The Colorado Rockies success depends on this player

Among the multitude of left-handed mashing outfielders the Colorado Rockies possess, there is one player that stands out among the rest as essential. The Rockies 2017 season will go as Charlie Blackmon goes. The starting centerfielder and leadoff hitting difference maker for the Denver Nine was a major factor in the Rockies slight resurgence last season. Truly, it was his presence that was the contrast between a club battling for .500 and one with fingers-crossed for the first pick in the draft.

In Blackmon’s 135 games started last year the club was 64-71, a win percentage of .474, in the 27 games without him they were 11-16, a .407 win percentage.
When he vacated his leadoff spot for an odd off day or short stint on the shelf the team was incapable of stringing together rallies and flipping the lineup. Nobody on Colorado can start a game like Chuck, in fact, he and Dexter Fowler go back-and-forth for the title of most leadoff dingers since the start of 2014 on a routine basis.

“He’s able to apply pressure in the batter’s box with batting average,” Manager Bud Black told BSN Denver. “With power that’s dangerous, but also (his speed) on the bases. It’s a feeling that’s uncomfortable for the opponent.”

Blackmon’s base running was the only disappointing aspect of his game in 2016. An early leg injury hamstrung his base stealing and the team didn’t want to risk aggravating their crucial bat’s health. In 2015 he stole 43 bags, last year just 17. This number is expected to jump up for the soon-to-be 31-year-old.

“If you have a team on the bases that’s aggressive, that’s very disturbing and that’s what we want,” Black mentioned about Blackmon and his heists.

Even without the base running Chuck nearly double his WAR last season due to a career offensive year, OPS-ing a slick .933. And with the depth of the Rockies lineup expanded already this season his 82 RBI out of the one spot seem achievable once more.

His play in the outfield has improved greatly as well, no matter what the numbers say. Just watching him his reads have improved tenfold in the past several years. That’s not to say his replacement isn’t playing just to his right in David Dahl, like he once did with Fowler, but he’s clearly still the person to man Coors’ spacious center.

Once again, though, it his Blackmon’s table-setting that sets him apart. He had an unreal .966 OPS when leading off an inning with 29 extra base hits. This was 54% better run reaction than league average among those who led off innings in 2016.

It’s his skill combined with the Rockies not having a clear, experienced backup to be leadoff that makes Blackmon key for Colorado in 2017.

Let’s talk about Chuck for one more second, he might be the best leadoff hitter in baseball and he is certainly one of the game’s five best all-around center fielders. His All-Star nod — once mocked — is now backed with the legitimacy of his play, which makes him a unique, souped up swiss army knife the Rockies will utilize in their run back to the top of the NL West.