite-field approach, knowing even certain kinds of failure can still advance the runner. Arenado knows that he doesn’t have to hit the ball over the fence, regularly hitting RBI singles in the first inning. The Rockies third baseman is batting .435 with 21 RBI in the first inning but has only hit five home runs. This combination of Blackmon reaching base and Arenado knocking him in has led to Colorado taking regular early leads, another strong indicator for wins.
“Great pitching beats great hitting, nine times out of 10,” Clint Hurdle reminded us recently on his trip back to Coors Field. This has been said nearly verbatim by Bud Black all season and, presumably, for years before that.
It’s that final time — the 10th time out of 10 — that can make all the difference in the world.
As difficult as hitting a baseball is, there are all kinds of avenues to get there. One can have a fantastic eye for the strike zone, be especially efficient in an opposite-field contact approach, or be a slugger who excels in taking advantage of mistakes. Because Charlie Blackmon can do all of those things, he is one of the most consistent threats at the plate in the National League who can not only hit great pitching but can drive it with authority.
He changes his approach from at-bat to at-bat and often makes the smallest of adjustments that escape wide attention — moving slightly in the batter’s box to crowd the plate a little more or a little less, for example — constantly looking to gain any possible advantage. This is how and why he has managed to get better each season of his MLB career and is now leading the National League in hits and triples (by a lot) and is second in extra-base hits in all of baseball to only — you guessed it — Nolan Arenado. He also leads MLB in runs (87) and total bases (252) and is sixth in home runs at 24 despite being a lead-off man.
Maybe it’s not so difficult to discern where wins come from. Maybe it’s as simple as the oldest saying in baseball. You gotta throw the ball, you gotta catch the ball, and you gotta hit the ball. When Charlie Blackmon hits the ball, the Rockies usually win.
