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January 19, 2007, 5:57 PM

FLB: Rockies preview

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By Tristan H. Cockcroft
ESPN Fantasy Games

We're going team-by-team through the majors and discussing them for fantasy baseball. Check when your favorite team is up! Index

Since the day it opened in 1995, Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies, has fascinated fantasy owners. While it's a spacious ballpark, the mile-high air in Denver causes a pitched baseball to curve less dramatically and a batted ball to travel farther than it would at an ordinary ballpark. That helps transform otherwise average hitters into fantasy superstars, and it wreaks havoc on just about any pitcher's numbers.

However, judging by the 170 home runs that were hit at Coors in 2005 -- it ranked just 15th in the majors -- one might think that it's no longer quite as extreme a hitters' park as it was in the mid- to late-1990s. Don't be fooled; beyond the homers, Coors was every bit as friendly to hitters as ever before. Batters compiled a .297 average there, the highest mark in the majors by 15 points, and 898 runs were scored at Coors, second-most in the majors. Some might think all that humidor talk of a few years back is responsible for the decrease in homer output in Coors, but more likely, inexperience on the Rockies' roster is the true cause. The 2005 Rockies featured a franchise-record 19 rookies, and rookies appeared in more games for the Rockies (942) than for any other team in the majors.

Colorado is certainly a young team, with Todd Helton (32) the only projected opening-day starter over the age of 27. But most of these Rockies kids now have one more year's experience, including Garrett Atkins, Clint Barmes, Luis A. Gonzalez and Matt Holliday, all of whom had some degree of fantasy value in 2005. Maybe none of these guys would be anything exceptional playing their home games in any other ballpark, but so long as they stay in Coors, they'll be useful fantasy players, if only for their 81 home games.

In other words, you can count on a Rockie hitter when he's playing at Coors: Atkins hit .339 with a .903 OPS there, Barmes .332/.877, Gonzalez .294/.723, Holliday .357/1.002, Jorge Piedra .380/1.089 and Cory Sullivan .348/.844. In a mixed league, that might mean spot starting lesser-known Rockies hitters when they're scheduled to play at Coors, but sitting them on the road. In an NL-only or similar league with deep rosters, you'll probably have to keep those Rockies active for most of their road games, but that's no bad so long as you're not flooding your lineup with too many of them (no more than two).

You'll notice we haven't even addressed the individual Rockies pitchers yet. That's because there's only one piece of advice when dealing with them: Avoid the starters at all costs, and if you have to use one, make it Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis or Byung-Hyun Kim, and only in a favorable road game if they've been pitching well. Closer Brian Fuentes is the only Rockies pitcher worth using consistently, and even he comes with some risk; he did save 31 games in 2005, but remember, he also had a 5.64 ERA the year before.

FANTASY STUD: The one consistent, veteran slugger left on this team is Todd Helton, an annual .300-30-100 candidate. Sure, he's coming off the worst season of his career, but much of that was caused by a back injury that sapped his production. Helton nevertheless batted .367 with a 1.111 OPS after the All-Star break, evidence that he's not yet over the hill. Coors Field sure helps him; he has .374/1.161 career numbers there.

OVERRATED: Don't let anyone sell you on Jose Mesa as a sleeper to close for this Rockies team. Though he has the experience, he hardly has the makeup to succeed while pitching half of his games in Coors. Mesa had a 4.75 ERA and .291 batting average allowed from 2003-'05, and those were in much less hitter-friendly ballparks.

TOP SLEEPER: He'll enter the season as the Rockies' fourth outfielder, but Piedra doesn't exactly have superstar talent blocking him at any spot, particularly right field. He hit .313 with a .933 OPS in limited time in 2005, and don't forget, Brad Hawpe hit just .173 after the All-Star break and Ryan Shealy is only starting to learn to play the outfield.

INTRIGUING SPRING BATTLE: The National League is precariously thin at the catcher position, so whomever wins the job in Colorado is going to have a fair share of value. Yorvit Torrealba heads into spring training the favorite, though Danny Ardoin could give him some competition. And let's not forget about J.D. Closser, who was expected to compete for Rookie of the Year honors a year ago. He's not completely out of the picture.

TOP PROSPECTS:
1. 3B Ian Stewart: Though his numbers at Class A Modesto don't show it -- he batted .274 with an .849 OPS -- Stewart has Todd Helton-like offensive upside. He should be ready to supplant Atkins by sometime in 2007, giving the Rockies two stud left-handers.
2. SS Troy Tulowitzki: Bobby Crosby's successor at Long Beach State has drawn frequent comparisons to the Athletics shortstop, though the truth is that he has the better upside. Tulowitzki batted .266 with an .800 OPS for Class A Modesto after being picked seventh overall in last June's draft, and he, like Stewart, could be ready for the majors in 2007.
3. 1B Ryan Shealy: He's not a glitzy prospect, but one thing he does have over guys like Stewart and Tulowitzki is the numbers. Shealy was a career .324 hitter with a 1.011 OPS in the minors, and he had no problem standing in briefly for Helton last summer (.330/.886). Shealy has been working on a shift to the outfield, so he's quite the sleeper for this year.