How bad is the 2026 Colorado Rockies defense?

In the Friday night game discussion, when the Colorado Rockies were being blown out by the Cleveland Guardians, there was some conversation about the effect the Rockies defense had on their overall record.

Although I lack the skills to make that correlation, I did wonder how this year’s defense compared to some of the teams we’ve seen. Are the Colorado Rockies really that bad defensively?

All caveats about the limits of defensive metrics apply here, though I would add that, regardless of accuracy,

defensive metrics create a common measure by which to compare players. In this discussion, I want to explore a number of defensive metrics: errors, defensive runs saved, outs above average, and fielding run average. Also, keep in mind this this year’s numbers are a work in progress while the numbers from previous years are for a full season.

In terms of my comparison pools, I went with this year’s team, last year’s 2025 (historically bad) team, and the 2018 team, which was the last season the Rockies went to the postseason.

All numbers were current as of Saturday.

Errors

According to MLB.com, “A fielder is given an error if, in the judgment of the official scorer, he fails to convert an out on a play that an average fielder should have made.”

Team errors

In 2026, as a team, the Colorado Rockies have committed 84 errors, which ties them with the San Francisco Giants for second most errors in MLB. (The Boston Red Sox have the most with 90 errors, and the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs have the fewest with 48 while the Los Angeles Dodgers have slightly more with 52. Also worth noting, the Chicago White Sox are 12th with 69.)

For comparison, in 2025, the Rockies had the second-most errors with 110. (The Red Sox had the most with 116 while the White Sox were third with 100.)

And the 2018 team? That postseason-bound team had just 74 errors, the third fewest in MLB.

Individual errors

That leads to the question of which players are committing those errors, and for that, I went to FanGraphs.

Clearly, Hunter Goodman and Kyle Karros led the team in errors with 10. Willi Castro is on the leaderboard as well since the sum of errors he has committed is 10. Add to that Ezequiel Tovar’s nine errors, and those four players are responsible for almost half of the errors. (Connor Norby’s three errors in eight games seems like a bad sign.)

Defensive runs saved

Now consider defensive runs saved (DRS), another defensive metric. As a refresher, MLB.com defines DRS as “DRS quantifies a player’s entire defensive performance by attempting to measure how many runs a defender saved. It takes into account errors, range, outfield arm and double-play ability. It differs only slightly from UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) in its formula, but the concept is the same.”

Team DRS
This season in terms of DRS, the Rockies rank 25th with -11. (Notably, the Cubs are first with 89 followed by the Tampa Bay Rays with 61, which shows just how good the Cubs defense is this year. The worst DRS number goes to the Minnesota Twins with -37.)

Last year, the Rockies had -59 DRS, which was the worst number in baseball.

By this metric, the 2026 Rockies are significantly better than the 2025 squad.

And the DRS number in 2018? That would be 45, which was the eighth most in baseball.

Individual DRS

Here are the individual numbers, again per FanGraphs:

What’s notable here?

TJ Rumfield is the best in terms of DRS, and it’s not close. He has become a solid defender at first base. Meanwhile, Tyler Freeman looks on track to repeat as the Rockies worst defender as measured by DRS. This metric is less brutal on Karros and Goodman than errors, but the fact remains that only eight players have positive DRS numbers, and three of those where pitchers while Chad Steven’s only spent 63.0 innings with the Rockies.

In short, overall, this is not a very good team defensively.

Outs Above Average

According to MLB.com, “Outs Above Average (OAA) is a range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a player has saved.”

Team OAA

The 2026 Rockies are a bit more respectable by this metric by which they are ranked 20th with a -10. (Once again, the Cubs demonstrate this defensive dominance by putting up 62 OAA while the D-backs are second with 33, almost half as many.)

For comparison’s sake, the 2025 Rockies were 26th with -26 OAA. So, again, this is a better defensive team than the Rockies were last season. Believe it or not, the 2018 Rockies finished the season with -5 OAA, which put them at 18th.

Individual OAA

Below are the individual numbers for the Colorado Rockies, again courtesy of of FanGraphs.

This is another metric that indicates the deficiencies of the Rockies defense. Rumfield has a clear lead with six, but only five Rockies have an OOA score of higher than zero. Ten players have negative totals with Freeman and Edouard Julien tallying the lowest scores.

The good news is that 10 players have a zero OAA number, which means that they are average. A team with average defenders and improved hitters is a good trade off for a Rockies team that has struggled to get hits.

Fielding Runs Value

The final metric to consider is fielding run value, which MLB.com defines as follows: “Fielding Run Value (FRV) combines all of Statcast’s individual defensive metrics into one stat that measures a player’s overall defensive value.”

Team FRV

The 2026 Rockies are 25th at -19. Surprising no one, the Cubs are first with 63 while the Toronto Blue Jays come in second with 37.

Last season, the Rockies were 23rd with an FRV score of -20. It seems likely the 2026 squad will surpass that number before the season ends.

The 2018 team came in 10th with a four FRV score, which suggests the Rockies have never done very well by this metric.

Individual FRV

Here is how individual Rockies stack up:

Once again, Rumfield has surpassed his teammates, but having only five players with positive FRV’s seems like a bad sign. It is notable, however, this Tovar fares better by FRV.

Closing thoughts

So what does it all mean?

In compiling this, mostly I wanted to put together all of the numbers to provide a basis for a larger discussion.

But here are a few things I took away.

First, TJ Rumfield is as good defensively as we thought he is — and he is easily the best defender on this Rockies team.

Second, the defensive numbers are worse, but this team shows improvement over the 2025 Rockies. I suspect the still-below-average numbers are attributable to a few things. The Rockies have young players and new free agents who are learning the nuances of playing at Coors Field.

In addition, the Rockies are moving to a more “optionality-focused” defense, which is going to drive down numbers. So far, this front office is valuing a player’s utility over his expertise — though it’s worth noting that one of their defensive specialists, Rumfield, is the defensive leader.

Those are a few ideas I’m thinking through, and I look forward to reading your thoughts.

This week on the internet

This is just so cool.

On the farm

Triple-A: Las Vegas Aviators 10, Albuquerque Isotopes 8

Former Isotopes pitcher Geoff Hartlieb escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth by striking out the final two hitters, as the Las Vegas Aviators took the series-closing game 10-8 from Albuquerque on Sunday at Rio Grande Credit Union Field. The Aviators claimed five of six contests in the set.

Sterlin Thompson led off the ninth inning with a single, then an out later, Vimael Machin roped a single off the wall in right, sending Thompson to third. Hartlieb then fanned Chad Stevens swinging and caught Roc Riggio looking to end the ballgame.

Thompson was 3-for-4, the third time he has picked up three hits in the last eight games he has played. Meanwhile, Adael Amador was 2-for-4 with a double, and is slashing .333/.421/.636 with five doubles, five homers and 13 RBI over his last 15 games. Charlie Condon was 1-for-4 with a single and hit by pitch. He is slashing .202/.311/.287 with three doubles, a triple, two homers and 16 RBI over his last 33 games. Condon has been hit by 16 pitches this year, most in the Pacific Coast League.

The Isotopes issued at least nine walks in a game for the 11^th time this season.

With 24 games remaining in the season, Albuquerque must go a minimum of 14-10 down the stretch to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2013.

Double-A: Somerset Patriots 9, Hartford Yard Goats 6

In the series finale, the Somerset Patriots scored five runs in the ninth inning to come from behind and defeat the Hartford Yard Goats 9-6 in Hartford. Although the Yard Goats had a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning and a 6-4 lead in the ninth inning, the Patriots rallied to win the series. Dyan Jorge mashed a two-run homer, his first of the season, and Jared Thomas and Skyler Messinger each had two hits.

The Yard Goats scored the game’s first run in the first inning against Somerset starter Sean Paul Linan. Thomas singled, stole second base, and scored on a hit by Jack O’Dowd to make it 1-0. Then the Yard Goats plates three more runs in the fourth inning to give them a 4-0 lead. After Jorge’s homer, Zach Kokoska scored on a wild pitch to give Hartford a 4-0 lead.

In addition, Yard Goats starter Konner Eaton allowed just two hits over the first five innings, completed six innings, surrendered two runs on three hits, and left with a 4-2 lead. Eaton retired the first five batters of the game before working out of bases-loaded jams in both the second and third innings. The lefty handled the fifth inning before allowing a two-out, two-run home run to Manny Palencia in the sixth inning make it a 4-2 game.

Somerset made it 4-3 on Jace Avina’s RBI single in the seventh inning against reliever Fidel Ulloa and then tied the game in the eighth inning on a throwing error. The Yard Goats took a 6-4 lead with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

But it wasn’t enough. The Patriots scored five runs in the ninth off reliever Victor Juarez to take a 9-6 lead. The inning began with back-to-back doubles and a walk to load the bases. Jace Avina then walked with the bases loaded to make it 6-5, and DJ Gladney’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 6-6. then, Manny Palencia’s RBI single scored Avina and Somerset grabbed a 7-6 lead. The Patriots added two more runs on an error and hit batsman.

High-A: Hillsboro Hops 15, Spokane Indians 6

Today, the Indians dropped their series finale with Hillsboro as the Hops pummeled the Indians.

The Hops hit four home runs, including two from Kenny Castillo and a grand slam from Carlos Virahonda. In the course of the game, Hillsboro batted around twice (first and seventh innings) and tallied 13 runs in those innings.

In the bottom of the second inning, Robert Calaz hit a solo homer to get the Indians on the board. It was his ninth of the season and fifth in his last eight games.

Spokane tried to mount a comeback in the fifth inning with no outs when they loaded the bases. With one out, Wilder Dalis singled followed by an Ethan Hedges walk that forced in a run, making the score 9-3. After a pitching change, Tanner Thach hit into a double play to end the inning.

The Indians tried again in the sixth and got the score down to 9-5. But things pretty much ended in the seventh when the Hops took a 13-5 lead on a pair of homers, including a grand slam.

Single-A: Fresno Grizzlies 10, Stockton Ports 9 (F/11)

It was a back-and-forth affair, but the Grizzlies were the only Rockies affiliate to win their game today against the Stockton Ports (A’s).

Stockton got out to an early lead when they drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning. They then tacked on in the second with a sac fly, and then an RBI single in the third to go up 3-0. Then, Gavin Turley hit a grand slam to put the Ports up 7-0. Fresno finally broke through in the fourth when Carlos Renzullo walked, Cristian Arguelles (No. 5 PuRP) singled, and then Daniel Jackson (No. 12 PuRP) singled to score Renzullo.

However, things got interesting in the sixth.

Renzullo singled to lead things off, and then Arguelles tripled to score him. Jackson ten singled to score Arguelles, and Ronny Ugarte doubled. A wild pitch moved up Ugarte, and then Jack Natili walked. Upon a pitching change, Juan Martinez grounded into a 4-6 force out, but Ugarte was able to score and put Fresno within two. Cort MacDonald popped out to short, but then Aidan Redahan singled to push Martinez to third. Ashly Andujar singled to score Martinez, and made the score 7-6. Renzullo flew out to end the inning.

In the seventh, Gavin Turley homered to make it 8-6. But then Fresno came alive again in the ninth when Arguelles walked and Jackson doubled to score him. Then, Ugarte singled and Daniel Jackson scored on a fielding error by the left fielder to tie the game 8-8.

It went back-and-forth in extras, but Fresno had the last laugh. In the 11th inning, Juan Martinez singled to move Jack Natili, the ghost runner, and then Cort MacDonald singled to walk it off 10-9.

Jackson went 4-for-6 with a double, three RBI and two runs scored. Arguelles went 3-for-5 with a triple, two RBI, two runs scored and a walk. And Ugarte went 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored and two strikeouts.

On the pitching side, Bryson Van Sickle took the brunt of it — pitching just four innings and allowing seven runs (five earned) on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Sam Larson and Tanner Sagouspe combined for two scoreless innings, while Wilmis Paulino gave up one earned run — a homer — in his one inning of work. Ethan Cole earned the win, pitching the final four innings and allowing one unearned run on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Walker statue unveiled at Coors Field: “Guess that’s a way to slow me down” | MLB.com

Patrick Saunders (recently of the Denver Post) stood in for Thomas Harding today and covered the unveiling of the Larry Walker statue. “To have a statue outside of this ballpark, that’s an honor that’s pretty tough to put into words,” Walker said. “When I came here, my job was to keep moving — hit the ball, run the bases, chase fly balls in the gap, do anything I could to help us win. And now, here I am, frozen in bronze. I guess that’s a way to slow me down.”

FanGraphs Weekly Mailbag: August 22, 2026 | FanGraphs

The question is “Who is the worst player ever to hit three home runs in a major league game?” Do you know the answer?