When the Rockies’ offense hit rock bottom last season, it had nowhere else to go but up.
But how high has it climbed? And how much better must the offense become to make the Rockies a team with legitimate playoff aspirations? The results have been mixed.
Manager Warren Schaeffer said recently that the Rockies had made “incredible strides,” crediting hitting coaches Brett Pill and Jordan Pacheco, along with Paul DePodesta, president of baseball operations, and general manager Josh Byrnes, for the improvements.
To review, this is the kind of offense Schaeffer envisions.
“We want to put the ball in play, because we were punching out so doggone much last year,” he said. “We want to move the line (by) using the bunt hit, walking, stealing bags, and just playing total offense. That’s what I believe in. That’s what I’ll always believe. Our personnel is directed more toward that this year, for sure.”
The Blake Street Bombers aren’t coming back, so the Rockies are trying to create a well-rounded offense that pressures the opposition and doesn’t go dormant on the road so often.
“Over 162 games, it might seem like slow progress to the outside world, but we track it and it’s going well,” Schaeffer said.
OK, time to crunch the numbers and see just how high the offense has climbed.
Big picture
Colorado entered the weekend series against the Athletics in Las Vegas with a 26-43 record and was on pace to finish 61-102. After 69 games last season, the Rockies were 13-56, and ultimately finished 43-119.
The Rockies’ minus-424 run differential in 2025 was the worst in baseball’s modern era (since 1900), surpassing the 1932 Boston Red Sox (minus-349). No other team has posted a minus-400 run differential at any point in a season in the modern era. Currently, the Rockies have a minus-100 run differential and are on pace to finish with a minus-235.
Slash line
Last season, Colorado’s .237 average, .293 on-base percentage, .386 slugging percentage, and .679 OPS were all the lowest in franchise history.
Things are looking up. Entering the weekend, the Rockies’ slash line was .249/.319/.396 with a .715 OPS. Not an offensive juggernaut by any means — by comparison, the mighty Dodgers are hitting .264/.346/.443 with a .789 OPS — but an improvement.
Clutch hitting
The 2025 Rockies batted .233 with runners in scoring position, the second-lowest average in the majors and the lowest in franchise history. Colorado’s 29 home runs with runners in scoring position were tied for 27th in the majors and tied for the lowest in a full season in franchise history with the 2013 club.
There has been marked improvement this season. The Rockies are hitting .258 with runners in scoring position, ranking 11th in the majors. However, Colorado’s 12 homers with runners in scoring position rank 26th.
Thievery
Schaeffer vowed that the Rockies would steal more bases, and they have. Through their first 66 games, they had swiped 53 bags, their most since 2000 when they had 63 stolen bases in 66 games.
The Rockies rank 10th in the majors. Last season, they finished with 87, ranking 23rd.
Swings and whiffs
Cleaning up all of the ugly, empty at-bats remains one of DePodesta’s top priorities.
“I think foundationally, we as an organization needed to have more plate discipline,” he said last Sunday. “This past year, our chase rate was the highest in baseball — not just in the big leagues, but also in Triple-A, also in Double-A, also in High-A, also in Low-A. So we have a lot of room to make up, just to be on par with some of our competitors in that space.”
Like Schaeffer, DePodesta believes that putting the ball in play is key, especially at Coors Field, where bloop singles, as well as doubles and triples into the alleys, can make life miserable for opposing pitchers.
“We just need to take advantage of all the holes that are out there in the outfield,” DePodesta said. “We need to be able to put more balls in play. In order to do that, we need to swing at better pitches to hit, and we’ve started to do that, which I think has been really encouraging.”
“We’ve started to do that,” is the key phrase here. Last season, the Rockies’ 1,531 strikeouts were the third-most in club history and second-most in the majors behind the Angels (1,627). This season, the Rockies have the fifth most with 621 and are on pace for 1,458. That’s an improvement, though not a massive improvement.
Last season, Colorado finished with a 51.0 swing percentage, a 31.7 chase percentage, and a 29.0 whiff percentage, all the highest marks in the majors.
There have been only incremental improvements this season. The whiff percentage has dropped to 25.9% (12th highest), but the 51.1% swing rate remains the highest, as does the 34.4% chase rate.
Power supply
The Rockies are still not putting the ball over the wall with much frequency. The 2025 Rockies hit 160 home runs, ranking 25th in the majors and tied for the seventh-fewest for a full season in franchise history (also 2008). This season, Colorado has hit 67 homers (tied for 21st with San Diego) and is on pace to hit just 157 homers.
Curiously, and ominously, the Rockies have hit just 34 home runs at high-altitude Coors Field this season, ranking 19th in the majors. The Rockies are counting on the return of Mickey Moniak from an injured ankle and more homers from rookies like TJ Rumfield and Cole Carrigg to boost the power supply.
