The historically bad 2025 Colorado Rockies look very different than they did when the season began in a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
With this in mind, the staff at Purple Row felt it would be useful to revisit the “State of the Position” series that we run in March as a season preview.
We’ve also asked authors of the spring pieces to re-evaluate their earlier remarks with an eye toward the trade deadline.
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What I said in March
We all hoped, and maybe allowed ourselves to slightly believe, that Kris Bryant would be the primary DH in 2025. I thought his fielding days were done, and as a DH, he could avoid further injury and better preserve his ability to finish his contract in Colorado.
It turns out, Bryant’s health wouldn’t allow him to even DH. Perhaps Bryant still could be a DH someday, possibly even this season, Bryant has only made 10 starts at DH and they all came within the first 15 games of the season. In 40 plate appearances, he hit .158/.200/.211 with two doubles, one RBI, two runs scored, two walks and 12 strikeouts.
Bryant’s last start was April 13. He hasn’t played since. being placed on the 10-day IL on April 14 before being transferred to the 60-day IL on May 11 with lumbar degenerative disc disease.
Bryant’s failing health has been nothing short of a heartbreaking tragedy. Not only was he unable to replace Charlie Blackmon as the go-to DH, but he may not play much or at all the remainder of his seven-year, $182 million, which pays out $27 million a year through 2028. Bryant is continuing to talk to medical professionals about “experimental treatments” that could see him return in 2025.
… With his back disk issue, #Rockies DH Kris Bryant says a surgery would be fusion, which would make returning as a pro athlete difficult. After a strengthening program and an ablation procedure this year, he is seeking something that will get him on the field this year.
— Thomas Harding (@harding_at_mlb) July 6, 2025
I am not sure I believed Bryant would play triple-digit games, but I was definitely off in labeling him as the primary DH. While tragic, it’s also not surprising.
My next men up were a DH rotation of Jordan Beck, Nolan Jones, Sam Hilliard, Sean Bouchard and Hunter Goodman. Jones was traded, Hilliard and Bouchard have been up and down from Triple-A Albuquerque and Beck has become the primary left fielder. But in a great example at how bad I am at predicting, one out of five backups has the most starts at DH — Goodman.
My bench projections focused on Kyle Farmer in the infield, Nick Martini, along with Jones, Beck, Bouchard and even Zac Veen in the outfield, and Goodman as the No. 2 catcher. Farmer has definitely slotted in as veteran depth, and Martini was used to fill in off the bench and as DH before he was DFA’d, but the rest of my predictions were way off, and Goodman captured the starting catcher role, earning an All-Star nod in the process.
Where the Rockies are now
The starter
The Colorado Rockies have opted to go with a rotating cast of designated hitters instead of a player as the primary DH, like Blackmon was with 88 DH starts.
Goodman has proved to be such a good hitter that the Rockies often opt not to give him complete days off. On the season, he’s hitting .277/.325/.517 with 17 homers, 52 RBI, 46 runs scored and 18 doubles. While he gets breaks from crouching behind the plate, he has slotted in as DH 26 times. Goodman hits better as a catcher where his slashing .306/.341/.594 with 15 homers in 219 at-bats compared to .224/.303/.367 with two homers in 98 at-bats as a DH.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
However, Goodman hasn’t filled in as DH since June 15. In Colorado’s 25 games since, the trend has been to combine the bench and DH roles. Following Goodman is Nick Martini, who made 18 DH starts before he was designated for assignment on May 30. The other two with double-digit DH starts are Kyle Farmer and Tyler Freeman with 12 DH starts apiece (although Farmer has appeared in 17 games as DH).
Freeman, who was acquired from Cleveland in a trade for Jones on March 22 (11 days after the original DH and Bench State of the Position was published), has made nine DH starts and Farmer has made seven. Mickey Moniak, who was signed as a free agent one day before the season started on March 28, made three of his seven DH starts in the final five games leading up to the All-Star break. In all, Moniak has played in 11 games at DH.
In total, 15 players have all slotted in as DH in the Rockies first 96 games, including six who played two or fewer games in the role.
Combined, Colorado’s DHs have a .225 batting average (which ranks fifth among the team’s nine positions in the lineup), .286 on-base percentage (5th), .331 slugging percentage (8th) and .617 OPS (8th) with five homers (8th), 27 RBI (9th), 19 doubles (3rd), 38 runs scored (5th), 26 strikeouts (6th), 93 strikeouts (4th fewest) and five stolen bases (4th). In other words, for a position that is solely offensive, the DH isn’t giving the Rockies much of a boost. Looking at the DH position across MLB, only the Rangers are worse than Colorado.
That being said, it’s clear that Freeman, who missed just over a month with an oblique strain in April and May before returning to make an impact in the lineup, and Moniak are putting up much better numbers in the spot than anyone else.
Top 10 DH Rockies By AB Pre-All-Star Break
Hitter
DH GS/G
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
OPS
RBI
R
HR
2B
BB
SO
Hitter
DH GS/G
AB
AVG
OBP
SLG
OPS
RBI
R
HR
2B
BB
SO
Hunter Goodman
26/26
98
.224
.303
.367
.670
13
14
2
4
9
32
Nick Martini
18
48
.146
.196
.250
.446
2
4
1
2
3
8
Kyle Farmer
12/17
46
.152
.220
.261
.481
3
3
1
2
2
12
Tyler Freeman
12
47
.447
.480
.532
1.012
2
6
0
4
3
2
Mickey Moniak
7/11
26
.269
.367
.500
.867
4
4
1
3
3
9
Kris Bryant
10
38
.158
.200
.211
.411
1
2
0
2
2
12
Jordan Beck
4/5
17
.235
.278
.235
.513
0
1
0
0
1
5
Sean Bouchard
2/5
10
.100
.182
.100
.282
1
2
0
0
1
3
Brenton Doyle
2/2
9
.111
.111
.222
.333
0
0
0
1
0
3
Yanquiel Fernández
2/3
6
.167
.167
.167
.333
0
0
0
0
0
3
If I had to name a starter, I would say Freeman, Moniak and Farmer are the top three candidates to get the most DH starts post-All-Star break.
The backup
Even as Freeman and Moniak have emerged as the leading DHs, it is also very possible the position changes frequently to give more players a rest from fielding.
With Jordan Beck having the most starts in right field (74), Brenton Doyle in center field (73) and Moniak (34) and Freeman (28) making up for 62 in left, DH is a great way to get more players at-bats, linking the bench and DH as the modus operandi for the Rockies. With Yanqiuel Fernández getting the call and making his debut on July 2, I think it’s fair to expect the outfield to continue to rotate with the outfield bench.
Considering Fernández isn’t as good at fielding as Moniak or Freeman, it might be worth slotting him in at DH more often to see if he can develop his bat and be a player that should be considered in the Rockies future. Perhaps allowing Fernández to take over primary DH could not only help his future, but also improve the DH production and up the fielding quality for the Rockies.
Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
In terms of infield depth, Farmer has 24 starts at second base, nine at first base, nine at shortstop and one at third. Orlando Arcia, the 2022 National League starting shortstop in the All-Star Game, was released by the Braves in late May and signed by the Rockies on May 28. Like Farmer, he’s filled in every position in the infield, save catcher. Farmer is hitting .218/.264/.345 with four homers, 14 doubles, 20 RBI and 12 runs in 206 at-bats. Arcia has been worse, hitting .188/.233/.294 with two homers, five RBI, one double and six runs scored in 85 at-bats.
Brad Mills-Imagn Images
With Ezequiel Tovar recovering from a hip injury and trending toward a return, this could leave an opening on the bench for Ryan Ritter or the Rockies could decide to send him back to Triple-A Albuquerque to get continued playing time.
Depth options
When the DH mostly serves as a way to give players a rest from the defensive grind and keep bats in the lineup, anyone could fill in as DH as the season goes along. This could especially be true as the season goes on and everyday players from Ryan McMahon to Beck need breaks.
The big question will be how active the Rockies are at the trade deadline and how the team manages and fends off the injury bug after the All-Star break. Depending on what happens, it may or may not send ripples through the Colorado lineup.
Additionally, Veen (no. 4 PuRP) could return if a spot opens in the outfield. Veen had a short stint on the roster from April 8 to April 23, but struggled mightily, hitting .118/.189/.235 with one homer in 34 at-bats. He’s done much better with the Isotopes, where he’s hit .314/.376/.487 in 191 at-bats this season. Veen has also been dealing with a nagging ankle injury that could delay a possible return.
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Sterlin Thompson (No. 15 PuRP), a utility player and left-handed hitter, could make his MLB debut if the Rockies were to suddenly lose all their infield depth. Thompson is hitting .270/.267/.482 with nine homers and 38 RBI in 282 at-bats with the Isotopes.
Closing Thoughts
The Rockies haven’t been able to capitalize on having a DH who thrives at the position and can add a bang to the lineup for most of the first half of the season. The exceptions are Freeman and Moniak, who could see more time there in the second half.
In terms of the bench, the Rockies, like all teams, have dealt with injuries that have tested the team’s depth. Considering the Rockies are in last place in on-base percentage (.291) and near the bottom of the team stat leaderboards in many other categories like runs (336, 27th), OPS (.669, 27th) and average (.230, 26th), neither the starters nor the bench are making much of an impact.
With the Rockies’ 22-74 record heading into the second half of the season, there are lots of chances for young players and veterans alike to step up and thrive in the DH role or make the most of their time off the bench to earn a chance to be part of the team moving forward.
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