Why Plan B is a better route for the Colorado Rockies than Plan A despite recent losing ways

The unofficial transition of the Colorado Rockies to a club serving it’s younger players has begun over this past week. The returns are almost exactly as you’d expect, if not better, despite the current five-game losing streak.

According to franchise stalwart Charlie Blackmon, this transition was not the original plan for the 2023 season.

“On paper, we don’t really have anything close to Plan A right now,” Blackmon said last Sunday with a fresh cast on his right hand. “But I’d say our Plan B is looking good. We’ve got some really talented guys playing well and contributing.”

A fracture of the fifth metacarpal on his right hand should sideline the 36-year-old on the injured list for the next six weeks, all but assuring the 13-year veteran will be staying in Denver past the August 1 trade deadline. Others veteran players on expiring contracts may get dealt, further expediting the youth movement on the big league roster and improving the strength of the farm system.

It began at Coors Field just as the Rockies were preparing for a 10-game road trip against the San Diego Padres on June 11 with the Major League debut of Coco Montes. The 26-year-old second baseman singled in his first plate appearance and, if that wasn’t enough, he became the ninth player in team history to homer in his debut thanks to a two-run, game-tying blast in the eight.

In his Major League debut, Coco Montes goes deep to tie it up! pic.twitter.com/WV2oglscQF

— MLB (@MLB) June 11, 2023

Homers by Ryan McMahon and Nolan Jones, whose walk-off was the first for Colorado since last September, had Blackmon thinking this transformation had started with a bang. “Today, it was kind of an exclamation point.”

Two-straight extra-inning wins in Boston featured countless top performances by the rookies and players with lesser service time, as manager Bud Black tends to describe those without rookie eligibility still establishing themselves. Altogether, it was group of young players experiencing the historic Fenway Park for the first time and not batting an eyelash in the shadow of the Green Monster. It was hopeful, to say the least. 

When in Boston… pic.twitter.com/JwiSrgnZnG

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 15, 2023

Brenton Doyle swiped his 10th base in only his 38th game with a plate appearance, quicker than any Rockies rookie in the club’s 31 years. He made a full-extension catch in center during lone loss of the series on Wednesday and the day prior his outfield assist at the plate kept the Red Sox from tying the score. His heave home was measured at 99.2 mph by Statcast, making Doyle the owner of three of the top five fastest throws on an outfield assist this season. Not bad for a player who spent a majority of 2022 in Double-A. 

Connor Seabold returned to Boston for the first time since being traded to Colorado this past offseason. With something to prove to his former team, he proved it: six innings of one-run baseball. It capped off a three-start stretch of allowing just four earned runs over 17.1 innings pitched (2.08 ERA) with 15 strikeouts. Putting aside the nine runs against him in Atlanta on Saturday, the upside of Seabold, a player initially ticketed for the bullpen at the start of the season, is evident. 

Nolan Jones has done well to take his walks this week — five in six starts entering Sunday — as he awaits his next (extremely) long ball. His 472-foot blast during last Sunday’s comeback against the Padres was the longest walk-off homer in the Statcast Era (since 2015) and the eighth-longest overall in the Majors this season. The 25-year-old’s 483-foot home run on June 7 is still the second-longest home run in 2023 giving NoJo two of the 10 longest dingers in baseball this season.

Ezequiel Tovar noticed a base hit in his last six games as he begins to hold down the no. 2 spot in Black’s batting order. He homered in Atlanta and doubled in Boston, giving him 15 two-baggers since April 26, tied for the fifth-most in the Majors. Though his early exit on Sunday in Atlanta had some fans worried about an injury, it was actually to be with his wife for the birth of his first child. 

It might too much to include Ryan McMahon in this conversation, but if Colorado is really going to climb out of the NL West cellar, it will require the 28-year-old third baseman to lead the lineup by example. His two homer game on Sunday was the ninth of his career and gave him his 12th multi-hit game since May 23.

The youth movement continue ahead of Saturday’s 10-2 loss when RHP Dinelson Lamet was designated for assignment and RHP Gavin Hollowell was promoted from Triple-A. Other in Albuquerque and Double-A Hartford are waiting with baited breath to get their big league career started.

Wins and losses aside, the new crop of Rockies are more than just getting their feet wet in the Majors. The team as a whole have been taking their lumps, particularly during brutal four-game sweep in Atlanta that has come with a run differential of -28, but plenty of silver linings abound.

Whether or not Colorado avoids 100 losses will be irrelevant in the grand scheme of winning a World Series. Three of the last four and six of the last eight champions lost 100 games on their path to securing the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Filling out a lineup card entirely of inexperienced players may be too extreme for some in the organization, but finding a balance between those “young guys” and certain veterans needs to be pursued even further during the remainder of 2023 season.

As for Blackmon, he doesn’t plan on going anywhere. He traveled with the team to Boston and Atlanta to not only see the next generation of Rockies stars prosper, but to help them along the way. 

“I think hopefully I can add some positive even though I’m not playing,” he modestly offered. “One way or another, I think people (will be) glad I’ll be around.”

Diamond Detail

In a three-for-one transaction ahead of the Atlanta series on Thursday, Colorado purchased the contract of C Jorge Alfaro, optioned C Brian Serven to Triple-A and designated RHP Blair Calvo for assignment..

Alfaro, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Rockies on June 10 and spent three games batting .357 (5-for-14, including a home run) with Albuquerque before his contract was selected.

A veteran of eight seasons in the Majors, Alfaro last appeared in the big leagues with San Diego in 2022, posting 0.8 bWAR over 82 games, primarily as a catcher.