HITTERS WORK OVERTIME TO GET THE SCOOP ON UNFAMILIAR REDS PITCHERS

cincinnati» Three and a half hours before Friday night’s game at Great American Ball Park, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado were planted in front of their laptops, studying Reds pitcher Lisalverto Bonilla.

Nothing unusual there, except that the Rockies were putting in extra time, poring over video and dissecting scouting reports on Bonilla, a pitcher they had never faced before. In fact, the Rockies are in the midst of a three-game swing against pitchers they are battling for the first time.

Thursday night, Jose Berrios, Minnesota’s talented 22-year-old right-hander, dominated Colorado hitters in a 2-0 Twins victory. He pitched 7M innings, allowing only two singles and striking out a career-high 11. Saturday night, Colorado is scheduled go up against another new face in right-hander Tim Adleman.

“The advantage always goes to the pitcher. That’s my viewpoint on this,” said Rockies manager Bud Black. “We are going to have to be quick studies.”

LeMahieu, the defending National League batting champion, said the Rockies do a number of things to prepare for a pitcher they’re not familiar with.

“You have to get as much info as you can,” LeMahieu said. “You watch his past starts, look at his charts, try to spot tendencies. I know for me, I will try to be aggressive and try to find pitches to spot. It takes some work.

“But I would have a hard time believing these guys coming up for the Reds are going to be as good as Berrios was (Thursday) night.”

Added Blackmon: “What you really look for is tendencies, especially when the pitcher has men on base. Does he pitch soft and throw a lot of off-speed stuff ? Or is he a fastball guy?”

There was a lot of talking in the dugout and near the on-deck circle Friday night as the Rockies discussed Bonilla’s stuff.

“When you face a guy for the first time, it can look a lot different than it does on video,” LeMahieu said. “So guys will talk after facing him, kind of like an instant scouting report. How does his fastball move? What’s the slider like out of his hand? We talk about all of that.”

Added Black: “You really don’t know until you get into the box and face a guy. What’s his release point? So Charlie comes back and tells DJ and then DJ tells Nolan. That’s when you start building a little bit of a catalog.”

Murphy update.

Catcher Tom Murphy, on the disabled list since spring training because of a hairline fracture to his right forearm and wrist, is moving closer to baseball activities.

“Murph’s getting closer,” Black said. “He did some catching drills today with (catching coach) Mike Redmond. He hit off the tee. The thing that’s happening with Murph is progression in the cage. Building up the hand strength, the forearm strength, making sure that fracture doesn’t cause any discomfort.

“He feels good. But the doctors want to see the natural progression — tee, soft toss, then a rehab assignment. But we’re getting close. We’re getting close to BP on the field. It’s happening in the next week.”