Colorado Rockies All-Time 25-Man Roster

The Colorado Rockies have not experienced much success since joining MLB as a 1993 expansion team, but they have had some talented players.

The Colorado Rockies were born when the city of Denver was granted an expansion franchise by Major League Baseball in 1991. The club then began play in the National League West Division in the 1993 season.

Over the ensuing quarter century the franchise has not experienced very much on-field success. They have yet to capture a division crown, and there have been just three trips to the MLB postseason.

Early in their history, from 1995-97, the Rox treated their fans to three consecutive winning seasons. This has been the only time they have produced that long a stretch of winning baseball.

THE BLAKE STREET BOMBERS

The 1995 team was an offensive juggernaut that finished in second place, just a game short of a division title. But those Rockies captured the NL Wildcard to become the first Colorado team into the playoffs.

Nicknamed the “Blake Street Bombers”, they were led by four men who each cranked more than 30 home runs. The Rockies would lose in that 1995 NLDS by 3-1 to the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves.

After that brief run of success it would be a long decade before Colorado would contend once again.

THRILLING RUN TO THE WORLD SERIES

In 2007, the Rockies set a franchise record by winning 89 games during the regular season. The club finished just a game off the division-winning pace of the Arizona Diamondbacks, tied with the San Diego Padres.

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The Rockies then hosted San Diego in a one-game play-in to determine who would get the lone NL Wildcard berth. It would prove to be perhaps the most dramatic game in team history.

Colorado jumped in front early, but the Padres put up a five-run inning in the top of the 3rd to take a 5-3 lead. The hosts kept chipping away, and took a 6-5 lead into the top of the 8th inning. But San Diego tied it up on a two-out RBI double by Brian Giles.

The two teams fought into extra innings before the Padres finally broke through in the top of the 13th with a pair of runs. San Diego then turned the ball over to one of the greatest closers in the history of the game, Trevor Hoffman.

Instead of rolling over, the Rockies fought back. The first three batters got to Hoffman for a pair of doubles and a triple to tie it up, and then a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jamey Carroll brought home the game-winner.

Those Rockies rode the excitement and momentum of that rally all the way to a World Series berth. First they swept the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 in the NLDS, then the division rival Dbacks in four straight in the NLCS.

Then in the franchise’ only Fall Classic appearance to date, Colorado was swept out in four straight games by the Boston Red Sox.

TOUGH PLAYOFF LOSS, THEN COLLAPSE

Two years later, the Rockies returned to the postseason. That 2009 club set the franchise record by winning 92 regular season games, finishing three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the NLDS, the Rockies were taken out 3-1 by the defending World Series champion Phillies. It was a bitter defeat. With the series knotted at 1-1, the Phils captured each of the final two games in Colorado by one run, with both games coming down to the final inning.

The Rockies fell to 83 wins the following season, and have not experienced a winning campaign since. Entering the 2017 season, Colorado has experienced six straight losers. However, some exciting young talent has the club and its fans believing that streak of futility is about to end.

TOUGH CHOICES AND APOLOGIES

Putting together the Colorado Rockies All-Time 25-Man Roster was not as difficult as some other teams with a longer, more storied history has been.

Still, there were a few tough decisions at the back-end of the pitching staff and position player lists. In the end, I went with just a 10-man pitching staff. Fact is, that is a generous number when you examine the history of this team.

The usual “apologies” segment includes a bunch of players who were in contention for those back-end roster spots.

Position players such as Garrett Atkins, Neifi Perez, Brad Hawpe, Walt Weiss, and Dexter Fowler. Also left out are Michael Cuddyer, Clint Barmes, Jeff Cirillo, Corey Dickerson, Jeff Reed, and Juan Pierre.

Current young stud Jon Gray just hasn’t been around long enough or shown enough yet to crack the list. Other arms left out were Huston Street, Jose Jimenez, Bruce Ruffin, and Rafael Betancourt. Also missing are Curt Leskanic, Rex Brothers, Chad Bettis, Adam Ottavino, Kevin Ritz, and Matt Belisle

So who did make this roster? As you will see and can probably already anticipate, there are a bunch of mediocre arms, but some explosive bats. Let me know who you would have named, and who you would have left off your own roster.

ROCKIES ALL-TIME 25-MAN ROSTER

INFIELDERS (7)

Nolan Arenado (3B) – 7th WAR, 10th SLG, 11th HR, RBI & doubles, 15th Hits

Vinny Castilla (3B) – 3rd HR, 4th Hits & RBI, 6th WAR, Doubles & Runs, 8th SLG, 9th Walks, 10th OPS, 15th AVG, 2x NL All-Star, 3x NL Silver Slugger

Andres Galarraga (1B) – 3rd SLG, 4th OPS, 5th AVG, 7th HR & RBI, 8th WAR, Hits & Runs, 10th Doubles & OBP, 2x NL All-Star, 4x top ten NL MVP, 1996 NL Silver Slugger

Todd Helton (1B) – greatest player in Rockies history: 1st WAR, Hits, Runs, HR, RBI, Walks, Doubles, 2nd OBP, 3rd OPS, 4th AVG & Triples, 5x NL All-Star, 3x top ten NL MVP, runner-up 1998 NL ROY, 4x NL Silver Slugger, 3x NL Gold Glove, 2000 MLB Batting crown & Hank Aaron Award, 2000 NL POY by the AP & The Sporting News, #17 retired by Rockies

DJ LeMahieu (2B) – 7th Triples, 10th AVG, 11th Steals, 15th Walks, 2015 NL All-Star, 2014 NL Gold Glove

Troy Tulowitzki (SS) – 3rd WAR & Walks, 4th Runs & Doubles, 5th RBI & Hits, 6th HR, 8th Triples, 9th OBP & OPS, 11th AVG & SLG, 12th Steals, 5x NL All-Star, runner-up 2007 NL ROY, 3x top ten NL MVP, 2x NL Gold Glove, 2x NL Silver Slugger, MLB record .985 career shortstop FLDG PCT

Eric Young (2B) – 1st Steals, 6th OBP & Triples, 10th WAR & Walks, 11th Runs, 14th Hits & AVG

ROCKIES ALL-TIME 25-MAN ROSTER

CATCHERS (2)

Chris Iannetta – 12th walks, 13th WAR & OBP, 15th HR

Wilin Rosario – 14th HR, 4th place 2012 NL ROY

(Iannetta & Rosario run 1-2 in almost every major Rockies career category as a catcher)

OUTFIELDERS (6)

Dante Bichette – 3rd Hits, RBI, Runs & Doubles, 4th HR & Steals, 5th SLG, 6th AVG & OPS, 13th Walks, 4x NL All-Star, runner-up 1995 NL MVP, 1995 NL Silver Slugger

Charlie Blackmon – 10th AVG, 11th WAR & Steals, 13th Hits & HR, 14th Triples, 15th RBI, Runs, Walks & Doubles, 2014 NL All-Star, 2016 NL Silver Slugger

Ellis Burks – 2nd OPS & SLG, 5th OBP, 8th Triples, 9th WAR & AVG, 10th HR, 12th RBI, 14th Runs, Steals & Walks, 1996 NL All-Star & Silver Slugger

Carlos Gonzalez – 3rd Triples, 4th WAR, 5th Runs, HR, Doubles & Triples, 6th Hits, Walks & RBI, 7th OPS & SLG, 13th AVG, 2010 NL Batting champions, 3x NL All-Star, 3x NL Gold Glove, 2x NL Silver Slugger

Matt Holliday – 3rd AVG & OBP, 4th SLG, 5th WAR & OPS, 7th Hits, Doubles & Runs, 8th HR & RBI, 10th Triples & Steals, 11th Walks, 2007 NLCS MVP, 2007 NL Batting champion, 3x NL All-Star, 3x NL Silver Slugger

Larry Walker – 1st OPS, AVG, OBP & SLG, 2nd WAR, HR, RBI, Walks, Steals, Runs, Hits & Doubles, 3rd Triples, 1997 NL MVP, 4x NL All-Star, 5x NL Gold Glove, 2x NL Silver Slugger, 3x MLB Batting champion

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