2022 Fantasy Baseball Insertion Ranking - Colorado Rockies
Explanation & Other Team Links Here
Hitters to Rank
C.J. Cron
Ryan McMahon
Brendan Rodgers
Charlie Blackmon
Raimel Tapia
Garrett Hampson
Sam Hilliard
Elias Diaz
2021 Stats
C.J. Cron
Another hefty supply of power from Cron (19.4 PA/HR, 11.5% Brl%) and Coors Field even helped him post a career-best .281 batting average. From June 1st on, numbers were .561 SLG, 17.3 PA/HR, 19.8% K%, 77% Contact.
@ home: 14.4 PA/HR, .326 AVG, .661 SLG, 18.3% K%
on road: 30.1 PA/HR, .235 AVG, .397 SLG, 24.7% K%
Guy is an elite hitter when at home, and that is good enough to make him very much useful overall. More valuable in daily changes leagues where you can sit him on the road when it makes sense. Current ADP is inside the top 150 though, so not exactly a spot where you’ll be wanting to draft a part-time player. He will be 32 next year, so some chance of decline. But you’re looking at a strong source of homers who won’t kill your batting average - not easy to find.
Ryan McMahon
Improved K% down to 25%. Hit 16 of his 23 homers before July. From July on had just a 5.2% Brl%, but a strong 22% K% and 12% BB%.
@ home: 26 PA/HR, .278 AVG, .487 SLG, 26% K%
on road: 26 PA/HR, .227 AVG, .406 SLG, 24% K%
^ Not much difference there, just less batting average on the road which is going to be true for almost all Rockies. Not sure there’s enough raw power here for him to be really interesting, especially because he’s only a small contributor in steals. Max exit velocity of just 111.5 and a barrel rate of just 9.7% even in his best stretch (April - May when he was hitting all his homers).
Brendan Rodgers
Strong contact rate (80%) while not being a zero in power (27.7 PA/HR, 6.2% Brl%). Very young, former top prospect. Hasn’t stolen a base in his career yet so wouldn’t count on much of that.
@ home: 69.0 PA/HR, .280 AVG, .404 SLG, 19% K%
on road: 17.3 PA/HR, .289 AVG, .536 SLG, 22% K%
Interesting splits there, he hit for more power on the road. He didn’t play the full season with the Rockies though so we have a smaller sample to look at (415 PA’s). 111.8 max exit velocity, 51% GB% makes it unlikely he hits for even an average amount of power, but he’s only 25. I’d rather take a shot on a guy like this than someone like McMahon or the Eugenio Suarez, so I’ll be sliding him right above them for now.
Charlie Blackmon
Power is gone (44.7 PA/HR last year and 41.1 in 2020), steals are gone, strikeouts and walks are basically where they always were (15% K% in 2021 is better than usual but he’s never been above 20%). Just an aging batting average only guy at this point, borderline even draftable.
@ home: 27.5 PA/HR, .283 AVG, .457 SLG, 14% K%
on road: 139 PA/HR, .257 AVG, .359 SLG, 17% K%
Even the batting average isn’t elite anymore… he probably outdoes .283 at home next year but what’s the point of using a roster spot on him? Slotting him in near the bottom of the list.
Raimel Tapia
No power, but at least a 20 steals guy. He is really hurt by Trevor Story leaving because there really won’t be many runs to be had even if he does lead off for them a lot next year.
@ home: 47 PA/HR, .292 AVG, .451 SLG, 10% K%
on road: 0 HR, .252 AVG, .283 SLG, 17% K%
He’s completely useless on the road so why draft him? He’s going in just above Blackmon because at least he steals, but there shouldn’t be much interest here except in super deep leagues where you need steals.
Elias Diaz
Projecting for about a half-season of PA’s. That makes him less than enticing as you at least someone who can get you 450 PA’s. But we need to review some catchers so here we go!
@ home: 20 PA/HR, .289 AVG, .524 SLG, 14% K%
on road: 21 PA/HR, .203 AVG, .407 SLG, 18% K%
I mean overall those are very good numbers, and they are top-five catcher numbers when at home. Can he really do that again? Slugged .353 and .307 the previous two seasons, but did show some pop in 2018 (27.7 PA/HR, .452 SLG). Maybe he’s a decent hitter? I don’t know, not a ton of guys can do sub 25 PA/HR and a sub 20% K%. Max exit velo at 113 is pretty good, 7.9% Brl% is about league average.
Will have to check if they grab another catcher this offseason, but you can certainly do worse here! I’ll put him above Tyler Stephenson to take the catcher crown after two teams, but I have no idea where to put him in the grander scheme of things.
Garrett Hampson
Hasn’t been an every day player yet with the Rockies. Runs a good bit (39 steals last 3 years in 1,005 PAs, that’s a 22-25 steal guy over a full year. Maybe with the Rockies ready to tank this year they’ll have to play him every day?
@ home: 35 PA/HR, .286 AVG, .472 SLG, 20% K%
on road: 61 PA/HR, .180 AVG, .284 SLG, 28% K%
Power isn’t there (107 max velo, 5% barrel rate), so this is just another guy with steals and batting average at home and then just steals on the road. The youth factor would give him the nod over Tapia IF we could be sure of playing time, but right now the projection is only 440 plate appearances. I’ll stick him above Tapia anyways, but another pretty unappealing option here.
Sam Hilliard
Only saw 235 PA last year, but did what we expected with that time. 16.8 PA/HR, 15% barrel rate, 113.5 max velo, but with a huge contact problem (37% K%, 60% contact%).
@ home: 18 PA/HR, .238 AVG, .505 SLG, 31% K%
on road: 15 PA/HR, .193 AVG, .422 SLG, 42% K%
That .238 average and 31% K% at home is scary, but the power upside is enormous. He even stole five bags in that short sample. 600 PAs should turn into 30 homers and 10 steals, something to be said for that! Keep an eye on the projected playing time, Hilliard’s rank will vary wildly based on that projection. Currently only projected for 375 PA, a real shame.
Pitchers to Rank
German Marquez
Austin Gomber?
German Marquez
Overall: 28.1% CSW%, 23.4% K%, 7.9% BB%, 36 PA/HR, 5.3% Brl%, 53% GB%
Home: 28.4% CSW%, 23.2% K%, 9.2% BB%, 47 PA/HR, 3.9% Brl%, 58% GB%
Road: 27.6% CSW%, 23.7% K%, 6.1% BB%, 27 PA/HR, 7.0% Brl%, 46% GB%
Just can’t strike out enough batters to overcome Coors, which makes it really tough for him to post a useable ERA. That said, you can do worse than 4.40 ERA from a guy that pitches all season. His road ERA was actually worse last year (5.38). The home numbers were pretty decent with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. That actually just serves to confuse things because then you don’t even know when to use him.
He’s obviously a tough guy to figure out, but certainly, there will be many pitchers that get drafted ahead of him that perform much worse. I’m somewhat interested depending on how cheap he is, but he is less valuable in leagues with strikeout RATIOS rather than raw totals.
Putting him behind all three Reds pitchers I’ve ranked already for right now.
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