Saturday 4X4: The Wolters Files; All Tony All the Time
Tony Wolters homered in back-back-to-back starts with the Rockies Aug. 13, 2016 in Philadelphia off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff, and Aug. 17, 2016 against reliever Oliver Perez of the Nationals at Coors. That gave him three home runs in his rookie season as the Rockies back-up catcher.
He had hit his first big-league home run on June 25, 2016 off Shelby Miller of Arizona.
His fourth big-league home run was a long-time coming. He had gone 316 at-bats without a home run before he unloaded into the second deck in right field in the sixth inning on Friday night off Mets starting pitcher Zack Wheeler at Citi Field.
At the time, he had the third longest home run drought among active players, behind Jon Jay of the Royals, who has gone 331 homerless at-bats, and Tyler Saladino, who has a homerless streak of 330 at-bats streak, although he is currently with the Brewers Triple-A Colorado Springs affiliate.
Longest Active Homerless Streaks in MLB
| Player | Current Team | Start | At Bats | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jon Jay | Royals | 7/ 6/ 2017 | 331 | 0.284 |
| x-Tyler Saladino | Brewers | 8/ 29/ 2016 | 330 | 0.212 |
| TONY WOLTERS | Rockies | Ended Friday | 318 | 0.223 |
| Eric Sogard | Brewers | 6/8/2017 | 246 | 0.206 |
| y-Chris Stewart | Braves | 4/ 19/ 2016 | 242 | 0.198 |
| Austin Romine | Yankees | 4/ 29 /2017 | 213 | 0.211 |
| Pedro Florimon | Phillies | 9/ 27/ 2013 | 201 | 0.179 |
| x-Optioned Colorado Springs April 19 | ||||
| y-Outrighted Richmond April 4 |
How long was Wolters' home run drought? Well, 24 other Rockies players homered during that stretch, including pitchers Jon Gray and Kyle Freeland, with one apiece. At the top of the list are Charlie Blackmon (56) and Nolan Arenado (55).
Rockies HRs Between Wolters HRs
| Player | G | HR |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Blackmon | 886 | 56 |
| Nolan Arenado | 862 | 55 |
| Mark Reynolds | 552 | 32 |
| Trevor Story | 618 | 31 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 700 | 19 |
| DJ LeMahieu | 845 | 15 |
| Pat Valaika | 256 | 14 |
| Gerardo Parra | 565 | 13 |
| Ian Desmond | 443 | 11 |
| David Dahl | 167 | 5 |
| Daniel Descalso | 103 | 5 |
| Nick Hundley | 75 | 5 |
| Tom Murphy | 68 | 5 |
| Alexi Amarista | 168 | 3 |
| Chris Iannetta | 78 | 3 |
| Stephen Cardullo | 84 | 2 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 101 | 2 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 142 | 2 |
| Raimel Tapia | 198 | 2 |
| Cristhian Adames | 92 | 1 |
| Kyle Freeland | 63 | 1 |
| Dustin Garneau | 76 | 1 |
| Jon Gray | 65 | 1 |
| Ryan Raburn | 36 | 1 |
Wolters was a waiver claim from the Indians at the start of spring training 2016, and had primarily been a second baseman in the minor leagues. He, however, was eager to refine his catching skills, and even though he has been a backup catcher in his big-league career he has caught more than twice as many games for the Rockies than any other catcher since he joined the team.
Games Appeared Rockies Catchers Since Start of 2016
| Player | Seasons | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Wolters | 2016-18 | 170 | 477 | 59 | 114 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 59 | 121 | 0.239 |
| Nick Hundley | 2016-16 | 83 | 289 | 30 | 75 | 20 | 1 | 10 | 48 | 25 | 65 | 0.26 |
| Dustin Garneau | 2016-17 | 46 | 136 | 12 | 30 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 46 | 0.221 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 2017 | 46 | 142 | 18 | 44 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 27 | 19 | 0.31 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 2017 | 33 | 101 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 26 | 0.267 |
| Tom Murphy | 2016-17 | 33 | 68 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 28 | 0.191 |
| Chris Iannetta | 2018 | 22 | 78 | 9 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 22 | 0.218 |
In his time with the Rockies, Wolters has a catcher's ERA of 4.78, but this year, in 13 games, 12 starts, the ERA with him behind the plate is 3.50. Only once has a Rockies catcher had a sub-4.00 ERA. A year ago, Dustin Garneau had a 3.64 catcher's ERA, but he appeared in only 22 games, 18 as a starter.
Rockies Catchers ERA Since 2016
| Player | Season | G | GS | CERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Lucroy | 2017-2017(1) | 44 | 43 | 4.02 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 2017-2017(1) | 30 | 29 | 4.03 |
| Dustin Garneau | 2016-2017(2) | 45 | 36 | 4.25 |
| Tony Wolters | 2016-2018(3) | 149 | 136 | 4.78 |
| Chris Iannetta | 2018-2018(1) | 21 | 21 | 4.97 |
| Nick Hundley | 2016-2016(1) | 79 | 77 | 4.99 |
| Tom Murphy | 2016-2017(2) | 20 | 15 | 6.04 |
| Player | Season | G | GS | CERA |
| Tony Wolters | 2018 Col | 13 | 12 | 3.5 |
| Dustin Garneau | 2017 Col | 22 | 18 | 3.64 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 2017 Col | 44 | 43 | 4.02 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 2017 Col | 30 | 29 | 4.03 |
| Tony Wolters | 2016 Col | 59 | 58 | 4.72 |
| Dustin Garneau | 2016 Col | 23 | 18 | 4.88 |
| Chris Iannetta | 2018 Col | 21 | 21 | 4.97 |
| Nick Hundley | 2016 Col | 79 | 77 | 4.99 |
| Tony Wolters | 2017 Col | 77 | 66 | 5.07 |
| Tom Murphy | 2016 Col | 12 | 9 | 5.4 |
| Tom Murphy | 2017 Col | 8 | 6 | 7 |