Rockies might have signed their own version of Shohei Ohtani

Matt Sullivan

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Rockies might have signed their own version of Shohei Ohtani image

The Colorado Rockies haven't been big spenders this offseason, but they have made a couple of nice moves since the start of the New Year.

Jake McCarthy was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks to bolster the outfield, while Michael Lorenzen signed a one-year, $8 million deal to join the Rockies' rotation.

That Lorenzen signing might be a much more fun one than it seems on the surface, as Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic allude to. There have been discussions about turning Lorenzen into their own version of Shohei Ohtani.

Rockies might have their own Shohei Ohtani in Michael Lorenzen

"The Rockies have kicked around the idea internally, and might talk to Lorenzen about it once his deal is finalized," Rosenthal and Sammon write. "While Lorenzen, 34, surely is intrigued by the idea of hitting at Coors Field, a return to hitting might not be realistic."

While turning Lorenzen into a hitter once again might not be realistic, for the Rockies, it could be a fun experiment that the veteran pitcher would likely be open to as well.

He's 34 years old and hasn't had a plate appearance since 2021, when, with the Cincinnati Reds, he struck out in his lone plate appearance.

In 2020, his lone plate appearance resulted in a hit-by-pitch and a run scored. His last time as a full-fledged hitter was in 2019, when across 53 plate appearances, he hit.208 with an OPS of.596.

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While not ideal, his 2018 season was a lot more encouraging. In 34 plate appearances, Lorenzen hit.290 with an OPS of 1.043. Of his 31 at-bats, he had nine hits, one double, four home runs, 10 RBIs, and five runs scored.

As a hitter in his Major League career, he's accumulated 1.6 bWAR, hitting.233 with an OPS of.710 and an OPS+ of 84. For a pitcher, those are very good numbers.

Lorenzen isn't going to give the Rockies the same production as Ohtani will for the Los Angeles Dodgers, especially at the plate.

With the hitter-friendly Coors Field, letting Lorenzen have a few chances to come to the plate this upcoming season could make for a very fun story for the 2026 Rockies.

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Contributing Writer