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Freeland feeling it at plate, on mound By John Fay / Special to MLB.com | May 21st, 2017 CINCINNATI -- Rookie left-hander Kyle Freeland has been impressive with his arm all year.

Sunday, he showed he can swing the bat, too. Freeland went 5 2/3 innings and allowed four runs (three earned) to get the

win in the Rockies' 6-4 victory over the Reds.

Chances are Freeland, the pitcher, would not have gotten the win without Freeland, the hitter, in the lineup.

He went 2-for-2 with a home run to right, a double to left, two runs scored and a walk. He had two hits in 13 at-bats prior

to Sunday.

The homer was Freeland's first since his senior year at Thomas Jefferson High in Denver. He hit it out to make it 4-1.

"Pretty exciting," he said. "Once I connected with it out of the box, I thought it had a chance. Then, right as I was getting to

first base, I kind of checked up on it again. I wasn't too sure until I saw it laying up over the fence."

Freeland works at hitting.

"I feel like any pitcher in the National League should take pride in their at-bats," he said. "Some pitchers on the mound will

take pitchers for granted. I know I've done it. I'm guilty of it. It's hurt me. Take pride in all aspects of your game and it

should pay off."

The home run and first career double did not shock Rockies manager Bud Black.

"This guy is athletic," Black said. "The double over the left fielder's head, that was a slash. He pulled the bat and squared

it up. That's some strength to the swing.

"We watch these guys taking batting practice. ... Kyle's got a nice swing. He's a guy who can truly help his cause."

The double may have been bigger than the home run. It keyed the two-run second after the Rockies fell behind 1-0 in the

first.

MEDIA CLIPS –May 22, 2017

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"With the pitcher up, that really just hurt me bad letting the pitcher get that double," Reds starter Bronson Arroyo said.

"Second and third with nobody out, you have to get that out there. You've got two strikes on the pitcher, if he's going to

slash, you've got to be able to at least get one out. I was trying to throw a fastball on the outer half and really make it

tough to put the bunt down. It must have been on the plate. That hurt me."

Freeland, 24, is a Denver native. He played collegiately at the University of Evansville, and the Rockies picked him eighth

overall in the 2014 Draft. He put up good numbers in the Minors -- 17-12, 3.49 ERA -- before making the rotation out of

Spring Training this year.

He had a 2.30 ERA over his last five starts, entering Sunday. He was that sharp for the most part on Sunday. He allowed

an unearned run in the first, then settled in. He took a 6-1 lead and two-hitter into the sixth.

But Jose Peraza led off with a triple off the wall in left. Joey Votto followed with a home run. Freeland got the next two

hitters before giving up a home run to Scott Schebler. That ended his day.

Going into the sixth, Freeland had allowed two home runs on the year -- a span of 51 innings.

"When Kyle keeps the ball to just above the knees or down, he's going to create a lot of ground balls at the rate he does --

one of the best in baseball," Black said. "When the ball gets elevated, it gets a little flat. The ball can be put in the air."

Freeland knows that.

"You can tell when you're not feeling your best and your command isn't pinpoint like you'd like it, that's where you've really

got to grind through," Freeland said. "You've got to be fine with your pitches and really focus."

The home run barrage -- Carlos Gonzalez, DJ LeMahieu and Pat Valaika also hit solo shots -- was enough to overcome

that sixth.

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Rockies’ success the result of good planning Youngest rotation in MLB leads Colorado to NL-best start By Tracy Ringolsby / MLB.com | May 21st, 2017

The Colorado Rockies have the youngest starting rotation in baseball. They have an offense that right now would rank as

the third least productive in franchise history. And they had a National League-best 28-17 record going into Monday

night's game at Philadelphia.

No longer is general manager Jeff Bridich being asked about the lack of effort the Rockies put into signing veteran starting

pitchers to fill out their rotation or the decision to sign Ian Desmond off the free-agent market to be their first baseman

instead of the likes of Mike Napoli or Mark Trumbo.

Bridich isn't feeling vindicated. Forty-five games do not a champion make.

But Bridich does feel good about the way things are developing for a team that was handed early-season challenges and

has responded impressively.

"Last offseason, we didn't operate in a vacuum," Bridich said. "Some of the pitching we're seeing now, our young starters,

is the product of the Draft, scouting, development for several years. It is part of a plan we put in place the last few

offseasons, looking at how we felt we could get better. To cordon it off to one offseason is limiting because it is a part of a

bigger picture."

Spring Training opened and four rookies were in the running for the fifth spot in the rotation. Two of them -- Kyle

Freeland, a first-round Draft choice, and Antonio Senzatela, a product of Colorado's Latin American program -- opened

the season in the rotation after Chad Bettis, who underwent offseason surgery for testicular cancer, was diagnosed with

cancer spread to his lymph nodes.

A third -- German Marquez, acquired along with lefty reliever Jake McGee in the trade of Corey Dickerson to Tampa

Bay prior to last season -- moved into the rotation after Opening Day starter Jon Gray was put on the disabled list with a

stress fracture in his left foot.

The fourth candidate, Jeff Hoffman, part of the package received from Toronto in the July 2015 trade of Troy Tulowitzki,

has spent the bulk of this season at Triple-A Albuquerque. Hoffman, however, will get his second start this month on

Monday night because of a rainout that forced the Rockies to play a doubleheader at Minnesota on Thursday.

"We felt where the game is going and with what our needs were, to get young impactful pitching we could develop was a

good use of our resources, a good use of our time and a good use of our energy," Bridich said. "Right now, it's working.

We have to maintain it, but right now, these kids are doing a great job."

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Oh, and Desmond -- who opened the season on the disabled list with a broken left hand -- is back, and he already is in

the Ben Zobrist-type role Colorado envisioned long term, after Mark Reynolds took advantage of the opportunity at first

base and put together one of the most productive season-opening surges in baseball.

And the Rockies are still waiting for the 2017 debuts of projected left fielder David Dahl (stress reaction in sixth rib) and

projected catcher Tom Murphy (hairline fracture in right forearm), and they anticipate Opening Day shortstop Trevor

Story coming off the disabled list as early as Tuesday.

Not that Colorado is complaining. A franchise that over the years has been known to try and outslug the opposition is

taking a more traditional approach. The fact that the Rockies have enjoyed such a good start despite the offensive

struggles provides credence to the commitment.

"We all feel our offense has better days ahead of it," Bridich said. "It's not like we've been terrible, but I think everybody,

man for man, feels we can do better. And that's a good thing, trying to meet expectations [offensively]. High expectations

are good for us in terms of what our goals are."

The pitching, though, is what is different this year for the franchise, which has earned a Wild Card spot in the postseason

three times but has never won a division title and is looking for its eighth winning season in its 25th year of existence.

And this season, it has made a difference, which Bridich said is a credit to the organizational commitment.

"We rely on our scouts and the guys in the front office to help us evaluate," Bridich said. "We have a lot of confidence in

those guys. Once they are our players, though, it is on us to understand who they are as people and do right by them, and

to make sure they get the most out of their abilities."

So far, so good.

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Rockies ride four homers to win over Reds Youngest rotation in MLB leads Colorado to NL-best start By Jeremy Vernon and John Fay / MLB.com | May 21st, 2017

CINCINNATI -- The Rockies' bullpen returned to form Sunday at Great American Ball Park, holding off the Reds and

helping secure a 6-4 win for Colorado, which took two of three games away from home for its fourth straight road series

win.

"This was a good one," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "The Reds have been playing good baseball from Opening Day

until now. They had a little bit of a rough patch. It was a good series. They kept putting pressure on us. We kept putting

pressure on them. It was a good win."

Cincinnati held a 1-0 advantage after one inning, but a sacrifice fly from Charlie Blackmon and an RBI single from DJ

LeMahieu -- who went 4-for-5 on the day -- plated a pair of runs in the Rockies' third for the lead.

Carlos Gonzalez opened the fourth with a home run off of starter Bronson Arroyo for a 3-1 lead. It was Gonzalez's

200th home run as a Rockie and his first in 77 at-bats. Gonzalez went 1-for-2 against Arroyo on the day, improving his

career average against the righty to .526 (10-for-19).

Arroyo gave up two more solo home runs in the fifth to pitcher Kyle Freeland and LeMahieu, and another to Pat

Valaika to lead off the sixth. The four home runs given up by Arroyo were his most allowed in a game since surrendering

five against the Pirates on Sept. 28, 2013.

"The starting pitching the last one and a half times through hasn't been pitching deep in the games," Reds manager Bryan

Price said. "That's why he was back out there in the sixth, was hoping to pick up another three outs for us and limit what

we had to do with Robert Stephenson and Blake Wood today. And it just wasn't happening."

Valaika's home run gave the Rockies a 6-1 lead, but the Reds trimmed the deficit to 6-4 in the bottom of the inning thanks

to a pair of homers from Joey Votto and Scott Schebler off Freeland, who picked up the win after allowing five hits and

three earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.

"They showed pride in their lineup," Freeland said. "They never backed down when we had a solid lead, going into the

sixth."

In the first two games of the series, the Rockies' bullpen allowed 11 runs in six innings of work. But when called upon

Sunday, the trio of Chris Rusin, Adam Ottavino and Greg Holland closed the door on the Reds' comeback attempt,

combining for six strikeouts over the game's final 3 1/3 innings.

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"Early on in the year, our offense wasn't that great and our pitching staff was awesome," Schebler said. "It's just we're at

different points right now. We're kind of just getting behind and coming from behind, and that can be really tough and

strenuous on an offense. We can only come through so many times. I fully expect the pitching staff to get back on track,

and we'll be ready when they do."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Freeland flashes power: The Rockies' starter came into the game with just two hits in 13 career at-bats, but he paced

the Colorado offense on Sunday. In the third inning, after he was unable to get down a bunt earlier in the at-bat, Freeland

smoked a pitch over the head of Reds left fielder Adam Duvall and off the wall for his first career double. The hit helped

jump-start an inning that saw the Rockies take a 2-1 lead. The next time Freeland stepped to the plate, he hit a homer off

an 0-1 breaking ball from Arroyo to lead off the fifth -- his first career home run -- to give the Rockies a 4-1 advantage.

Reds battle back, again: After falling behind 6-1 in the top of the sixth, Cincinnati made up most of the margin in the

bottom of the inning behind home runs from Votto and Schebler and chased Freeland from the game. According

to Statcast™, Schebler's home run had an exit velocity of 110.8 mph -- his hardest hit ball this season and the hardest hit

homer of his career. Heading into the frame, Freeland had given up two home runs in 51 innings of work in 2017. It only

took two-thirds of an inning to match that total in the sixth.

QUOTABLE

"Trust me, I remember the eighth-inning at-bat more. Nobody's harder on me than me. I've just got to come back out and

compete tomorrow." -- Schebler, on whether he'll remember his home run or his eighth-inning at-bat, where he struck out

with two men on and one out in a 6-4 game, more

"I think he's going to come out of it fine. We'll ice it on the plane. It was a pretty square blow to the eye. He hung in there.

As the game went on [assistant trainer] Scott Gehret became [boxing trainer] Ferdie Pacheco. He didn't have to get to the

point where he had to cut it, bandage it, a little Vaseline. He looked like a prize fighter." -- Black, on third baseman Nolan

Arenado taking a ball off the face on a chopper by Billy Hamilton

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Reds shortstop Jose Peraza led off the bottom of the sixth by lifting a pitch high and deep to right-center. The ball

bounced off the top of the outfield wall and was ruled a live ball. Peraza made it to third safely, but after a crew-chief

review, the call was confirmed and Peraza remained at third base.

WHAT'S NEXT

Rockies: The Rockies head to Philadelphia for the first of a four-game series with the Phillies in a 5:05 p.m. MT game

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Monday. The Rockies are expected to call up right-hander Jeff Hoffman to start Monday's game. Hoffman, 24, is 1-0 with

5.40 ERA with Colorado this season.

Reds: Scott Feldman (2-4, 4.29 ERA) will start for Cincinnati on Monday as the Reds host the Indians at Great American

Ball Park for the first game of a two-game series at 7:10 p.m. ET. Feldman has started against Cleveland six times in his

career, and he has a 2-3 record and a 2.72 ERA in those games.

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Black not concerned with recent bullpen woes By John Fay / Special to MLB.com | May 21st, 2017

CINCINNATI -- The Rockies bullpen has been among the best at closing out games this season. So the eight-run

meltdown in Saturday's 12-8 loss to the Reds doesn't concern manager Bud Black.

"[Saturday] was a rare occasion when the guys didn't do well collectively," Black said. "We've had games when one guy

was a little off and left baserunners out there, gave up a run, but the guy coming in behind him has done well."

Saturday, that didn't happen. Left-hander Mike Dunn was not able to clean up the mess right-hander Chad Qualls left

him. Dunn allowed both inherited runners to score. He had stranded all eight runners he inherited before Saturday.

Dunn has a 10.13 ERA since coming off the disabled list on May 3. He had a 1.17 ERA before going on the DL.

"The layover might've had a little bit of an impact on him," Black said. "Whether he was a little bit rusty coming back, he

hasn't gotten back to the consistency he showed early in the year."

Dunn has four walks and five strikeouts in eight innings since returning from the DL; he had two walks and 10 strikeouts in

7 1/3 innings before going on DL.

But, again, Black doesn't see this as a crisis.

"We talked after the game," Black said. "We know these relief pitchers, if they stay healthy and pitch to a level of

performer, they're going to pitch in 60, 65 games. We think over the long haul, the performance is going to be there. It's

tough over time to go 65-for-65. The good ones perform at a high level in a good percentage of those outings."

No batting practice

Because of weather, the Rockies haven't taken batting practice on the field during the first six days of the road trip.

Sunday, the weather was OK for it, but Black opted with the usual day-game practice of not taking BP on the field.

But he'd like to get back to a normal routine before Monday night's game.

"We're used to getting on a field prior to the game," Black said. "In the big scheme of things, does it matter? No. But you

like to get your work done. ... It takes you out of your normal routine."

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Rockies set to take on Phillies in 4-game set By John Fay / Special to MLB.com | May 21st, 2017

The Rockies wrap up their 10-game road trip with a four-game series in Philadelphia on Monday.

The Rockies were swept by the Phillies last year, but they swept them at Citizens Bank Park the year before. Historically,

they have struggled against the Phillies, going 75-104 overall, including 36-57 in Philly.

The Rockies are expected to call up right-hander Jeff Hoffman to start Monday's game. Hoffman, 24, is 1-0 with 5.40 ERA

with Colorado this season. He went 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits in a 10-7 win over the Dodgers on

May 11.

Hoffman, who was acquired in the Troy Tulowitzki deal with Toronto, was the ninth pick overall in the 2014 Draft. He went

0-4 with a 4.88 ERA for the Rockies last season.

The Phillies will start right-hander Jerad Eickhoff (0-4, 4.53 ERA) on Monday. He is coming off a quality start, in which he

went six innings and allowed three runs (two earned) in a 5-1 loss to the Rangers. He struck out eight and walked two.

Eickhoff is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two starts against the Rockies.

The Rockies are likely to get shortstop Trevor Story back some time in the four-game series. Story, on the 10-day

disabled list with a strained left shoulder, played his second game of a rehab assignment Saturday for Triple-A

Albuquerque. He went 1-for-4 after going 2-for-3 with a home run Friday.

"He looked good, very good," manager Bud Black said. "His shoulder feels fine."

Three things to know

• Through 40 games, the Phillies averaged 4.58 runs per game, compared to 3.3 runs per game through 40 games last

season. They also had a .748 OPS, which ranked 13th in baseball, compared to a .652 OPS last season, which ranked

28th.

• The Rockies hit .300 as a team last year at Citizens Bank Park with a .942 OPS.

• The Rockies hold the best winning percentage in the National League at .622 (28-17). But they are 1-3 against the NL

East.

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Kyle Freeland, Rockies put on home run derby in win over Reds The Colorado Rockies hit four home runs Sunday to steal the series from the Cincinnati Reds By Patrick Saunders / The Denver Post | @psaundersdp | May 21st, 2017

CINCINNATI — It’s easy to drown in baseball statistics, but some numbers the Rockies are putting up are too important to

be ignored:

10-2-2: Their series record after beating Cincinnati 6-4 on Sunday afternoon to take a three-game weekend series at

Great American Ball Park.

15-7: Their road record — best in the National League — as they head to Philadelphia for a four-game series that begins

Monday. The Rockies have posted only one winning road record for a season — 41-40 in 2009, the last time they made it

to the playoffs.

19-for-19: Greg Holland’s perfect record as a closer this year. By the way, his ERA is 0.96.

Home runs were flying Sunday at Great American Ball Park, or, as some have called it, the Great American Bandbox. Or

Great American Small Park. There were six homers in all, including one from Rockies rookie starter Kyle Freeland, the

first of his career.

But Holland was the last pitcher standing at the end. He issued a leadoff walk to Devin Mesoraco, but struck out pinch-

hitter Scooter Gennett, got Billy Hamilton to pop out to center and struck out Jose Peraza with a 95.4 mph fastball to end

the game.

“This guy has done it before,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of Holland. “He has the experience of doing it in the ninth

inning, which is different than the sixth or seventh, as we know. When the heat is turned up just a little bit, Greg has a way

of working his way through an inning to get the save, regardless of what is going on.”

Said Holland: “I didn’t tell myself it was OK when I walked (Mesoraco). I was pretty upset. But I just think that over time,

with more experience, you know what you are doing out there. You know your cues and you know what to tell yourself.”

Bullpen assists must be handed out to Rockies relievers Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino, who combined to blank the

Reds for 2⅓ innings on a day when the ball was landing on the banks of the Ohio River.

All four of the Rockies’ homers were solo shots, including Freeland’s drive to right-center in the fifth inning. Cincinnati hit

two bombs, driving Freeland from the game in the sixth inning.

“There are outings when you just don’t quite have that feeling or that command and you have to grind through,” said

Freeland, who improved to 5-2 and sports a solid 3.31 ERA over the first nine starts of his career.

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Carlos Gonzalez, showing another sign that he’s emerging from his spring-long hibernation at the plate, led off the fourth

with a homer that just cleared the fence down the right-field line off veteran pitcher Bronson Arroyo. It was just Gonzalez’s

third homer of the season and his first in 76 at-bats. But it also was his milestone 200th homer in a Rockies uniform.

“We have been talking about CarGo getting closer,” Black said. “We saw that here in Cincinnati. I mean, he hit some

bullets, some rockets. It’s gradually getting there. At some point, you’re going to see the three-hit game and the four- or

five-RBI game. It’s coming.”

Kyle Freeland #31 of the Colorado Rockies hits a double to left field in the third inning of a game against the Cincinnati

Reds at Great American Ball Park on May 21, 2017 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Freeland’s homer was the first by a Colorado pitcher this season. Two batters later, DJ LeMahieu, 4-for-5 on the day with

two RBIs, launched a homer to deep left-center.

Pat Valaika homered into the left-field seats in the sixth inning to put Colorado ahead 6-1. But not comfortably ahead —

not in this ballpark, and not on this day.

Freeland’s performance on the mound was uneven: 5⅔ innings, four runs (three earned) on five hits allowed. When the

left-hander was on his game, as he was in innings three through five, he was throwing pitches as heavy as bowling balls,

inducing groundball outs. But when he left the ball up, the Reds blasted away, especially in a three-run sixth inning.

Peraza led off with a triple to left-center that hit the top of the wall, followed by Joey Votto’s two-run homer to left. Scott

Schebler’s two-out solo shot to right cut Colorado’s once-comfy lead to 6-4.

“Kyle’s got such good action in the strike zone, so when he’s pitching from the knees on down, he creates a lot of

groundballs,” Black said. “When the ball gets elevated, it can get a little flat, and it can be put into the air.”

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Rockies’ Kyle Freeland revels in first homer since days at Thomas Jefferson High School Rockies’ rookie pitcher led off with a fifth inning with a solo shot By Patrick Saunders / The Denver Post | @psaundersdp | May 22nd, 2017

CINCINNATI — In the spring of 2011, while a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, Kyle Freeland hit .631 and

launched six home runs.

Those were the last homers off his bat in game action. Until Sunday.

The Rockies’ rookie pitcher led off with a fifth inning with a solo shot off Cincinnati starter Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo, by the

way, is 40. Freeland turned 24 on May 14.

“When I first hit it, I thought it had a chance,” Freeland said. “When I checked when I got to first base, I thought, ‘I think

that’s gone.’ But I wasn’t sure until I saw it land over the fence.”

Freeland warmed up by hitting a double over the head of left fielder Adam Duvall in the third inning. Although Freeland’s

energy and concentration are channeled to his duties on the mound, stepping into the batter’s box remains a big deal to

the Denver native.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I feel like any batter in the (National League) should take pride in their at-bats. Because I know that

sometimes the pitcher on the mound will take the pitcher (at the plate) for granted. I know I’m guilty of it and it’s hurt me. If

you take pride in all aspects of your game, it should pay off.”

Freeland’s skills at the plate have not gone unnoticed by manager Bud Black.

“This guy is athletic,” Black said. “The double over the left fielder’s head, that’s a slash. There’s some strength to his

swing.”

Freeland’s homer was the first by a Rockies pitcher since fellow left-hander Tyler Anderson did it on July 9 at Coors Field.

Nolan’s shiner: Third baseman Nolan Arenado received a double shot of pain in the first inning. He attempted to bare-

hand a chopper off the bat of speedy Cincinnati leadoff hitter Billy Hamilton, but instead, the ball flicked off his hand and

caught Arenado below the eye. Arenado was charged with an error, his first of the season.

Arenado stayed in the game, but his eye swelled up over the course of the afternoon.

“I think he’s going to come out of it fine,” Black said. “We’ll ice it on the plane. It was pretty square blow to the eye. But he

hung in there.”

Then Black, ever the sports historian, made reference to Muhammad Ali’s former fight doctor.

“As the game went on (assistant trainer) Scotty Gehret became Ferdie Pacheco,” Black said. “He didn’t have to get to the

point where he had to cut it, bandage it, a little Vaseline. He looked like a prize fighter.”

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Dunn’s deal. Left-handed reliever Mike Dunn has been getting rocked a bit of late. In Saturday’s 12-8 loss to the

Red, Dunn was unable to quell a rally what started with right-hander Chad Qualls on the mound. Dunn allowed both

inherited runners to score and gave up a three-run homer.

Dunn has a 10.13 ERA since coming off the disabled list on May 3. He had a 1.17 ERA before going on the DL with a

mid-back strain.

“The layover might’ve had a little bit of an impact on him,” Black said. “Whether he was a little bit rusty coming back, he

hasn’t gotten back to the consistency he showed early in the year.”

Footnotes. Carlos’ Gonzalez hit his third homer of the season and his 200th in a Rockies uniform, joining an exclusive

club that includes Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker and Todd Helton. … DJ LeMahieu went 4-for-5 with a

homer, tying his career high with four hits. It was LeMahieu’s ninth multihit game in May.

Looking ahead ….

Rockies RHP Jeff Hoffman (1-0, 5.40 ERA) at Phillies RHP Jerad Eickhoff (0-4, 5.53), 5:05 p.m. Monday, ROOT; 850

AM

Hoffman, who’s been trying to perfect his craft at Triple-A Albuquerque, makes his second spot start of the season. He

gets the call because Colorado’s rotation was set back as a result of last week’s rainout at Minnesota. Hoffman, 24, the

centerpiece of the Troy Tulowitzki trade in 2015, picked up his first big-league win May 11 vs. the Dodgers, pitching 5 ⅓

innings, allowing three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Eickhoff, who’d struggled through most of May

by allowing 14 earned runs in 15 innings, righted himself a bit with a start at Texas last week, allowing three runs in six

innings. At the time, Eickhoff’s outing marked just the 15th time in 36 games that a Phillies’ starter went at least six

innings.

Tuesday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (2-2, 4.34) at Phillies RHP Zack Eflin (0-1, 4.25), 5:05 p.m., ROOT

Wednesday: Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (3-6, 5.09) at Phillies RHP Jeremy Hellickson (5-1, 3.44), 5:05 p.m., ROOT

Thursday: Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (3-4, 6.00) at Phillies RHP Vince Valasquez (2-4, 5.98), No TV

14

Rockies MLB draft 2013 review: Picks, successes, and lessons learned There was a time when the Rockies drafted with a low-risk mindset. So far they’ve received low-rewards for their efforts By Adam Peterson / Purple Row | May 22nd, 2017

In modern baseball, there are rich teams and there are poor teams, but there are no teams that do not rely on drafting and

developing players to build their success. Even the famous Yankees dynasty of the 1990s wouldn’t have been so great

had they not been able to build around stars like Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. So

despite what anyone may say, no team gets to where they are without the drafting and development of players.

Which brings us to the current iteration of the Colorado Rockies. They are in the position they’re in (namely, first place in

the NL West) due in large part to their successes in the amateur draft and international scouting. Stars like Nolan

Arenado (2009, second round), Charlie Blackmon (2008, second round), and Tyler Anderson (2011, first round) all

came to where they are through this process.

With the 2017 MLB Draft (also known as the Rule 4 Draft) a few weeks away, we want to know: how has the team

approached the last few drafts and what does it tell us about how they might approach this year? Of course, the team

does not own a first round pick this year, due to the signing of Ian Desmond, but there is still plenty of drafting after that to

be had, and so there is plenty to learn by gleaning through their history.

Thanks to our good friends at RockiesRoster.com, we can view draft classes going back to 2011, but we’ll only be going

back to the famous 2013 draft. Most players in this draft are either still in the minor leagues or just breaking into the

majors, which allows us to evaluate the farm system as it stands. This way we can focus a little more on process than

getting caught up in results.

The 2012 Colorado Rockies were bad. Injuries, ineffectiveness, and the ill-fated Project 5182 piggyback pitching plan

torpedoed the season and left the Rockies at 64-98, their worst year in club history. For their efforts, they received the

third overall pick. Heading into the draft, there was a consensus top 3: Stanford right-handed senior Mark Appel,

Oklahoma junior Jon Gray, and San Diego senior third baseman Kris Bryant. This made the pick easy for the Rockies:

whoever the Astros and Cubs passed on, the Rockies would scoop up. Though many expected that to by Bryant, the

Rockies happily ended up with Jon Gray, and the rest is history.

But what about the rest of the draft? So far the only 2013 draftees to make the majors are Gray, Jordan Patterson (fourth

round), and Pat Valaika (ninth round). Each of these were college players, of which the Rockies spent 22 of their 41

picks. Of those 22, a full 16 were pitchers (12 righties, four lefties). Only two of those college picks (Hunter Brothers in the

24th round and Alex Haines in the 33rd, both pitchers) failed to sign with the team.

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2013 Draft Class, By the Numbers

Status No. Schools No. Positions No.

Signed 26 HS 14 Pitchers 25

Unsigned 15 College 22 Hitters 15

Junior College 5

That the Rockies seemed to target college arms shouldn’t be that surprising. Drafting guys who theoretically should need

only minimal development and therefore have a quick path to the majors is appealing for a team that has had trouble

developing pitchers. So far it hasn’t worked out that way; only Alex Balog, Sam Moll, Konner Wade, and Matt Pierpont (all

college arms) have even made it as far as Double-A. Pierpont is the surprise of that group, as he was drafted out of

Winthrop in the 26th round but had a 2.94 ERA with a 72:23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 67⅓ innings at Double-A last

season.

It’s looked a little better on the position player front. Nine of the 15 draftees were signed, and all six that weren’t signed

(including Brody Weiss from Regis Jesuit High in Aurora) came from the high school ranks. Four of the fourteen drafted

high schoolers are still with the organization: Ryan McMahon (second round), Dom Nunez (sixth), Michael Tauchman

(tenth), and Wesley Jones (31st, though his last stop was with Boise last year). McMahon is repeating Double-A this year

and making Eastern League pitchers pay for it; he may just live up to that second round pedigree. Nunez was drafted as a

third baseman but was moved to catcher while he was in rookie ball at Grand Junction and, despite a slow start this year

(he’s hitting .176/.315/.311 in 26 games at Double-A), the Rockies are very high on his future. Tauchman, despite hitting

.308/.406/.496 for AAABQ, is probably pretty far from a spot on the major league roster, unless an emergency arises.

The college players still in the organization have made it to the Show, but didn’t rise quite as quickly as one might expect

a “developed college bat” to rise. Valaika has carved out a nice spot as the Rockies primary utility guy and backup

shortstop, but Patterson seems to be stuck in some sort of Triple-A purgatory.

The Rockies seemed to make a lot of low-risk picks in the 2013 draft, targeting many college players. But when all's said

and done they may not see much benefit from them: only four players from this class made the most recent PuRPs list.

Fringy major leaguers like Sam Moll, Jordan Patterson, and Pat Valaika don’t move the needle that much. In all, this

draft class will rise and fall based on Jon Gray’s career and Ryan McMahon’s development.

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Weather at Coors Field: The effect temperature has on Colorado Rockies run scoring The Rockies’ run differential at Coors Field increases the warmer it gets. By Richard Bergstrom / Purple Row | May 22nd, 2017

The last few years, we’ve seen the Colorado Rockies do well in the early part of the season only for a summer swoon to

ensue. Since I think of warmth when I think of summer, I wondered whether the weather affected baseball in Denver. After

quite a bit of research, it turns out the weather does seem to have an effect. Some of the results, such as teams scoring

more runs at Coors Field as the weather heats up, were expected. But I came across other differences that I didn’t quite

expect. This is the first of a series of articles about weather effects at Coors Field.

This is a popcorn study. Baseball and weather are messy enough separately, much less together. Further complicating

analysis is that only game time data is publicly available. Even if we had weather data available to the minute, it’d be very

hard to match weather conditions with the moment of a single batted ball. This article will focus on temperature only—we’ll

set aside wind, precipitation and other factors. Enjoy your popcorn and this article with a flavorful number of salt grains.

Let’s dive into the data set.* I built a Retrosheet database that contains almost all the box score weather readings at

Coors Field from 2007, when Earth Networks installed their anemometer at Coors Field, through the end of the 2016

season.** I discarded October games since there are so few. This gives us a data set of 807 games at Coors Field.

The chart below shows the average temperature and Rockies winning percentage by month and further divided by

whether it was a day or a night game.

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Through those 807 home games, the Rockies had a .540 winning percentage. One thing that seems fair to say is that,

within a given month and over the course of the year, the average game time temperature for day and night games were

within a degree or two of each other. With that in mind, I’m comfortable with no longer splitting apart day and night games.

You may be comfortable getting another bag of popcorn.

Back in 2007, Earth Networks, formerly known as Weatherbug, created a partnership with Major League Baseball that

enabled them to install anemometers which collect the game time temperature, wind speed and direction in twenty five of

the thirty major league stadiums. Here’s a picture of the anemometer at Coors Field, which is a silver looking pole in the

top right section of the Rockpile near all the flags. It’s hard to miss once you know what to look for.

You can see these readings through your MLB.com app. These measurements are also what is reported in newspaper

daily box scores across the country. Those box scores are also leveraged for baseball data sites such

as Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com.

From April to May, the average temperature increases from 58.5 degrees to 64.4 degrees, a six degree change. However,

June spikes up to 78.1 degrees, fourteen degrees warmer than an average day in May. The heat peaks in July, but it’s still

18

only a four degree increase from June. August and September are relatively mild with only minor dips in temperature. If

we were to loosely group things by temperature, June through September are pretty similar. By those groupings, the

Rockies have a .458 winning percentage in April and May. Once the weather heats up, they become a better home team

and have a .561 winning percentage for June through September.

The Rockies home winning percentage fluctuates wildly from one month to another for day games; they lose most

frequently during May day games with a .412 winning percentage but spike up to a .660 winning percentage in

September. By contrast, the Rockies winning percentage at night is pretty stable, hovering around .520 with the

noticeable exception of July, when it peaks at a .615 clip. Overall, the Rockies clearly do better at Coors Field from July

1st on, regardless of game time or weather. Temperature during day games probably behave differently than temperature

during night games, but at least the game start temperatures are similar.

Because there’s little difference between a single degree plus or minus in temperature, I smoothed out the curves and

bucketed the data. This means that in the 65 degree bucket, the data for 64, 65 and 66 degrees is included. For the 66

degree bucket, the data for 65, 66 and 67 is included, and so on. That stops the graph from spiking from a blowout game

at a certain temperature and flattens it into something closer to a curve. I’ve also dropped out single games at the

extremes for temperature since there were no similar games to bucket it. That way a single game time temperature that

had a thirty run game doesn’t affect the graph. That eliminates seven games, giving us 800 Rockies home games.

The graph below shows temperature buckets along the x-axis and average runs scored per game (RPG) along the y-axis.

Most of the data is in the 70 to 85 degree range, dropping to as little as four games in a bucket at temperatures lower than

45 degrees. Since there are more games, the data in the middle of the graph is somewhat more reliable than at the

extremes.

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In terms of the most runs scored per game at Coors Field, we have a spike at 43 degrees that reaches 13.5 RPG, but

that’s only over four games. More telling is at 47 degrees where, over 14 games, the average RPG is 13.1. We then have

a steep dive in run scoring per game, bottoming out at 8.3 RPG at 51 degrees over 14 games. From that low, the RPG

steadily increases as the temperature climbs. For every ten degrees above 50 degrees, expect an extra run to be scored

at Coors Field.

Let’s turn to the split of those runs between the Rockies at Coors Field and teams that visit Coors Field. This graph looks

a little more noisy, so there are a few more points.

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Note that the graph trends upwards, suggesting that both the Rockies and opposing teams tend to score more runs as the

temperature increases. Also observe that while the average runs scored by visiting teams increases, it’s not as drastic a

change as it is for the Rockies. From 55 degrees to 68 degrees, there are many instances where the Rockies actually get

outscored by their opponents. Once the temperature hits 69 though, the Rockies start to party, as they outscore their

opponents at virtually every temperature. At 69 degrees, the Rockies score 5.6 RPG while their opponents score 5.2

RPG. Nice.

As the temperature gets warmer than 69 degrees, the gap between the Rockies run scoring and their opponents often

favors the Rockies and gets more extreme once it is warmer than 80 degrees.

There’s another curiosity that happens once the temperature hits that 69 degree range. The graph below shows the

temperature buckets in terms of home and away runs scored at Coors Field at 69 degrees or greater.

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The Rockies trendline, indicated by the blue dotted line, slopes upwards quicker than the away team’s orange-dotted

trendline. The Rockies score about half a run more for each ten degrees of temperature, while visiting teams score about

a tenth of a run. One explanation might be that the skillsets of Rockies hitters, particularly flyball/home run hitters, can

take better advantage of the temperature. It could also be that any Rockies groundball pitchers are less affected by the

change in temperature because grounders are less affected than balls in the air.

Nonetheless, there is a difference between how many runs the Rockies score at hotter temperatures than their opponents

do. That added run differential translates into the Rockies winning more games in hotter weather. That correlation is

evident in the subsequent graph, which shows the Rockies winning percentage by temperature.

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When the weather heats up, so does the Rockies win/loss percentage. Between 55 and 68 degrees, though, the Rockies

often lose.

That all leaves us with a few takeaways:

Rockies have a better home record from June to September than from April to May.

Rockies home record is more stable, month-to-month, during night games.

For every ten degrees that the game time weather at Coors Field is above 50 degrees, expect an average of one

more run scored per game.

Generally, as the temperature gets warmer, runs at Coors Field increase, but extremely cold environments tend to

preclude high scoring games.

From about 55 degrees to about 68 degrees, Rockies opponents tend to score as many runs as the Rockies, and

the Rockies tend to lose.

When it’s 69 degrees or warmer, the Rockies tend to outscore their opponents by a significant margin.

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Overall, I’m surprised the Rockies do so well at Coors Field when the weather heats up. Whatever reason there is for the

Rockies “summer swoon” myth, it’s not because of the temperature at Coors Field.

So, why is there a dip in the Rockies winning percentage in that temperature range of the mid fifties to high sixties? Also,

at the lower end of the temperature scale, did you wonder why run scoring is so high when the weather is cold out? Why

do the Rockies outscore their opponents so much in hotter weather? To answer these questions, we need to look at

another aspect of weather. Next time, we’ll discuss how wind might affect scoring at Coors Field. Have your popcorn, as

well as your salt, ready for that one.

*The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may

contact Retrosheet at 20 Sunset Rd., Newark, DE 19711.

**Denver weather readings and forecasts on the news and radio often come from Denver International Airport which is

over twenty miles away from Coors Field. The temperature displayed on the scoreboard is also from DIA. As

meteorologist Chris Spears (@ChrisCBS4) from CBS4Denver told me, “The weather is different from Colfax to Blake

Street, but when you get down to the nitty gritty unless a cold front or some large scale feature is moving through and

stalls out, the weather is "similar" across the whole metro area.” The best fit for real-time regularly updating data is

actually the weather station at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science located about three miles away from Coors

Field, though it is on the other side of a bunch of wind-obstructing skyscrapers.

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Colorado Rockies prospect Sam Howard powers the Yard Goats to a weekend sweep By Connor Farrell / Purple Row | May 22nd, 2017 The start of 2017 has been rough for the Hartford Yard Goats, but a weekend sweep of Akron may be just the kickstart

the squad needs.

Yesterday’s 5-2 victory was held together by pitching performances from Sam Howard and the bullpen, shutting down

Akron’s offense most of the day and powering the Goats to an important win that puts them only three games under .500.

Howard pitched 4 1⁄3 innings in the start, surrendering only four hits and one earned run over that time. Howard’s ERA is

down to 1.67 over six AA starts and batters are only hitting .150 against the lefty. The former fourth round pick has been

excellent in every inning of work for Hartford this year and that continued with another ground ball heavy performance on

Sunday.

The Yard Goats improved to 19-22 with the win and are working to overcome their middling April.

Other news and notes from the affiliates are below:

Triple-A: Colorado Springs Sky Sox 3, Albuquerque Isotopes 2

Jordan Patterson (No. 13 PuRP): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI

Sam Moll (No. 28 PuRP): 2 IP, 0 R

Carlos Estevez: 1 IP, K, 0 R

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 5, Akron Rubber Ducks 2

Ryan McMahon (No. 7 PuRP): 1-for-3, 2B

Dillon Thomas (Friend of the Brand) 1-for-4, 2B, R

Sam Howard (No. 20 PuRP): 4 1⁄3 IP, 4 H, 2 K, 1 R

High-A Advanced: Lancaster JetHawks 7, Inland Empire 66ers 3

Brendan Rodgers (No. 1 PuRP): 1-for-5, 3B, 3 RBI

Brian Mundell: 2-for-4, 2B, HR

Wes Rogers: 3-for-3, RBI

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Single-A: CANCELLED, RAIN

Monday Probables:

Triple-A Albuquerque: Thad Weber (1-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Colorado Springs

Double-A Hartford: Ryan Castellani (2-4, 6.37 ERA) vs. Bowie

Single-A Advanced Lancaster: Craig Schlitter (6-0, 2.02 ERA) vs. Inland Empire

Single-A Asheville: Brandon Gold (2-2, 5.28 ERA) vs. Rome

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Rockies defeat Reds 6-4 to claim series victory It wasn’t easy, but the Rockies took two out of three against the Reds By Eric Garcia McKinley / Purple Row | May 22nd, 2017

The Rockies beat the Reds 6-4 at Great American Ballpark on Sunday afternoon. The series wasn’t easy, the bullpen

faltered, and one can argue that it should have been a sweep. But winning two out of three on the road is an undeniably

good outcome.

In the first inning of the series finale, Billy Hamilton manufactured the Reds’ first run by himself, which is what he does.

He reached first base after Nolan Arenado committed an error at third on a play he’d only attempt with a runner as fast

as Hamilton speeding to first base. Hamilton proceeded to steal second and third base and scored on a groundout to

shortstop.

The Rockies took a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Ryan Hanigan led off with a single, and he moved to third after Kyle

Freeland doubled. Hanigan scored on a Charlie Blackmon sacrifice fly, and Freeland scored after DJ LeMahieu singled.

Four home runs gave the Rockies a 6-1 lead by the sixth inning. They came off the bats of, in order, Carlos González,

Kyle Freeland, DJ LeMahieu, and Pat Valaika. CarGo’s homer was his 200th as a member of the Rockies. He’s the fifth

player to do so, joining Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla, Larry Walker, and Todd Helton.

The Reds got three runs back in the sixth inning. José Peraza hit a triple that was very nearly a home run that bounced off

the top of the wall and back into play. Joey Votto, the next batter, hit a ball that bounced off the top of the wall and into

the. Freeland got a couple of outs, but Scott Schebler hit a no-doubt homer to right field to make it 6-4.

That was it for Freeland. From the mound, he finished with 52⁄3 innings pitched. He gave up four runs on five hits. He

walked two and struck out three. At the plate, Freeland hit a double and a home run. He also worked a walk and scored

two runs.

Chris Rusin finished off the sixth and got two batters out in the seventh, after which Bud Black brought in Adam Ottavino.

He got an out to finish the seventh, but Ottavino ran into trouble in the eighth. Votto led off with a single, and Ottavino then

struck out Adam Duvall. Eugenio Suárez singled to put runners on first and second with one out. But Ottavino got out of it.

He struck out Schebler strikeout Schebler and Arismendy Alcántara swinging, stranding both runners and keeping the

score 6-4 in favor of the Rockies.

Greg Holland entered in the ninth inning to close it out. He walked the leadoff batter, but he retired the next three in

order. Holland procured his league leading 19th save. He’s saved 68 percent of the Rockies wins so far this season.

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The Rockies improved to 28-17 for the season, matching their season high mark of 11 games above .500. The Rockies

also improved to 4-2 on their 10-game road trip so far—they’ve yet to lose a road series in 2017. They’ll enter the final leg

of the trip tomorrow in Philadelphia. Jeff Hoffman will make a spot start for the Rockies, and he’ll face Jerad Eikhoff. The

game starts at 5:05 MT.

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Colorado Rockies: 3 things we have learned so far on this road trip By Kevin Henry / Rox Pile | May 22nd, 2017

After a season-long 10-game homestand, the Colorado Rockies hit the road for a season-long 10-game road

swing through Minnesota, Cincinnati and Philadelphia. After Sunday’s 6-4 win over the Reds, Colorado has just

one more stop on the road trip before heading back to Coors Field.

In Colorado’s first two stops of the road trip, the Rockies jumped on the host team to win the first game. That makes them

11-3 in the first game of a series this season, a big reason why the Rockies have a 28-17 overall record and two-game

lead in the National League West.

There have been good points of the trip so far (like the Rockies jumping on Minnesota’s Ervin Santana for five earned

runs in a 5-1 win on May 18) and not-so-good points of the trip (like Saturday’s 12-8 loss in Cincinnati where Colorado’s

2017 bullpen looked like the bullpen of years past).

So after seeing the Rockies post a 6-4 homestand before hitting the road for this 10-game quest through the Central and

Eastern time zones, what have we seen? Plenty that makes us believe this Colorado team isn’t just a fluke. Ian

Desmond said it best when the Rockies were in Minnesota, right? Wins any time of the season matter.

Play Video

What are three things we’ve noticed on this road trip so far, heading into the City of Brotherly Love? Let’s take a look.

Bud Black trusts his gut

Colorado manager Bud Black isn’t afraid to tell you that he trusts his gut when he is making decisions. We have seen two

big instances of that during this road trip.

First in Minnesota, during Thursday night’s 2-0 loss to the Twins, Colorado starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood was on the

ropes early and often. Minnesota struck for one run in the first and threatened again in the second and third before a visit

to the mound. With the bases loaded in the third and the Twins poised to blow the game open, Chatwood struck

out Byron Buxton to end the frame.

Minnesota would score again in the fourth and there was doubt that Chatwood would make it through that inning.

However, Black didn’t want to go to the bullpen just yet and decided to see if his 27-year-old right-hander could give him

another inning. He did just that, setting the Twins down in order in the fifth.

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Despite five hits and five walks given up through four innings, Black believed his starter had one more inning in him …

and the move paid off, keeping the Rockies in the game and keeping one more inning off his bullpen as the 10-game road

trip was just starting.

In Cincinnati, Black sat Pat Valaika at shortstop in favor of Alexi Amarista. The move paid off in a big way as Amarista

went 3-for-5 (including a homer) and four RBI in a 12-6 win. Amarista then went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Considering he had

just six RBI all season heading into the Cincinnati series, the gut feeling certainly paid off.

Mike Dunn is coming back to earth

In his initial few weeks with the Rockies, Mike Dunn appeared to be the ideal setup man for the team. In April, the left-

hander signed in the offseason away from the Miami Marlins posted a 2-0 mark and 1.17 ERA with 10 strikeouts and just

two walks.

Unfortunately for the Rockies, when the calendar turned, so did Dunn’s fortunes on the mound.

This month, in seven games, Dunn is 0-1 with a 10.13 ERA. Some of those runs came on Saturday night in Cincinnati

when he gave up three runs on two hits in just two-thirds of an inning. That included the second homer he’s given up this

month, a two-out, three-run blast off the bat of Scott Schebler.

Opponents are also hitting .364 against Dunn this month. Since coming off the disabled list on May 3 after suffering back

spasms, the 31-year-old southpaw simply hasn’t been the same pitcher.

Perhaps it shouldn’t overly surprise the Rockies that Dunn is leveling out after starting the season so hot. Opponents hit

.270 against him last season. This season, that number stands at .271. He’s appeared in 17 games, a third of the 51 he

appeared in last season in Miami. If you take the rest of his stats from this season and multiply them by three as an

average, Dunn is almost on par to give up the same number of hits and home runs and record the same number of

strikeouts as last season.

If Dunn can follow form last season, it will be solid enough to do what the Rockies need him to do. However, he’ll need to

regain his stability on the mound because it simply isn’t there right now.

The Rockies bullpen needs an upgrade

While Mike Dunn had his share of trouble in Cincinnati on Saturday, it also exposed a glaring weakness for the Rockies

this season. There is a bad gap between the starters and handing the ball over to Greg Holland for the save.

After giving up two runs on Saturday, Scott Oberg’s ERA has crept up to 5.50. Chad Qualls gave up three runs against

the Reds to see his ERA move up to 5.19. Jordan Lyles has an ERA of 8.53 this season in 12 appearances. Carlos

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Estevez showed he still had work to do in Triple-A after allowing a pair of hits in a 26th-man outing during the May 18

double-header against Minnesota.

If the Rockies are going to contend in the National League West, the bullpen has to get better and stronger. Certainly

there’s been an upgrade with Holland as the closer and Chris Rusin providing help in long- or short-term relief when

needed (his consistency and 2.28 ERA this season has really been overlooked). However, there are still too many times

that a Rockies reliever enters the game and you never know what you’re going to get from him.

Are there reinforcements in the minors? Possibly. CC Lee and Matt Carasiti are having solid seasons in Albuquerque.

However, don’t be surprised to see the Rockies look to upgrade their bullpen even further as the trading deadline creeps

closer.

When the Rockies released Stephen Cardullo on May 19, it opened up a spot on Colorado’s 40-man roster. The Rockies

have yet to fill it. Don’t be surprised if that spot is filled by someone who could make the middle bullpen much stronger

than it currently is.

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Colorado Rockies: Looking at 3 possible defensive lineups By JD Jensen / Rox Pile | May 22nd, 2017

The Colorado Rockies have had a lot of success this year. The offense, in particular, has seen more than eight

position players hit well. Because of this, the Rockies have had the luxury of figuring out who is deserving of a

starting spot. This has led to a couple possible starting lineups that could mean future success.

The Rockies have a few guys we know will always have a spot in this season: Nolan Arenado, DJ LeMahieu,

and Charlie Blackmon will be starting no matter what. With Mark Reynolds tearing the cover off the baseball, I can’t see

anyone else at first base as well. I would also say the catcher position should go to Tony Wolters, with Ryan

Hanigan filling in on rest days.

This leaves the shortstop and the corner outfield positions to be played with. At shortstop, we could see Trevor

Story or Pat Valaika. In the outfield, we would likely see Carlos Gonzalez and Gerardo Parra. The trick comes with Ian

Desmond, and whether we want to see him at shortstop or in the outfield. Here are a couple possibilities in the field,

particularly when Story returns from his injury:

Desmond takes Parra’s spot in left field, with CarGo in right and Story at shortstop.

Gerardo Parra is probably the worst player of the ones looking for a spot. This way, the Rockies will get the most out of

the talent they have. Desmond has to be in the field somewhere, and we’d rather see Parra out over CarGo or Story. This

is also why I would put Story in over Valaika. This lineup would insure we have the most talented players on the field. And,

while Story has struggled and Valaika is taking advantage, Story is the better player as of this year. Valaika would

probably become a utility player or pinch hitter, while Parra would be taken out of the lineup altogether for the most part.

Play Video

The problem with this lineup is the underuse of Parra. He has had a pretty good season up to this point, especially at the

start of the season. It would not be beneficial to stop giving him at-bats. Parra also is not a player the Rockies could trade

for many assets, either. In addition, Colorado would be banking on the hope that Story figures out his swing and gets back

on track in the matter of only a few games.

Desmond plays left field, Parra plays right, Story and Valaika split time and Carlos Gonzalez will be used as trade

bait.

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It’s time to face the facts: Carlos Gonzalez hasn’t really helped the Rockies win games this season. In fact, CarGo is one

of the only players who was really good in the past Rockies’ teams. In other words, he had his time of dominance, sharing

time with Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton. Those days are over. Moving him would at last indicate the new philosophy

of the Colorado Rockies organization. Plus, Parra is not playing too much worse, and CarGo has significantly more value

to other teams, based on his past play. There is a good possibility the Rockies could attain some pretty good assets for

CarGo. I would suggest a starting pitcher to be in the rotation at least until Jon Gray returns.

In addition, Story and Valaika split time in this scenario, until one of them shines above the other. It would likely be Story,

but you never know. I did this because this particular scenario would show that the Rockies are making a push for the

playoffs right now, but Colorado can sacrifice a couple of games if it means finding its long-term starters.

The downside would be, obviously, getting rid of Gonzalez. At this point, despite his value to the team decreasing, CarGo

has become an icon in Colorado sports. He is the last player still on the team from the Tulo-Helton era. Much like Von

Miller or Danilo Gallinari with their respective Denver teams, Gonzalez is regarded as the most popular figure in the

Rockies organization. In addition, we would sacrifice games when deciding who should be the starting shortstop. Who

knows, that could be just enough to disqualify this team from the playoffs. We have had too good of a season to waste it.

Desmond takes over shortstop, while Gerardo Parra and Carlos Gonzalez take over the corner outfield spots.

Story has been awful this year, and I’m not talking about his latest injury. At only 24 years old, Story has too many

strikeouts on the ledger this season (48 in 111 at-bats). Maybe it would be worth it to let him and the 24-year-old Valaika

get more minor league experience. This would give them time while keeping a solid team on the field. Desmond is

capable of playing shortstop, as he has in the past. We can always wait a year before pulling up Story or Valaika from

Triple-A. Parra is plenty good enough to be serviceable enough to keep the Rockies in the playoff push this year.

The problems with this lineup come with depth. Without trading CarGo, the Rockies cannot add another starter to the

rotation, or a reliever to the bullpen. Colorado also has to find a new player to be the squad’s main utility player with Story

and Valaika developing in the minors.

To simplify everything: This is a good problem for the Rockies. Heck, it’s probably most general managers’ dreams to

have too many guys over-performing in a season.

In my mind, if you want the best team, go with the first option. Pick the second option if you value depth. If you want to

continue to develop while staying a good ball club, choose the third choice. It’s been a great season for the Rockies.

Maybe good enough to land them with their fourth playoff appearance. Picking a defensive lineup could be a make-or-

break situation.

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The 200 Club: A deep dive into CarGo’s power efficiency numbers By Casey Light / Mile High Sports | May 22nd, 2017

Rockies right fielders Carlos Gonzalez reached a benchmark in franchise history on Saturday, becoming only the fifth

player to hit 200 career home runs for Colorado. His next home run will tie him with Dante Bichette for fourth on the

team’s all-time home runs list. Gonzalez joins an elite group of Colorado sluggers to have reached the 200 home run

plateau with plenty of time left in his career to keep ascending that list and others (assuming, of course, he stays in

Colorado beyond the expiration of his contract this year).

Gonzalez is now also inside Colorado’s top five in games played and total bases, and this season should also be there for

at-bats, plate appearances and hits. But beyond the sheer volume of CarGo’s productivity in his now nine years in

Colorado, he’s also been more efficient than several of the all-time great power hitters to don purple pinstripes. Here’s a

look at how Gonzalez compares to the other members of the Rockies 200 home run club, both in terms of raw stats and

efficiencies (with overall franchise record ranking in parentheses)

Home Runs

Todd Helton: 369

Larry Walker: 258

Vinny Castilla: 239

Dante Bichette: 201

Carlos Gonzalez: 200

Gonzalez needs just two home runs to pass Bichette for fourth on the all-time list. He has some distance to make up on

both Castilla and Walker, but two more productive years in Denver could be enough to move him all the way into second

place behind Helton.

Games

Todd Helton: 2,247

Larry Walker: 1,170

Vinny Castilla: 1,098

Carlos Gonzalez: 1,019

Dante Bichette: 1,018

Gonzalez can pass Castilla this season to move into third place on the games list, assuming he stays healthy through

2017. He’s played 150 or more games in each of the past two seasons after playing just 70 in 2014. With that in

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mind, Bud Black has a plethora of talented outfielders at his disposal (especially when David Dahl returns from injury),

so CarGo could get a few more veteran rest days than in years past.

Per Game Home Run Percentage

Larry Walker: 22.05%

Vinny Castilla: 21.77%

Dante Bichette: 19.74%

Carlos Gonzalez: 19.63%

Todd Helton: 16.42%

Gonzalez slights slightly up this list and trails Bichette by just over a tenth of a percent, hitting a home run in 19.63 percent

of the games he’s played for Colorado. He’s yet to heat up in 2017, as he so often does, so this efficiency rating could

easily leapfrog Bichette this season. With only three home runs so far in 2017, a hot streak as Gonzalez is prone to have

in June and July should get it done.

At-Bats

Todd Helton: 7,962

Vinny Castilla: 4,099

Larry Walker: 4,076

Dante Bichette: 4,050

Carlos Gonzalez: 3,802

Gonzalez has a superb eye at the plate and is an outstanding situational hitter, so his raw at-bats numbers are behind

Bichette’s, even though he’s played one more game. Based on his career averages, CarGo could move all the way into

second place on this list this season if he stays healthy.

Per At-Bat Home Run Percentage

Larry Walker: 6.33%

Vinny Castilla: 5.83%

Carlos Gonzalez: 5.26%

Dante Bichette: 4.96%

Todd Helton: 4.63%

CarGo slides into a fairly comfortable third place on this efficiency ranking, but he’ll need to start clubbing more home runs

this season if he wants to maintain his place. As Todd Helton knows, power efficiency numbers can decline rapidly later in

a player’s career.

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Hits

Todd Helton: 2,519

Larry Walker: 1,361

Dante Bichette: 1,278

Vinny Castilla: 1,206

Carlos Gonzalez: 1,112

Barring a nightmare year, there’s a very good chance Gonzalez will move past Castilla on this list in 2017. A career year

would have him nipping at Bichette’s heels. He racked up 150 and 174 hits over the past two years, respectively, so it’s

not outside the question. He’s off to a slow start this year with only 33 hits, but as the players around him continue to be

productive he should get more opportunities to produce.

Per Hit Home Run Percentage

Vinny Castilla: 19.82%

Larry Walker: 18.96%

Carlos Gonzalez: 17.99%

Dante Bichette: 15.73%

Todd Helton: 14.65%

No one hit a larger percentage of his base its out of the ballpark than Castilla, but Gonzalez is no slouch with nearly 18

percent of his hits leaving the yard. CarGo has long been known as a guy who can change the complexion of a game with

one swing, and this is precisely why.

Total Bases

Todd Helton: 4,292

Larry Walker: 2,520

Dante Bichette: 2,187

Vinny Castilla: 2,171

Carlos Gonzalez: 2,002

Lost in the “home run count” when Gonzalez reached No. 200 was that he also passed Troy Tulowitzki for fifth all-time in

total bases for Colorado. At his current pace this year, he won’t pass Castilla or Bichette. But if he heats up as he always

does during the summer months he could easily overtake both.

Total Bases per At-Bat

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Larry Walker: 0.62

Dante Bichette: 0.54

Todd Helton: 0.54

Vinny Castilla: 0.53

Carlos Gonzalez: 0.53

In one of the truest power efficiency measurements (outside of OPS), the speedy and powerful Walker outpaces all four of

his peers in total bases per at-bat. Gonzalez comes in a surprising tie for fourth on this list with Castilla. He’s hitting only

.221 through 40 games this season, though, so an upswing in numbers as the season hits full stride ought to give him a

little boost.

On-Base Plus Slugging

Larry Walker: 1.044

Todd Helton: .953

Dante Bichette: .892

Carlos Gonzalez: .877

Vinny Castilla: .870

CarGo’s slugging percentage this year is the lowest its ever been, and his on-base percentage isn’t particularly good

through the early part of the season either. Home runs are nice, round numbers but they don’t contribute to the greater

good nearly as much as OPS. Cargo will likely rank in the top three in most of the major statistical power categories by

the time he’s done in Colorado, but he’s definitely got some ground to make up on OPS. While he ranks fourth among the

200 home run club, he’s eighth on the full all-time list.

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For Rockies middle relievers, a ‘we’ mentality is key to success By Alissa Noe / Mile High Sports | May 21st, 2017

Middle relief pitchers in Major League Baseball face some of the toughest duties in any given game. Not only are they

tasked with neutralizing the opponent’s offense (like all relievers), but more often than not they have to serve as damage

control to keep a game from getting out of hand.

While logic would suggest that certain situations can change an individual pitcher’s approach, when it comes to the

Colorado Rockies’ relievers, the coaching staff preaches a technique that keeps a singular goal in mind.

“For the middle relievers and for the relievers in general, it’s a ‘we’ mentality,” pitching coach Steve Foster said. “It’s not

about self stats, it’s about keeping the lead or protecting us in a game, and for me it’s about throwing strikes.

“More importantly than that, it’s the ‘we’ mentality, and that is, ‘We got it done,’ or ‘We didn’t get it done. It’s not about me.’

When a relieving staff takes on that mentality, it’s a platoon mentality. That’s how we’ve been doing this for a couple of

years now, and we’re starting to see the fruits of that.”

For the first time in a while, the fruits of the Rockies’ labors – whether it be the efforts of the front office or the team’s farm

system – appear to have reached harvest season, and the crop is, for the most part, bountiful and healthy.

Thanks in part to the bullpen’s significant improvement this year, the Rockies boast an early 28-17 record – best in the

National League. Last year, it took them until June 10 to earn as many wins, and by then they already had compiled 33

losses.

While much of the team’s success undoubtedly falls on the starting rotation, the middle relievers are some of the unsung,

underappreciated heroes of those gains. That’s when a strong-willed, uniform mindset serves them best.

“Sometimes you get used to a certain situation, but ultimately, you still got to go do your job,” offseason acquisition Mike

Dunn said. “Pitching’s pitching – it doesn’t matter if it’s a one-run lead or you’re up 10 or down 10. You still have a game

plan against those hitters, so it’s just going out there and executing it.

“The longer you’re in the game, you learn how to be able to handle those situations. You go back to spring training, you’re

going to work. It doesn’t matter if you’re pitching this inning or this situation, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same thing. You go

out there and do your stuff and make sure you execute pitches.”

According to Jordan Lyles, the relief job breaks down to one straightforward definition of his role.

“For me personally, my role right now is to eat innings,” Lyles said. “Sometimes I’m not in there when the game is close,

so I’m here to help save a bullpen or save innings, so our later guys don’t have to cover those innings. For me, it’s not

necessarily putting up zeros, but getting multiple innings.”

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That production across various innings is undoubtedly valuable, and can take immense pressure off the rest of the staff

from day to day. This year, for the most part, that’s something the Rockies have been able to do well.

So far this season, Lyles has struggled to garner the command necessary to put up zeros as he holds an 8.53 ERA

across 19 innings in 12 games, but he’s also struck out 17 batters.

Once he regains his control, however, he feels he’ll be back to his old self in no time.

“I think the biggest thing for me was just fastball location within the park, but it’s really key here, not putting people on

base,” Lyles said. “That’s the biggest thing, not giving people free bases.”

Dunn agreed, saying that’s something he’s also noticed in his years pitching for the Yankees, Braves, Marlins and now,

the Rockies.

“I think just over the years, I’ve been trying to get command over all my pitches,”Dunn said. “I’ve been trying to command

the fastball, the slider, in any count to anybody.

“I know like in Miami you can get away with stuff, because you fall behind 3-0 or 3-1 or whatever, you knew that as long

as you kept them in the middle of the park, they weren’t going to hit them out. I guess you got to really execute your

pitches down in the zone, and when you go up, you got to make sure they’re put in the right spot.”

In his first 17 games as on the Rockies’ staff, Dunn boasts a 4.85 ERA across 17 games with 15 strikeouts. He had

worked his ERA down to 2.92 before a tough outing in Cincinnati on Saturday in which he allowed three runs over 0.2

innings. Between Dunn and Chad Qualls, it was a night where the ‘we’ didn’t get it done. But those nights have been more

the exception than the rule so far this season.

Dunn has held opponents scoreless in 13 of his 17 appearances this year. Chris Rusin boasts a 2.19 ERA over 24.2

innings pitched. Until Saturday, Qualls had allowed only two earned runs in eight appearances. And Lyles has a 17:5

strikeout-to-walk ratio.

A look at the stat lines for any given game usually reveals a fractional innings pitched total for the middle relievers,

meaning Bud Black isn’t shy about using the unit as a whole to secure wins for his young starting rotation or to keep his

team in games when trailing. If one falters, the others are there to pick him up.

Rockies middle relievers have the added pressure of performing well at Coors Field 81 times each season, battling

hitters in a majorly hitter-friendly park at altitude.

As someone who’s been in the game for a long time and has played at Coors throughout the years, Dunn had plenty of

practice to prepare for his stint in Rockies purple.

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“Coming here on the road, I think I learned early that as long as you execute your pitches, you’ll be all right,” Dunn said.

“You can’t really let that factor into your mind. You can make excuses or whatever, but ultimately you can go back and

look at the execution in the pitch, it can tell you whether it was a good pitch or not.”

For every pitcher that comes through the Rockies’ system, the coaches’ advice to them is simple. It all goes back to that

‘we’ mentality.

“We say the same thing to every one of them,” Foster said. “We say, ‘Altitude matters, but attitude matters more.’ If your

attitude’s right and you have the right approach, every time you go out there with that ‘we’ mentality, everything’s going to

be just fine.”

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Charlie Blackmon quietly carrying Rockies this season By Nick Stephens / FanRag Sports | May 21st, 2017

With the Colorado Rockies at 27-17 and sitting atop the National League West, the team seems to be doing all the right

things.

The offense has been strong when needed, and the starting rotation and bullpen have exceeded just about everyone’s

expectations. Most people seem to think of Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez, and even Trevor Story when they think of

the Rockies, but another player on this roster is arguably one of the best center fielders in baseball.

His name is Charlie Blackmon.

He first started to gain attention in 2014, when he notched 27 hits in his first 27 games. He finished April with a slash line

of .389/.434/.642 with five homers and 18 RBIs. He fell back to earth over the next few months, but earned his first All-

Star nod that July. Following the All-Star break, Blackmon cooled off significantly. He carried a .698 OPS through the

remainder of the season, and led many to think he had a fluky first half.

Blackmon’s 2015 season was similar to the prior year, except that he added base running to his skill set. He stole 28 bags

in 2014 and was known as an above-average runner, but he really started to separate himself in 2015, when he stole 43

bases. Despite the improvement on the bases, Blackmon still was determined to take his offense to the next level, and he

did just that in 2016.

In 143 games, Blackmon slashed .324/.381/.552 with a whopping 29 home runs and 82 RBI. What makes those numbers

even more impressive is that he was the lead-off hitter in 135 of those games. It’s easy for people to attribute his success

to playing half of his games at Coors Field, but his home-road splits were nearly identical. The difference in OPS was just

13 points more at home, although he hit five more homers and five more doubles on the road. He finished the year with

the second-highest OPS for a center fielder, just behind Mike Trout.

He’s clearly not as elite as Trout (no one is), but he’s easily among the top center fielders and lead-off hitters in baseball.

Manager Bud Black agreed in a recent interview with The Denver Post.

“I think, present day, Charlie ranks up there as one of the best, for sure,” Black said. “When he steps in the box

to start the game, it’s dangerous for the pitcher. That’s not a good feeling when the guy has the ability to homer.”

So far in 2017, Blackmon seems to be increasing his ceiling. Prior to Saturday’s game, he had a .961 OPS, nine homers

and 31 RBIs.

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Blackmon has made himself into a unique lead-off hitter in that he’s able to work counts and draw walks, but also drive in

the hitters who get on base at the bottom of the order. His 31 RBIs are the most in baseball from the lead-off spot, and it’s

not even close. Jean Segura has the second most RBIs in that role with 19.

Although Blackmon doesn’t get the recognition other players on the team receive, which still isn’t much, he’s been one of

the most productive players in baseball the last three years. While the Rockies continue to play for their first postseason

berth since 2009, Blackmon will continue to quietly be the driving force behind the team.

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Freeland hits 1 of Rockies 4 HRs in 6-4 win over Reds By Joe Kay / The Associated Press | May 22nd, 2017

CINCINNATI (AP) — Kyle Freeland hadn’t rounded the bases since 2011, back when he was a senior in high school. He

remembered the way on Sunday.

The rookie pitcher hit one of Colorado’s four solo homers off Bronson Arroyo, leading the Rockies to a 6-4 victory over the

struggling Cincinnati Reds. Freeland pulled a 71 mph pitch over the wall in right field for his first major league homer.

“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “Once I connected with it, out of the box I thought it had a chance. As I got to first base, I

checked and was pretty sure, that’s gone.”

The Rockies came out on top in a game of home run derby.

Colorado extended the best start in franchise history by taking two of three from Cincinnati. The Rockies have the NL’s

best record at 28-17.

Freeland (5-2) remained unbeaten on the road, giving up four runs — three earned — in 5 2/3 innings. Joey Votto and

Scott Schebler homered off him in the sixth. The left-hander is 3-0 in five road starts.

Freeland also doubled off Arroyo (3-4), who has given up 15 homers — second-most in the NL. Carlos Gonzalez, DJ

LeMahieu and Pat Valaika also had solo shots off Arroyo. Freeland was the fifth pitcher to homer off Arroyo during his

career, joining Jaime Garcia, Travis Wood, current teammate Scott Feldman, and Dan Haren.

“He’s a guy that can truly help his cause,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “When guys come to this ballpark, they’re

hitter-ish. This is a good place to hit.”

The 40-year-old Arroyo missed more than two seasons while recovering from elbow surgery. He’s given up eight homers

in his last three starts.

“This game has ebbs and flows,” Arroyo said. “I’ve been in this position even when I was younger and 100 percent

healthy. I’m sure I’ll hit a wall, but I’m not there yet. I’ve got to find a way to get deeper into ballgames. I think the next two

or three starts will tell you if I’m bouncing back or if I’m going to have a tough rest of the year.”

LeMahieu matched his career high with four of Colorado’s 11 hits, including a double and an RBI single. Greg Holland

allowed a walk in the ninth while remaining perfect in 19 save chances and extending his club record for consecutive

saves to start a season.

Cincinnati has lost eight of nine, with none of its starters going more than 5 1/3 innings. The Reds’ rotation has given up

42 runs in 43 innings over that span. Overall, the Reds’ rotation has pitched the fewest innings in the NL and is last with a

5.93 ERA.

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TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: Nolan Arenado was charged with an error when he failed to make a barehanded grab of Billy Hamilton’s soft

grounder in the first inning. The ball deflected off his hand and hit him below the right eye, leaving a cut that needed

treatment. He stayed in the game even though his eye swelled. Arenado was the only regular third baseman in the majors

who hadn’t committed an error yet this season. “He looked like a prize fighter, but he hung in there,” Black said.

Reds: SS Zack Cozart was out of the lineup with a sore right wrist. He’s expected back on Monday.

MILESTONE

Gonzalez’s homer was his 200th with the Rockies, making him fifth player to reach that mark. He hadn’t homered since

April 25, a span of 73 at-bats. He improved to 10 for 19 in his career against Arroyo.

STATS

Freeland became the 11th Rockies pitcher to have two extra-base hits in the game. Juan Nicasio was the last to do it, in

2011 at San Francisco. … Hamilton has reached safely in a career-best 21 straight games. … Hamilton stole second and

third in the first inning, the fifth time this season he’s swiped two bases in one inning. … Votto’s 233rd career homer tied

Jay Bruce for seventh on the Reds’ franchise list.

UP NEXT

Rockies: Colorado continues its longest road swing of the season with a four-game series that starts Monday in

Philadelphia. The Rockies are 4-2 on the trip so far. Their 15 road wins are the most in the NL.

Reds: Feldman (2-4) makes his seventh career start against the Indians as Ohio’s teams open their annual interleague

series on Monday night. Josh Tomlin (2-5) starts for visiting Cleveland.