Rockies Recap of 2020 Season

Things That Went Well

Daniel Bard

The story about Daniel Bard was amazing, what was even more impressive is what he did during 2020. He finished 2020 with a 4-2 record, 3.65 ERA, a 1.3 WHIP, and 27 strikeouts. He also got 6 saves! This is a guy that hasn’t pitched in the MLB since 2009 and he put up these kinds of numbers. The Rockies need a lot of help in the bullpen and finding Bard is a gem and is a huge step in the right direction for them.

Raimel Tapia

Tapia did very well when he got put in the lead spot mid/late season. In his last seven games, he had an average of .483, an OBP of .484, and only four strikeouts with 29 at-bats. Tapia finished the season with a .321 batting average with an OBP of .369 and a 17 RBI. Tapia looks comfortable in the leadoff spot and with his speed, he could excel at that spot. It will be exciting to see how much he can improve in the offseason and live up to the lead-off position.

Things That Need Work

Hot start but burnt out quick

Colorado started the season hot going 10-3 in the first thirteen games. They ended the season with a 26-34 record. The Rockies showed that they are a team that can win, and win against good opponents. They won the series against the A’s in Oakland early in the year. It is painful to watch a team with talent and do well just break down and not play up to their potential.

The record wasn’t the only thing that started hot and burnt out. The bullpen was the same way. The bullpen rocked it the first couple of weeks. Daniel Bard coming back and pitching well, Jairo Diaz, and even Carlos Estevez was all going in the right direction. Then, the old Rockies came out and Estevez was one of the pitchers that went downhill fast.

Pitching woes

Denver was looking good in the early part of the season. When the season progressed more the team started to fall apart. Scott Oberg never played, Estevez started to blow saves and so on. There were some good performances from pitchers, such as Daniel Bard and the three starting rotation. Other than that the team really needs to figure out what they can do to fix this problem. They have hitters but it is hard to win a game when you give up 10-11 runs in a game or even 20+ to San Fransisco. Nolan might be gone this offseason, and it would be a good idea if they used him to help get some more reliable arms in the bullpen. This team showed that they can be good and that is promising to fans.

Another year another disappointment being a Rockies fan. At the beginning it looked like we had a decent team and was for sure going to make the playoffs. When the season continued and things got worse and worse we had to face reality and see the problems that the Rockies had last year and how they were not fixed. Colorado got rid of McGee and Shaw but now we need to put some arms in the pen that can actually help, and get some more productivity out of our youth. With Peter Lambert back next year and some other kids trying out for the last of the rotation it looks promising. You won’t win games by giving up more than 10 runs in your bullpen though.

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