Charlie Blackmon

2016 Colorado Rockies Preview & Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep

Published Feb. 15, 2016 7:05 a.m. ET

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Any Rockies' hitter is worth considering for fantasy purposes. Conversely, you should avoid their starters at all costs, just like always.

(Note: When a player's fantasy draft status is mentioned - e.g., "he's an SP4" - the number is based on 12-team mixed leagues. ADP references are from NFBC drafts.)

ALSO SEE: TEAM PREVIEWS ARCHIVE

Key additions: RP Jake McGee, RP Jason Motte

Key losses: OF Corey Dickerson, 1B Justin Morneau

Projected Lineup

Blackmon has averaged 18 homers and 36 steals while batting .287 over the last two seasons. His ADP is outside Round 3, which seems too conservative ... Reyes will be 33 in June and gets hurt a lot. He's also staring at a full season in Coors Field. At his Round 12 ADP, there's upside here ... Speaking of injury-prone players with upside, Gonzalez slugged 40 homers in his first full season since 2010. He doesn't run much anymore, but in Round 5 he's an interesting play. You can't draft a lot of guys like CarGo and Reyes, but you can grab one. If you want a red flag, CarGo was horrible vs. LHP (.530 OPS) ... Arenado was a monster last season, and won't turn 25 until mid-April. A repeat seems perfectly reasonable, but you'll probably need a top-eight pick to get him ... Let's hope Parra plays every day instead of getting into even a bit of a platoon with Brandon Barnes, since Parra averaged a dozen homers with a dozen steals from 2013-15, and will be a solid OF5 with a full-time job ... LeMahieu has batted .284 while averaging 17 stolen bases over the last three seasons, and looks like a top-12 second baseman. The speed at this position really drops off after him ... The first-base platoon restricts the value of both Paulsen and Reynolds to NL-only leagues and DFS. Reynolds' power has declined, too ... Nobody seems to think Hundley will bat .301 again, and that's fair. But if he hits .270 with 15 homers, he'll provide value as the 15th or 16th catcher off the board.

Projected Rotation

CL: Jason Motte/Jake McGee

Maybe we should just say, "Don't draft any of these starters" and leave it at that. Early ADPs have no Rockies starters among the top 400 picks ... de la Rosa has a decent K rate and induces lots of ground balls, but has posted ERAs of 4.10 and 4.17 over the last two seasons ... Bettis had a road ERA of 3.35 last season, but there's nothing special about him ... Chatwood is coming back from 2014 Tommy John surgery. He was a decent prospect a few years ago, but didn't miss too many bats despite good stuff ... Lyles had his 2015 cut short due to knee and toe injuries. He's a ground-ball machine, and there's nothing else good to say ... If you want to take a shot at a Rockie in a deeper league, it's Gray, a good prospect who didn't pitch badly in nine starts following his promotion. Sure, his ERA was terrible (5.53), but he whiffed about a batter per inning and is ranked as a top-40 overall prospect by both Baseball America and MLB.com ... There will apparently be a closer competition here, but Motte isn't as dominant as he used to be. If the best pitcher gets the closer role, it'll be McGee.

Sleeper: If any Rockies' hitter can be realistically called a sleeper, it's Parra, who's being drafted as a low-end OF5. Again, he averaged a dozen homers with a dozen steals from 2013-15, and now he'll play half his games at Coors Field. Remember that once upon a time, Coors made Dante Bichette look like Mickey Mantle.

Top Prospects

Brendan Rodgers, SS - Some scouts see the 19-year-old Rodgers as the next Troy Tulowitzki. He was picked third overall in last year's draft and should be considered a top dynasty league option. He's a couple of years away from the majors, though.

David Dahl, OF - MLB.com gives Dahl an "upside" of a .300 hitter with 20 homers at Coors Field, and he swiped 22 bases in 73 games at Double A last season. What's not to like? A horrendous walk rate that suggests an undisciplined hitter who will get himself out a lot. He's baseball's No. 39 prospect per Baseball America.

Jeff Hoffman, SP - Hoffman was a high 2014 draft pick who had TJ surgery that year and pitched pretty well in 20 minor-league starts last season. He could come quickly, but do you want to spend a keeper/dynasty pick on a Rockies' starter?