No one loves a good debate quite like baseball fans, and with that in mind, we asked each of our beat reporters to rank the top five players by position in the history of their franchise, based on their career while playing for that club. These rankings are for fun and debate purposes.
There’s no debate that Hall of Famer Todd Helton is the top first baseman in Rockies history. Heck, Andres Galarraga, Helton’s predecessor, at No. 2 is easy. But after that, it gets tough. Just three players have more than 1,000 plate appearances at that position, and Daniel Murphy’s 104 games at first last season put him seventh in club history.
Here is Thomas Harding’s ranking of the top five first basemen in Rockies history.
1) Todd Helton (1997-2013)
Key fact: Helton’s 61.8 Baseball-Reference WAR is highest in club history
Over his first 10 full seasons -- his rookie year of 1998 through the team’s only World Series trip in '07 -- Helton compiled a 144 OPS+ (which adjusts for park effects) and a 1.017 OPS. He also made five All-Star Games and earned four Silver Slugger Awards and three Gold Glove Awards. During these prime years, however, the Rockies had only two winning seasons. But in a post-career interview, Helton explained how he powered through the hard times and maintained a greatness that earned him Hall of Fame induction in 2024.
“You watch the playoffs now and some of those guys are at the peak of their career, and they’re in the playoffs and the World Series,” Helton said. “That’s the way you’d like to time it. But that’s not how it works for everybody.
“But I always knew we were going to do some good things. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know why. But I did have that underlying feeling that we were going to, sooner or later, accomplish what I thought would be winning the World Series. We came close.”
Back problems reduced Helton’s numbers in his final years. But he squeezed out a .325/.416/.489 performance in 2009 to help the club back to the postseason.
2) Andres Galarraga (1994-97)
Key fact: Galarraga led the National League in RBIs with 150 in 1996 and 140 in '97
Galarraga struggled through a hand injury and an out-of-whack swing with the Cardinals in 1992, but that team’s hitting coach, Don Baylor, became manager of the expansion Rockies in '93 and believed in him enough to insist that Galarraga be signed. All Galarraga did was go on to win that year's NL batting title, hitting .370.
Galarraga was a key figure in the Blake Street Bombers era. From the opening of Coors Field in 1995 through '97, he batted .301 with 119 home runs, 396 RBIs and a .927 OPS.
After the ’97 season, the Rockies watched him sign with the Braves as a free agent and turned to Helton.
3) Justin Morneau (2014-15)
Key fact: Morneau slashed .316/.363/.487 in 184 games from 2014-15
One of the game’s top players with the Twins from 2003-13, Morneau finished the ’13 season with the Pirates then had his last big season with the Rockies in '14. He won the NL batting title that year with a .319 average, and his .496 slugging percentage recalled his standout days with Minnesota. Morneau saw his prime years with the Twins curtailed by concussions, and he sustained another with the Rockies in '15. But he returned for the final month of that season and finished the year with a .310/.363/.458 slash line over 49 games played.
4) C.J. Cron (2021-23)
Key fact: Cron’s 5.7 Baseball Reference WAR puts him third in club history behind Helton and Galarraga (14.5)
Cron was good for tape-measure home runs and middle-of-the-lineup production for Rockies teams that largely struggled. He represented Colorado in the All-Star Game in 2022 -- a year that he finished with 29 home runs, 102 RBIs and 28 doubles in 150 games. He also hit 28 homers in 2021.
5) Mark Reynolds (2016-17, '19)
Key fact: Reynolds’ 344 games played with Colorado leave him as one of four primary first basemen with more than 300 games played in a Rockies uniform
Reynolds accomplished career highs in batting average (.282) and on-base percentage (.356) in 2016, and powered 30 home runs and 97 RBIs in '17. A third baseman early in his career, Reynolds developed into a solid defender at first. Gold Glove Award-winning third baseman Nolan Arenado often said Reynolds’ ability to handle different types of throws increased his confidence to make difficult plays.