Black has faith Anderson can rebound
ANAHEIM, CALIF.» Rockies manager Bud Black gave struggling pitcher Tyler Anderson another vote of confidence Monday ahead of the start of a two-game set against the Angels, but said the club plans on pushing his next start back a couple days in order to give him more time to make mechanical adjustments.
Anderson, who alongside fellow southpaw Kyle Freeland keyed Colorado’s July surge, has stumbled in August with an 0-4 record and 11.39 ERA, including the shortest outing of his career Sunday at Coors Field when he surrendered six runs in M of an inning against the Cardinals.
“As we go through this week and into next week, you’ll see a little change in the rotation,” Black said. “(Sunday), with Chad (Bettis) having to pitch and Andy having a tough one, we’re going to work through our rotation here in the next couple days.”
That means Anderson won’t be taking the hill for his scheduled start against the Padres on Saturday, with a shuffling of the rotation that’s likely to move Jon Gray’s start to that day, and Kyle Freeland’s start to Sunday for the series finale at Petco Park. As it officially stands, the Rockies’ rotation is TBD past Freeland’s on Tuesday in Anaheim.
Anderson is projected to get his next start at home, against San Francisco, and in the meantime his skipper feels like he can regain the form of a starter who turned in five straight quality starts from June 29 to July 24.
“Andy had a rough August — but he had a great July,” Black said. “That’s what happens in our game. There’s peaks and valleys, there’s slumps. But you look at Andy in June and July, let’s remember that. I know we want to talk about the present, but Andy can get back to that, for sure.”
Black recalls Scioscia’s impact.
Black served as the Angels’ pitching coach under manager Mike Scioscia from 2000-2006 and won the 2002 World Series with Anaheim. Black said Scioscia — who has denied reports he is stepping down at the end of the season — had a profound impact on his own coaching career.
“The thing that stood out for me is his sturdiness — his everyday broad shoulders, taking on responsibility and being very consistent,” Black said. “He’s very steadfast in what he believes in, and the players he believes in — I think that’s important in
a manager, and I learned a lot from that.”
The respect is mutual, as Scioscia credited Black’s clubhouse presence as one reason for Colorado’s positive trajectory over the past two seasons.
“Those guys have put themselves in a tremendous position, and I think particularly from the pitching side, Buddy’s a master,” Scioscia said. “Buddy’s a huge influence to those guys and their success.”
Rockies respect Mike Trout.
Angels allstar outfielder Mike Trout was back in the Los Angeles lineup on Friday after missing more than three weeks of action due to a disabled list stint for inflammation in his right wrist. His return comes in time for the outfielder to potentially further his historic season against the Colorado pitching staff.
According to Baseball Reference, Trout entered Monday first in the majors in offensive WAR (7.4), on base plus slugging percentage (1.080), and onbase percentage (.458) while holding up his status as the widely believed best allaround position player in the game.
“He’s earned that title, for sure,” Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino said. “What he’s done already is so ridiculous. He’s like a Clayton Kershaw — he could probably not play from this point on, and be a borderline Hall of Famer.”
Colorado’s Nolan Arenado noted how he admires Trout’s game — “he’s special because he does it at an elite level, year in and year out” — while outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, not a stat goblin by any means, believes Trout has the ability to eventually be the handsdown best player of his generation.
“I’m not a big believer in WAR or any of that, but I’m sure when a good player is on the field — and I think Mike Trout’s the best player in baseball,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t really pay attention to (Sabermetrics), but I do know he’s a complete player who can hit, hit for power, rob you of a home run, steal a base. It’s fun to compete against him.”