The Colorado Rockies went from one of baseball’s most broken offenses in 2025 to one of its most productive in 2026, and the turnaround has been fast enough to change the shape of the conversation around the club.
A year ago, the numbers were brutal. Colorado scored 597 runs, the second-fewest in MLB, and piled up the second-most strikeouts at 1,531.
The team also sat in the bottom five in OPS at .679, home runs with 160, walks per game at 2.44 and caught stealing per game at 0.3. There wasn’t much the lineup did well.
It didn’t hit for power, didn’t get on base, struck out too often and ran the bases poorly.
Now the picture looks completely different. The Rockies are averaging 4.88 runs per game, which ranks eighth in the league. They’re also in the top five in team OPS at .753, batting average at .258, total bases per game at 14.43 and hits per game at 8.78.
The strikeout problem has been cleaned up, too. Colorado was one of the worst teams in the league in August, but over the past two months it has been top-10 in strikeout rate.
And this isn’t just a product of playing at Coors Field. The Rockies have actually been scoring more and putting up better numbers on the road this season.
They’re not contenders yet, but the offense has come around far quicker than expected and has made life easier for the front office. The bats are no longer the issue.
Pitching is.
A big part of the shift has been the arrival of Paul DePodesta as the new shot-caller, and several of his moves have paid off.
One of the biggest wins has been rookie first baseman Rumfield. The Yankees sent him to Colorado for struggling reliever Angel Chivilli, and he immediately got a chance to handle first base.
He has taken full advantage. Rumfield leads the Rockies in WAR and hits and has won NL Rookie of the Month two straight months.
He’s hitting .297 with one of the best strikeout rates in the league, and he’s shown enough pop to rank second on the team in doubles with 20 and third in home runs with 12.
McCarthy has also become a major piece after a middling run in Arizona, where he wasn’t seen as an everyday player. Colorado acquired him over the summer for minor league RHP Josh Grosz, and he has turned into a productive Rockie with a batting average north of .300, plus strong defense and elite speed.
The power backbone of the lineup has come from Hunter Goodman and Mickey Moniak, both holdovers from last season. Goodman is third in MLB with 27 home runs and was just named to his second straight All-Star Game. Moniak has been limited to 58 games because of injury, but he still has 15 homers and a .935 OPS, which is second-best on the team.
Then there’s Cole Carrigg, who has been electric since his call-up just over a month ago. The rookie has brought versatility and energy, along with what the report describes as an undeniable fire to the clubhouse that had been missing in recent seasons.
He leads the team with a .318 average and a .990 OPS. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify, he would rank second in MLB in OPS behind only Astros star Yordan Alvarez.
Colorado’s next wave is already close behind. Charlie Condon and Zac Veen, two of the organization’s top prospects, are raking in the minors and are expected to make noise in the majors soon.
Still, the most important part of this offensive jump may be the depth. The bottom of the order has helped carry the scoring load.
Kyle Karros and Willi Castro started slowly, but both have trimmed their strikeouts and improved at the plate. Karros’ rise stands out most, with his average climbing from below .200 to .260 and his WAR now sixth-best on the team.
Tyler Freeman and Troy Johnston have also been key even without much power. Johnston is hitting .310, Freeman is at .273, and both sit among the team’s top five in OBP.
In Other News...
Rockies Fans Just Got A New Verdict On Recent First-Round Picks
The Rockies recent first-round draft history has become its own little audit, and the latest review offers a clearer picture of where the organization stands after years of trying to build from the top of the board. Charlie Condon sits at the head of the list, with his rise through Triple-A making him the current standard-bearer for Colorados next wave, while Chase Dollander still carries the kind of upside that can reshape a rotation if the development keeps moving in the right direction.
Ethan Holliday adds another layer to that optimism as a young shortstop with real franchise-cornerstone appeal, and Gabriel Hughes has already shown what a return from Tommy John surgery can look like when the stuff and command start to come back together. Brendan Rodgers rounds out the group as the most established big leaguer of the bunch, a reminder that even amid all the prospect projection, Colorado has already gotten a respectable return from this stretch of first-round picks. [Read more 🡒]
Jake McCarthy Is Becoming Arizonas Latest Outfield What If
Jake McCarthys move to Colorado has turned into one of the quieter feel-good stories of the Rockies season. Drafted by Arizona in 2018 and up in the majors by 2021, McCarthy arrived in the offseason with something to prove, and he has spent the first half of 2026 looking like a player who finally found the right fit. His bat has been a real spark for a Rockies lineup that has been better than expected, and his all-around production has made him easy to notice in a division where every extra base matters.
The broader Arizona angle only makes the story more interesting. McCarthy and Alek Thomas once represented part of the Diamondbacks young outfield future, but their paths have gone in very different directions since then, with McCarthy thriving in Denver and Thomas struggling badly before moving on to the Dodgers. For Arizona, it is another reminder that outfield development is rarely linear, and for Colorado it is a welcome sign that one of the offseason additions is giving the club far more than just depth. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Face A Huge Draft Test After Years Of First Round Frustration
As the MLB Draft approaches, the Rockies are again trying to turn a long-running organizational weakness into something sturdier. General manager Josh Byrnes and president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta have spent time laying out a clearer philosophy for the selection process, one built around scoring runs, identifying the best player available and backing that approach with stronger data models and a more unified internal vision.
The challenge, of course, is that Colorados draft board is never quite the same as everyone elses. Pitching at altitude remains a special case in Denver, and the club is digging into why some arms translate there while others do not. Recent draft history also gives the front office plenty to weigh, with only Gabriel Hughes on the active roster among the teams recent first-rounders while Chase Dollander is coming back from Tommy John surgery and Jordan Beck and Sterlin Thompson are still in Triple-A. [Read more 🡒]