The Rockies have signed infielder Chad Stevens to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque for now but could receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Stevens, 27 in February, got to make a very brief major league debut this year. The Angels added him to their 40-man roster in the summer. He got into five games and stepped to the plate 14 times. He notched two singles, the first of which came against future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer, but also struck out seven times. He was outrighted off the 40-man in September and became a free agent at season’s end.
The Rockies are surely looking at his minor league track record, which is greater in both quality and quantity than that major league action. He made 981 plate appearances in the minors over the past two years with a .281/.354/.459 batting line. That translated to a 110 wRC+, indicating he was 10% better than league average. He also stole 28 bases in 37 attempts and bounced around the field. He spent just nine innings at first base but had loads of time at the other three infield positions, as well as a handful of games in both outfield corners.
Colorado has plenty of uncertainty on its roster, as one would expect for a team which just lost 119 games. There are a few guys who seem like lineup locks right now but even those guys might end up traded, depending on what the club plans to do this offseason. Since Stevens can play so many different positions, he’ll have various paths back to the big leagues. Statcast also ranked his sprint speed in the 81st percentile during his brief time in the big leagues, so he could also be attractive as a utility guy who can pinch run.
If he makes it back to the show, he still has options, meaning the Rockies can send him to Triple-A and back relatively freely. He also has just five days of big league service time, meaning he’s years away from qualifying for arbitration and is therefore very affordable.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
I swear I thought they signed Cat Stevens…
The Rockies need to get away from high strikeout guys. Strikeouts are bad anywhere, but they are especially bad at Coors where balls in play have a lot more room to fall in.
That’s been the Rockies theory for Coors for years: Swing early and put the ball in play. The fact that they even so led the league in K’s is a reflection on how awfully they were run, but also the fact that half their games aren’t at Coors. In addition, the vast improvement in outfield positioning on other teams makes the whole strategy questionable anyway. Their big problem on offense is not too many K’s, it’s too few BB’s and HR’s.
But if they are leading the league in Ks, then they are not fulfilling that theory. Swing early and miss is a completely different theory.
Hopefully the Rockies new hitting coach Brett Pill will greatly reduce the number of times Rockies batters strike out. He worked closely with Josh Byrnes in the Dodgers organization and must of made an impression.