Outfielder Charlie Blackmon arrived at Coors Field on Monday for Summer Camp, Nick Groke of The Athletic tweets. It’s an especially notable and encouraging development after Blackmon tested positive for the coronavirus three weeks ago.
Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, explained how he’s doing and expressed hope that he’ll be in Colorado’s lineup when its season starts July 24, saying (via Thomas Harding of MLB.com): “I feel great. I have felt that way for at least a couple of weeks now. I had a day and a half of symptoms. After that I started feeling much better. I want to be ready for Opening Day. That’s a pretty short period of time.”
Of course, if the Rockies are going to pull off a surprise playoff run in 2020, it stands to reason they’ll need a healthy Blackmon. The 34-year-old turned in yet another quality offensive season in 2019, in which he slashed .314/.364/.576 (125 wRC+) with 32 home runs in 634 plate appearances to further cement himself as one of the Rockies’ most important contributors.
Aside from Matt Kemp, a recent minor league signing, Blackmon is by far the most proven outfield-capable player the Rockies have. David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, Sam Hilliard, Garrett Hampson and Yonathan Daza are also on their 40-man roster, but only the injury-plagued Dahl has fared well offensively over a large sample of major league plate appearances.
First my guy
Jokes aside I hope Charlie does well though. He’s my guy
Did he shave that beard?
Cream – I feel fine
so all these comments are way over my head lol…do tell!
This guy’s name is racially insensitive. I vote that he change it.
@hubert hump……. I vote you leave the race baiting and politicking off the site.
I miss Chief Knockahoma
Speaking of name changes, I don’t think the Cleveland (?) baseball team should be able to reclaim the name Cleveland Spiders. That would probably offend someone with arachnophobia.
Blackmon’s been a star. His contributions have been obscured by Arenado, the face of the franchise, and the that fact he’s in Colorado.
Charlie’s under the radar.
Career .997 OPS at home.
Career .743 OPS on the road.
A Coors product. Arguably one of the most overpaid and overrated players in baseball.
That’s quite harsh. He’s been a major contributor on that team for the better part of a decade and without him, they likely don’t make their surprise run that forced 163 or the prior wild card run
It’s been heavily speculated Coors has a negative affect on its own hitters, ie when they are a home player and go on the road the tend to do worse than when they leave coors all together. Coors let’s guys get big swings and it still works, but on the road it’s more easily exposed is the running theory with LAD broadcasters. As a dodger fan, I know Blackmon has killed Them plenty of times to call him one of the most overrated players in baseball. He still puts up numbers….
Anyone with common sense knows Coors is a major plus for hitters, and the proof is in the statistical numbers put forth by Rockie hitters year in and year out. Check their yearly road numbers and you will see your second paragraph is null and void.
It is not harsh to point out Blackmon reaching base basically once more per game (or 1 out of 4 at bats) more at Coors than everywhere else. If his road numbers were his career he’d be just another outfielder.
Wild bill you are right you can’t argue Th e road numbers. All I have to say to that is the players seem to believe the ball doesn’t spin the same at Coors and is easier to see. It’s hard to make adjustments for the road.
It’s not unheard of when a player leaves Coors for good that they adjust. Dj has a career year away from Coors. Matt Holliday did well after leaving too. I don’t buy the whole Coors narrative. It’s a big field and the ball flies better for sure but to say those players ALL couldn’t adjust when permanently leaving is nonsense.
You one of those guys who thinks based on the numbers Nolan is just a regular hitter on the road as well? His power splits were exactly the same last year home and away, almost same number of bombs. If Nolan went to the al East he would do just as good. The problem is out the nl west the rest of the ballparks are huge. It’s adjustments imo.
Nolan would probably be a Top 5 3B in the league if he played in the AL East. Not #1, maybe Top 3. Lemahieu is different as he’s not a power hitter. Line drive hitter uses the middle of the field. Juan Pierre hit well in and out of Coors too.
Holliday’s best years were in Colorado also, no matter how well he hit protecting Pujols. We saw his drop in Oakland.
agree we did see holidays numbers drop. But dj hit for more power when he left Coors. I know it’s a real thing the Coors effect but I think some ppl buy way too much into it. When you look last year Nolan had almost a dead even power split home and away. He would hit a ton of bombs in the East. Yankee stadium Camden yards Fenway. He would own. He’s the best defensive 3rd basemen in the league year after year(Chapman may be now).
But to say top 5 is really a stretch. He will always be top 3. Rendon never even hit 30 homers til the juiced ball. I laugh when ppl think Tony is as good. He’s not even on the same planet defensively, the only thing he does better is walk.
He’s the best all around third baseman in the game and it’s not really close Im not trying to heckle you but I would challenge you to name the 4 third basemen ahead of him if he left Coors.
The home splits at Coors are not as much as Yankee Stadium. That wind tunnel in right carries a lot of fly balls out.
That’s good to hear.
Since their inception, almost every Rockies hitter has better numbers at home than on the road. Some splits are pretty drastic, but the better players like Arenado, Blackmon, Bichette, Walker, Helton et al held their own in the opposition’s parks.
But we have Matt Kemp this year. Call me crazy (I know you will.), but over sixty games if he somehow gets 175-200 at bats, he’s gonna be one heck of a find.