Rocky Mountain Rundown
Inside the Mind of The Gregapus
ROCKY MOUNTAIN RUNDOWN #6
Week 2 Power rankings: Hot Starts and Cold Truths
Another Successful week in the books. Sunday was highlighted by dominant pitching performances, late inning offense and for one team, an unfortunate line drive to the stomach. Wednesday night was sloppy wiffleball filled with walks and honestly didn't answer much about the teams involved.
Today we’re highlighting a handful of players and teams, some for the right reasons and some for the wrong.
Without further ado, let's jump into my updated Power Rankings.
Rocky Mountain Rankings
1. A’s +2
2. White Sox +2
3. Astros +3
4. Mariners -3
5. Expos –
6. Royals +2
7. Blue Jays -5
8. Mets -1
9. Phillies –
10. Angels –
11. D Backs –
● Want to see the A’s play another top team but they've been solid in every aspect and deserve this spot for now
● Boas dominated for the White Sox and aside from 1 bad inning out of Tommy have been solid
● The Mariners only scored 1 run while having 13 base runners. This team needs Riley to step up.
● Royals have been impressive in the 3 man lineup, need to see them with Flick to judge how good they can be as a whole.
● If the Jays can't figure out how to pitch then this will continue to get ugly.
● The Mets could be 2-1 right now and their season outlook would be completely different. They can contend with the best but need to get into the win column before it's too late.
● The Phillies looked rough, Angels didn’t play and D backs walked around the bases to a win so this part stays untouched.
I will start by highlighting some hot starts through the first couple of weeks.
We have to start with a shoutout to Frankie Camp who pitched the first No-hitter of the 2026 season. Something that used to feel routine is now a feat worth celebrating. Frankie pitched all 4 innings against the Mets en route to a 4-0 victory. He scattered 4 walks and racked up 10 Strikeouts.
Brendan Boas has been the overall standout thus far. The 2025 MVP has picked up right where he left off last season. One of the biggest questions heading into this season was can Boas adjust and dominate without being able to overpower guys. So far the answer is a resounding Yes. He is currently tied for 3rd in innings pitched with 7, but out of the 7 pitchers with 6+ innings his ERA is nearly 1.5 points lower than the next best. On offense he ranks 7th in OPS, 5th in batting average and has added a home run. I expect him to continue his MVP defense this season.
Mike Collins currently leads the league in OBP with an incredible .833 through 2 games (12 plate appearances) Mike has walked 6 times in 2 games, in 2024 he walked 4 times in 55 plate appearances and 2025 it was 10 times in 66 TPA’s. Mike had an OPS over 1 in both of those seasons. The opening game against the Jays heavily skews his walk rate, and while it’s not a sustainable rate, it's very encouraging to see. Mike has been elite in each of the past 2 seasons and if he can muster a league average walk rate for the rest of the year, his numbers will once again land in elite territory.
With any positive talk I feel the need to highlight some struggles.
Joey Van Houten is currently 0 for 10 with 1 walk to start the season. Just kidding, I'm talking about surprises, this is very on brand for JVH.
Frankie Camp making his second appearance today but this time for the wrong reasons. He is currently batting .125 with a .614 OPS which rank 29th in each category. He ranks 4th on the Astros in Batting average, slugging, OBP, OPS, Runs and Home runs. If anything this could be a positive spin that the Astros are 2-0 without any offensive contribution from their 1st round pick. I don't expect this to continue but if it does, Teddy needs to hope he keeps getting significant help from his later picks.
We need to talk about Cam. 26 walks in 7.2 innings pitched. His walk rate of 13.57 more than doubles anyone else that has 5 innings pitched. His strikeout rate of 2.61 is nearly a 3rd of the 2nd lowest rate by anyone outside of Behn who's only pitched 1 inning. Things have been bad and don’t seem like they're improving. It's still early but Cam needs to figure something out quick if this unanimous preseason #1 team wants to stay in the mix. He has been elite at the plate but it hasn't been enough to carry this team to any impressive performances.
Let's talk about teams I'm looking at, both positive and negative.
The Athletics 2-0 start has been interesting. A dominant win over the D Backs followed by a coin flip game against the 0-3 Mets. They rank 3rd in team ERA in large part to Chris turning back the clock bolstering an ERA of 1.00 in 4 innings pitched. The concern for me is his 2.75 Whip. The Athletics defense is good enough to back up a pitcher who allows baserunners but I question if Chris can keep limiting runs. I think this is a trend that can spell trouble for them in the long run. Something to keep an eye on for sure.
The Phillies impressive week 1 had people excited but after a lackluster 2 games on Sunday it raised some questions. Colin has had a fantastic start, hitting .500 and adding 5 walks but has lacked any pop. The rest of the team however is hitting .147 with 21 strikeouts to just 2 walks. Not only does Colin need to start hitting for power but he needs more out of his role players. He took big swings in the draft and to this point it hasn't worked out. While I’m expecting Mutz and Pat to get it going, I do think there is a chance that outside of Colin this squad may finish as the worst hitting team in the league.
It has been a rough start to the season for the Diamondbacks. Highlighted by a league worst team batting average of .185 which is 29 points lower than the 10th ranked Phillies who I mentioned above. Rookie Erick Schules has led the way at the plate batting .333. Sean and his 1st pick Nick Pollag are a combined 2 for 16 (.125) with 1 home run. After Sean's opening day struggles on the mound he turned it over to Nick in game 2 who pitched very well. I think Sean can bounce back on the mound but I'm more concerned with the offensive struggles.
Two weeks in and the standings already feel volatile. Some teams are proving they belong, others are running out of time to prove the hype was real.
Up next from the Rocky Mountain Rundown: Truth Hurts: One good, one bad for every team.