Mark Knudson’s Three Strikes Blog: Strike Three
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The Rockies line-up will look a lot different in 2019
STRIKE THREE: We already know the Colorado Rockies every day line-up will look different this season…but HOW different? And will it be better?
Different isn’t always necessarily better. In this case, it’s potentially better AND worse.
We’ll start with the worse: Not having defensive lynch pin D J LeMahieu will hurt. There’s no two ways around that. Gold Glovers don’t grow on trees. And for a team whose ultimate success is predicated on outstanding defense, not having a guy who has been as good as anyone in baseball contributing to an unmatched infield defense will have a negative impact. It has to.
Can Garrett Hampsen be a suitable replacement? The speedy infielder has some great tools as – in fact he will be the team’s top base stealing threat. But you can’t steal first base, so he has to find a way to get on base with regularity. Defensively, he’s better than super prospect Brendan Rodgers, but he’s no LeMahieu…not yet.
Now for the better. Starting in the outfield – the move of Charlie Blackmon to right field will have a positive ripple effect on all three positions. Blackmon is a franchise icon, and having him at the top of the order all season will be beneficial. But Charlie was never a good defensive center fielder. He will benefit from the move.
So will the position. Ian Desmond, assuming he mans the spot, will be an upgrade defensively. And he MUST be better at the plate, right? If he falters, there’s Raimel Tapia waiting in the wings. HE can play the position better than Desmond, and provides a different look from the left side of the plate. Finally, giving David Dahl a full time job in one spot should benefit the young phenom and allow his defense to catch up to his offense. Dahl has all the tools to become Colorado’s best outfielder.
The left side of the infield is set with a pair of Glove Glovers (Trevor Story’s award will be coming at some point soon.) The right side? We already mentioned the needs at second base…and over at first, the combo of Daniel Murphy from the left side and occasionally Mark Reynolds from the right side should provide more offense than the got from the spot last year. Both guys are converted middle infielders, so they have good hands and should be solid on defense.
So all these changes are for the good.
The biggest issue might be what DOESN’T look different: Behind the plate. The combo of Tony Wolters and Chris Iannetta is pedestrian at best. Will that be good enough to help the young pitching staff continue to shine?
The Rockies have questions that need to be answered in the next three weeks. Then again, so does every team – including the proverbial favorite Dodgers – going into the season.
Wanna argue: Hit me up on Twitter @MarkKnudson41
