When pitching, skip walkway
Rockies issuing fewer walks in attempt to control opponents’ offense
peoria, ariz.» Jon Gray bounces to the mound like an eager puppy. Tyler Anderson steps forward with double strides. It doesn’t matter to the Rockies how their exceedingly young pitching staff reaches the rubber or the regular season — just do not walk.
As Colorado enters the final week of Cactus League games, with two spots still to fill in its rotation, a pattern has emerged. The Rockies, for a change, are limiting walks like an authoritarian crossing guard. They have allowed baseball’s fifth-fewest walks this spring. Last season, on their way to a 75-87 record, the Rockies ranked fifth from the bottom.
“It’s been one of the things we really bought into,” Colorado left-hander Harrison Musgrave said. “You can’t defend a walk, as elementary as it sounds. But it’s true. With a defense like ours behind you, let batters put the ball in play.”
It’s a dangerous concept, letting hitters hit at Coors Field, where long flyball outs turn into home runs and simple popups fall into hits in an ocean of outfield. But the only thing more demoralizing in Colorado’s high elevation than a cheap bloop hit is a walk.
“Yeah, because if you walk a guy at AT&T (in San Francisco) and give up a long flyball, it can be tracked down in right center, on the track somewhere,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “But if you give up a walk and a long flyball at Coors, it has a tendency to travel over the fence.”
Among the three starting pitchers with significant experience (Gray, Anderson and Tyler Chatwood) and the three others vying for two spots in the rotation (Musgrave, Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland), the Rockies’ starters this spring have combined for just 15 walks, or 1.25 walks per nine innings. In the regular season a year ago, Colorado’s starters combined to allow 3.38 walks per nine innings — sixth-worst in baseball.
Their improved performance this spring, the Rockies hope, means fewer cheap runs and more effective, longer outings this summer.
“That is a great sign,” Black said. “You can make a correlation.”
In 20L innings, Senzatela has walked only two batters. It’s a big reason he seems headed for a place in Colorado’s rotation despite just turning 22 years old and having only seven games experience in Double-A.
Musgrave, a 25-year-old drafted in the eighth round out of West Virginia in 2014, may be headed for the Rockies’ seasonopening roster for the first time, probably as a long reliever.
But the Rockies continue to like him as a starter down the road because Black, so far, can trust him not to give away at-bats.
“Our stuff plays better than people think,” Musgrave said of the Rockies’ young rotation. “I’d rather get hit around the park than walk a bunch of people with no chance. I realize you can walk six guys and throw a shutout, but that’s not my job. I’d rather throw strikes and let them hit the ball than give up free bases.”
The Rockies, of course, have sung this tune before during spring training about the importance of cutting down on walks.
The difference now, Black said, is the culmination of a pitching philosophy on proper mechanics being taught from the rookie leagues up.
A pitcher who can repeat his delivery, stay balanced, find the same release point for every pitch and stay strong in his stride will throw strikes, Black said. And that, in turn, means fewer walks issued.
For Musgrave, it’s a mental adjustment. When he is behind in a count 2-0 or 2-1, the lefthander will stop trying to paint corners and instead seek more plate. Ideally, if the pitch has movement, a batted ball shouldn’t be ruinous.
“Eliminate your nibbling when you’re down in a count. It’s working for us,” Musgrave said. “You never want to throw a belthigh fastball, but we have a lot of guys who can cause groundballs and weak contact.”