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Top 50 Colorado Rockies

Denver had been established long before as a major city worthy of being the center of Rocky Mountain area for some time in every major category, sports of course included.  As such it was a long-desired place for MLB expansion and in 1993 it finally happened bringing Denver to the “4” club, in that they house a franchise from all major North American sports leagues.

With its thin air, Colorado became the home of inflated offense, but exciting baseball.  This has since been corrected through the use of humidors however the ’90s saw players routinely have higher averages at Coors Field than they would anywhere else. 

Despite the talented hitters that have graced the Colorado Rockies over the years, they have not been able to say the same in terms of Pitchers and they have only been in the playoffs three times.  One of those playoffs, was a World Series loss in 2007.

This list is up to the end of the 2023 Season.

Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
For a five year period, Todd Helton was not just the best player for the Colorado Rockies but was one of the best players in the game. “The Toddfather” had five seasons where he never batted below .325, hit lower than 40 Home Runs, received MVP Votes and had an OPS less than one. Helton would also win four Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves. His 2000 Season would see him win the Batting, On Base Percentage and Slugging Title.
Already a proven commodity as a Montreal Expo, Canadian, Larry Walker certainly found Coors Field to his liking.  Walker would explode in 1997, winning the National League MVP Award, the Home Run Title, while boasting a Slash Line of .366/.452/720.  Not only did Larry Walker consistently hit over  .300 with Colorado, but he also had four seasons where he batted over.350!  Not surprisingly, this resulted in three batting titles, and with his excellent power numbers, he would also have five seasons over 1.000 in OPS.  Helton may be ranked higher for his overall play and lengthy tenure in Denver, but…

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Nolan Arenado played his first seven seasons in Major League Baseball with the Colorado Rockies, where at one time he was the best Third Baseman in the National League.
Troy Tulowitzki exploded onto the scene securing the starting Shortstop in 2007 finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting and leading the NL with a whopping 3.7 Defensive bWAR.  “Tulo” would be robbed of a Gold Glove that year, but would later win two of these trophies in 2010 and 2011.  While Tulowitzki was dazzling fans defensively, he was not your pre-Ripken Shortstop.  Actually, he was more like Ripken.
As of this writing, Charlie Blackmon has been with the Colorado Rockies for thirteen seasons, and in the late 2010s, he was one of the best players in the game..  Playing in the Outfield, Blackmon would have his first All-Star season in 2014, which was the first year that he was a regular starter.  Blackmon would increase his power numbers, and in 2016, he would belt 29 Home Runs with a  .324 Batting Average and a Silver Slugger Award.  As good as that was, Blackmon built on that to become the Rockies; top star over the last three seasons.  In…
Perhaps one of the better trades in the history of the Colorado Rockies organization is the one that brought Venezuelan dynamo, Carlos Gonzalez to the team.  Gonzalez, who as of this writing is still with Colorado, had a breakout season in 2010, where he won his first Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and won the Batting Title with a .336 tally.  The Outfielder has not had a season like that since, but has been very good going to multiple All-Star Games, winning more Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award (2012) and he would reach the…
Entering his seventh year in Baseball (all with Colorado), Trevor Story is as of this writing one of the elite players for the Rockies.
It cannot be argued that Vinny Castilla had his best seasons with the Colorado Rockies, as many hitters did in the 1990’s.  This is not like he was a bust elsewhere (he also hit well on the road), but he did make the best of the thin air and cranked out five straight seasons with 30 Home Runs, and a sixth one when he returned for one season in 2004; a year he would lead the National League in Runs Batted In.  Castilla’s Colorado totals include an impressive 239 Home Runs and 1,206 Hits along with three Silver Slugger Awards…
The professional career of Matt Holliday began in Colorado, which is also where he had his best season in MLB.  In 2007, Holliday would finish second in MVP voting while leading the National League in Hits, Doubles, Runs Batted In and a Batting Title.  As a member of the Rockies, Holliday would score three Silver Sluggers with 126 Home Runs and a Slash Line of .319/.386/.552.  He was also a three-time All-Star in Colorado.
The change from St. Louis to Colorado was certainly a welcome change as he went from batting .243 to .370 en route to winning the Batting Title and becoming the first Venezuelan to do so.  In the five seasons that “The Big Cat” was with the Rockies, he finished, 10th, 10th, 16th, 6th and 7th in MVP voting and batted over .300 for four of those seasons.  Galarraga did not just hit for average as he blasted 30 Home Runs for Colorado four times, and went over 40 twice, the highest of which was 47, enough to win the Home…
Playing seven years with the Colorado Rockies, D.J. LeMahieu would become a star in the Rocky Mountains with his versatile defense and batting skills.LeMahieu joined the Rockies in 2012 after being traded from Chicago, and we should show marked improvement annually.  In 2016, he would win his first of three Gold Gloves for Colorado, and he also captured three Wilson Defensive Awards.  In 2015, he had his first .300 year, which would be his first of two All-Star selections as a Rockie.  He was not chosen for the All-Star Game in 2016, but he did win the Batting Title with a…
The four times that Dante Bichette made the All-Star Game took place as a member of the Colorado Rockies where he would be the runner-up for the MVP Award (1995) and would win the Home Run, RBI and Slugging Title.  Dante would easily be one of the top offensive Rockies of his era, and he would become well known for his hitting acumen.  Bichette's rank is heavily affected by his horrendous defense.  Seriously, it was so bad, that he might have been at one point one of the worst players with a glove for multiple years, despite his cannon for…
Unlike many pitchers the decade before, Ubaldo Jimenez did his best work when he was wearing a Colorado Rockies jersey.  Jimenez’ best season saw him finish third in Cy Young voting and go to his only All-Star Game.  That season (2010) he went 19 and 8 with a 2.88 ERA.  He would win 15 Games the year before.  In the 138 Games he played in Colorado, he had a record of 56-45 and 773 Strikeouts.
The 8th Overall Pick of the 2016 Amateur Draft made the Colorado Rockies in 2017, where as a rookie he went 11-11 and was seventh in Rookie of the Year voting.  That wasn’t bad, but it was his 2018 year that turned heads around the baseball world.
A Starting Pitcher throughout his career, Aaron Cook was with the Colorado Rockies for all but his last Major League season.  Cook would go to the All-Star Game in 2008 when he had a 16 Win Season.  In the ten seasons he played in Colorado, he had a winning record with Colorado going 72 and 68 with 558 Strikeouts.
Before he could play with Tampa, German Marquez was traded to Colorado in January of 2016.  He would pitch for the Rockies in six games that year, and he would make the starting rotation the following season where he went 11-7 and was fifth in Rookie of the Year voting.
Ellis Burks would hammer 352 Home Runs in his eighteen-year career, 115 of which were with Colorado, a team he played nearly five seasons with.  While he would have a longer tenure with the Boston Red Sox, it was with Colorado where he had his best season by far, a 40 Home Run campaign with a .340/.408/.639 Slash Line where he was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger.  He would finish third in MVP voting that year.  It was the strength of that 1996 season that landed him in this spot, and he would have 110 Home Runs overall for…
Jorge de la Rosa is as of this writing the Colorado Rockies pitcher with the best Winning Percentage at Coors Field and would four times exceed 10 Wins in a season, twice winning as many as 16.  The Mexican hurler finished third in Wins in the NL twice.  He posted a record of 86-61 and 985 Strikeouts.
A three-time All-Star with the Rockies, Brian Fuentes would find his niche when he became the team’s closer in 2005.  He would have three seasons where he would have over 30 Saves and would have 115 in total for the team.  As of this writing, he is definitely the best closer in franchise history.  He signed with the Angels in 2009 and had his best season with an American League leading 48 Saves.