A NEW TACK
The Rockies have committed to pitching in an effort to be more competitive in their 25th season
The Colorado Rockies turn 25 this year. Their manager last year was a former shortstop. Before that, they tried former catchers, infielders, outfielders and designated hitters.
The one thing the pitching-impaired franchise has failed to do is employ a pitcher as its manager. Until now, that is.
Bud Black, the Rockies’ new manager, was a major league pitcher for 15 years, then a pitching coach with the Angels for seven. Before the Rockies hired him, they grilled him on how to pitch and win at Coors Field.
“It was a big discussion during the interview,” Black said. “But you know what it boiled down to? If you have good pitchers, that makes a difference.”
That sounds so obvious as to be patronizing, except that it’s the truth.
After the hoopla of the humidor, after the experiments of using four starters and limiting the innings in each start, after the search to find an ideal pitch mix in their mile-high stadium and to select pitchers accordingly, the Rockies have committed to quality arms, period.
In their 24 seasons, the Rockies have finished last in the National League in earnedrun average 14 times, four in the last five years. They have finished among the top half of the league in ERA twice — in 2007, when they went to the World Series, and in 2009, when they won a wild-card playoff spot. (The Rockies did not lead the National League in runs in either of those seasons; the Philadelphia Phillies did.)
“We did it off our pitching,” said Chris Iannetta, a Rockies catcher in 2007 and 2009 and now a catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “We had a great offense, but we won by pitching and defense. It definitely can be done in Colorado.”
Iannetta outlined the Rockies’ starters in the 2007 World Series: Aaron Cook got ground balls, Josh Fogg got fly balls, Jeff Francis did both, and Ubaldo Jimenez got strikeouts with a power fastball.
“We had a bunch of different styles,” Iannetta said. “They all were successful.”
The cardinal rule on pitching in Colorado has been to avoid curveballs, since pitches do not break as much at altitude. But, rather than abandon breaking balls, the Rockies now groom their pitchers to aim lower, to compensate for the reduced break.
“If your eyesight starts lower,” starter Tyler Chatwood said, “the pitch can end up in the same spot as it does on the road.”
Colorado pitchers had been so spooked by visions of flat breaking balls volleyed so hard toward the Rocky Mountains that Jon Gray, the Rockies’ emerging ace, did not throw even one curveball in his debut season two years ago.
“The breaking ball for Jon Gray was a difference-maker last year,” General Manager Jeff Bridich said. “Whatever the adage was in the past, that is not the case.”
In reshaping their approach to pitching in Colorado, are the Rockies making use of analytical data that might not have been available a few years ago? “The answer is yes,” Bridich said. Beyond the analytical side, there is the mental side. Black is particularly renowned for his ability to communicate well with players, and what he would relate to the Colorado pitchers was emphasized in his job interview.
“Here’s the ingredient we really talked about: the mental toughness of the pitcher,” Black said.
In his previous managing job, with the San Diego Padres, Black had to pump up hitters whose well-struck fly balls died in the canyons of what used to be known as Petco National Park.
It’s the opposite now: Black has to persuade pitchers to turn the page on what he calls “a chaotic inning or a chaotic game,” to embrace that an ERA well above 4.00 in Colorado might indicate a job well done.
“The big-time myth is that you can’t pitch there. You can,” said reliever Chad Qualls, who is with his ninth major league team. “It’s just a state of mind that you have to get yourself into, to be able to prepare yourself and know that there are a few obstacles you have to overcome.”
One of those obstacles, Qualls said, is the challenge inherent in keeping the legs strong enough to withstand the rigors of the season.
“It’s hard to run at that elevation,” he said. “It’s just recovering day to day. You’re trying to get the oxygen back in your body.”
The Rockies are optimistic about the development of their pitching, and with that their chances to compete this season. The bullpen is built around veterans Greg Holland, Mike Dunn, Jake McGee and Adam Ottavino.
In Gray, Chatwood, Tyler Anderson and Chad Bettis, the Rockies had a promising front four — all 27 or younger, and all rated better than league-average last season based on the ERA+ statistic, which takes ballpark effects into account.
On March 10, Bettis announced that he would require chemotherapy for testicular cancer. He said that doctors have advised him the cure rate is better than 90%; it is uncertain whether he can return this season.
The Rockies have pitching prospects lined up to help this season, including Jeff Hoffman — the prize prospect in the Troy Tulowitzki trade — former first-round pick Kyle Freeland and Venezuelans German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela. They also paid a $4.8-million bonus for pitcher Riley Pint, 19, their top pick in last year’s draft. “We have some big arms,” Black said. And then he sighed, the challenge evident even without the home-field disadvantage: “All teams have some big arms.”