Brad Hawpe has turned into the player everyone thought he would be for the Colorado Rockies
29-year old lefty swinging Brad Hawpe has turned into the player everyone always thought he could be. He played in 152 games for the Rockies last season and he was 150 for 516 (.291 avg, .926 OPS) with 80 runs scored, 29 homers and 116 RBIs. He didn’t play as well on defense as he made 6 errors in 142 games in RF while showing below average range. Look for another big year from Hawpe with the bat in his hands.
Ryan Spilboroghs will also likely get some playing time in RF as he played 20 games there without making an error but he showed poor range.
27-year old righty swinging Jeff Baker will also likely get some P.T. in RF this season. He played in 85 games for the Rockies last season and he was 32 for 144 (.222 avg, .643 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 4 homers and 12 RBIs. He also played in 13 games in RF without making an error while showing above average range.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON: B+
Over. There’s going to be a letdown factor with Colorado losing in the World Series last year, but I think they can at least rebound with a winning season. The NL West is the toughest division in baseball again this year in my opinion. But they have enough to get over this number.