Chief among their many, many problems in 2025, the Colorado Rockies strike out.
A lot.
They have struck out more than all but one other MLB team. Believe it or not, with 179, the Boston Red Sox – led by Rafael Devers and former Rockie Trevor Story – have punched ten more tickets than the Rox at 169.
Michael Toglia “leads” the way, and MLB, with 29 while Ryan McMahon is tied with his old left-side buddy at 22. Of course, the Red Sox balance it out a bit by hitting some home runs every once in a while so have managed to keep themselves afloat at 8-10 so far on the season.
The Rockies are sinking at 3-13 and their best hope for change comes in the form of entirely unproven prospects, still figuring out how to handle the bright lights and facing the likes of Shohei Ohtani and these MVP-laden Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time.
And while there are plenty of questions on the table about how the team moves forward from here, the most immediate and pressing is how do they even begin to solve this strikeout problem?
There are only two ways. The first is obvious. Make more contact, or find guys who can. The second is a little more complex and may not feel like an answer to the problem per se, but the data shows it can be. And that way is to hit more home runs.
The thing is, plenty of teams have proven that you can swing and miss a ton and still be successful. A year ago, it was the Seattle Mariners who outpaced the Colorado club in this dubious distinction, but they still won 85 games. In seventh place were the Atlanta Braves who won 89 games and in 10th place were the Milwaukee Brewers who won 93.
In 2025, the teams with the 4th-8th most strikeouts so far (Cubs, Giants, Dodgers, Yankees) all have winning records. Once again, they achieve this by taking enough walks to provide some base runners and smashing the ball over the wall often enough to make up for all those empty at-bats.
In the case of the Rockies, the lineup breaks down into a few different categories that show us which players have the potential to provide that pop, which could help in the contact department, and who might just be who they are.
They Are Who We Thought They Were
McMahon is already fourth in franchise history in strikeouts and has a real/rare chance to take an all-time record from Todd Helton. This has always been a part of his game and he has proven an ability to eventually provide some power and also Gold Glove-caliber defense so we know where his value lies.
Kris Bryant has been a major offender to little surprise, striking out 31.7 percent of the time but today was placed on the injured list and may have seen his last days in this lineup.
Michael Toglia is a bridge between this category and the next. Like McMahon, the K has always been there with Toglia but 46 percent is egregious. That number absolutely needs to come down. There is a bit more hope still because, while Toglia is an “older young player” at 26, this is still his first full season in MLB and he has a lot to learn.
His raw power leaves open the possibility that he can start to make the most of the times when he does manage to put the ball in play. But he hasn’t yet, with just three doubles and zero round-trippers on the season. If anyone needs to homer their way out of this problem, it’s him.
Fair To Expect Improvement
Like Toglia, Hunter Goodman is in his first full season and a new position, catcher. He has also hit three home runs on the season so his 27 percent rate is more acceptable than others. But still, there’s room to improve.
Rookie Zac Veen has had a rough go of it in his first seven games at 34.6 percent but there is a lot of talent there for him to both make more contact and hit for more power. Patience will be a virtue with him.
The same can be said for Adael Amador who has only played two games and uncharacteristically struck out twice. If anyone has the profile to help in this category moving forward, it’s Amador, who regularly kept his rate in the mid-teens in the minors, peaking at 19 percent in Double-A. Even in his largely uneventful 10-game cup of coffee last season, he kept the strikeouts at 16 percent. Now would be an opportune time for the best version of Amador to stand up.
Jordan Beck’s struggles with making consistent contact (34.8 percent K rate) were a big part of what saw him get sent back to Triple-A.
The one veteran in this category is Jacob Stallings. With Goodman taking over the starting duties behind the dish, Stallings has been limited to 23 plate appearances in seven games but has struck out 12 times, a whopping 52.2 percent rate. Considering he has a career 22.4 percent K rate, it is fair to expect more contact moving forward, though it may also be the case that age is catching up to the 35-year-old who has spent nearly a decade playing one of the most taxing positions in sports.
Don’t Look At Me!
Oddly enough, the Rockies have five regulars who range from perfectly acceptable to downright impressive.
Nick Martini has been the best of the bunch, striking out only 16.2 percent of the time, and is third on the team in batting average at .294 but is also only slugging .324, providing little help on the other end of this spectrum.
Ezequiel Tovar has been nearly as good at making contact (18.2 percent K rate) but has had horrible luck on balls in play so is hitting just .226 and slugging just .273. We should expect all those numbers – including the strikeouts for a career 27 percent guy – to go up throughout the season.
Brenton Doyle has posted a 140 wRC+ and is striking out 17.9 percent of the time. So don’t look at him.
Nor should you look at Kyle Farmer who is just barely over his career 20 percent rate at 21 percent. He has also easily been the biggest bright surprise for the team this year posting a 148 wRC+ thanks in large part to eight doubles early in the year. Micky Moniak, at 22.2 percent and an 89 wRC+ has been fine for a last-minute pick-up.
So what does all of this mean?
With Bryant gone, it is only McMahon for whom you simply know what you are going to get. The raw potential of Toglia, Veen, Goodman, and Amador has earned them a bit of patience, ugly as it can be to watch right now. The other guys are doing their best to keep things afloat but apart from Doyle and a few doubles from Farmer, there just isn’t enough slugging to make their contact count.
In the long term, especially given the parameters of their home ballpark, it would be in the best interest of the Colorado Rockies for this group, most especially Toglia and Veen, to figure out a way to put the ball in play with more consistency.
In the meantime, as a group, one thing that will make all these strikeouts not sting so much will be to follow through on some of that power potential and hit the ball over the wall a few times.
Breaking down the Colorado Rockies strikeout problem Mile High Sports.
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