Through the end of April, the first full month of the 2026 major league baseball season, the Colorado Rockies were four games under .500 at 14-18, a winning percentage of .438.
At the end of April in 2025, they were 5-25, a winning percentage of .167. And they had lost 57 by the time they recorded their 14th victory. That came on June 15.
It’s obvious that the 2026 edition of the Rockies—Paul DePodesta’s first as President of Baseball Operations—has begun the climb, as he refers to the turnaround he’s engineering.
But with five months of this season to go, the big question is how much better is this team than its immediate predecessor? (I know, the month of May started poorly.)
Let’s take a look, using the nine “IFs” from my March 19 Villager column the week before the opener in Miami, as one of the measuring sticks.
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First, some positive (or at least hopeful) trends:
IF . . . Mickey Moniak continues to increase his offensive production and IF . . . the Rockies finish in the top 10 ML teams in stolen bases . . .
Through the first one-fifth of the season, Moniak was second on the team with eight homers and led the club in runs batted in with 17 and in batting average at.315. He appears to be realizing the potential that mad him the first player taken overall in the 2016 Major League Draft. And the “Runnin’ Rockies” ranked eight in MLB with 28 stolen bases in 40 tries (6th most).
IF . . . Someone—T.J. Rumfield, Troy Johnston, Blaine Crim, Eduard Julien or ___?___ becomes the regular first baseman and consistently hits higher than eighth in the batting order . . .
Johnston was two points behind Moniak for the club hitting lead after April 30’s game—a pleasant surprise—and leads all of his teammates in enthusiasm. But he’s a better outfielder/designated hitter than first baseman, and no Gold Glover anywhere.
Rumfield, meanwhile, was tied with Johnston for second on the team in RBIs with 16 and is a much better fielder.
IF . . . Hunter Goodman can at least match last season . . .
Last season’s Silver Slugger at catcher was a .257 hitter through 32 games this season (compared to .287 for all of last season) but had already hit nine home runs—almost a third of last year’s total. He needs to cut down on the Ks.
IF . . . Kyle Karros takes charge at third base . . .
The son of the Dodgers’ long-time first baseman Eric Karros is a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman in his first major league season. And while he managed only a .207 batting average through April, the quality of his at bats and his .330 on base percentage are promising signs that he can become a decent hitter, too.
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Four other IFs aren’t so encouraging at this point:
IF . . . Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle both return to their 2024 form . . .
As of the end of April, Tovar was hitting .202 and Doyle .214, and they had driven in only 11 runs between them. They continue to excel on defense, but on May 1, their offensive accomplishments of 2024 seemed a distant memory.
IF . . . Kyle Freeland posts only the second winning season of his career . . .
It’s early but he doesn’t look like an ace, much less a winner, to me.
IF . . . The three veteran starters added to the rotation—Michael Lorenzen, Jose Quintana and Tomoyuki Sugano— average 25 starts apiece . . .
Decorated Japanese righthander Sugano looks like manager Warren Schaefer’s most reliable starter (3-1, 2.84 earned run average in six starts) and seems certain to reach 25 starts and double-figure wins. But he could be traded to a contender at the deadline. Too early to say on Lorenzen and Quintana, but the early returns raise questions (5.68 ERA for 52 1/3 innings over 11 starts between them).
IF . . . Jordan Beck takes a big step forward in his development . . .
The early season’s biggest disappointment, Beck was batting .161 when April ended.
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Despite that sweep by the Braves, I’m sticking with my preseason prediction of 70 wins.
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Denny Dressman writes a weekly sports column for The Villager. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.