Will Roster Depth Be A Strength Of The Colorado Rockies?

Today on Lockdown Rockies, it's a roster full of players that can be defined as utility

players.

Does that make the Rockies a jack of all trades and masters at none?

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Rock on Rockies fans, welcome into the Lockdown Rockies podcast for today, the fourth

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I'm your host of the Lockdown Rockies podcast, Paul Holden bringing you your daily Colorado

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You can fire off your Rockies hot takes.

You can let me know what's on your mind when it comes to the Colorado Rockies today on

the show.

We're going to take a look at some a deeper dive.

Thomas Harding does on some numbers for the first base competition between TJ Rumpfield

and Charlie Condon.

Plus, the Rockies have a lot of utility players, players that can play multiple positions.

Is that going to be a strength for the Rockies or are they going to suffer from players

that aren't going to get consistent playing time in certain spots or consistent playing

time at all?

We'll talk about that coming up as well as Kyle Freeland getting his first start of the

spring and your comments all on today's episode of Locked on Rockies.

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And thank you again so much for making us your first listen of the day.

All right, no Rockies action on Tuesday, but they will be back in action here taking on

team USA as Kyle Freeland's going to be seeing his first spring action here after they were

taking it easy with back spasms.

We know that's been something that Kyle Freeland has dealt with throughout his career.

Here's what Kyle Freeland told Thomas Harding here about the about pitching against Team

USA and his experience with Team USA as well.

I played for them a few years ago and manager Mark Dorosa is back at the helm said Freeland

who expects to go one inning the way most Rockies starters have the spring.

It's going to be fun to face them and face sold old teammates.

There are guides that I know in the league that'll face that I'll face with USA across their

chest.

And what makes I think an interesting wrinkle here too with spring training and having

the world baseball classic is this one means a little bit more, right?

This, this game, obviously the team USA is trying to get sharpened.

Boy, did they look like they were, they were sharp taken on.

I believe it was the brewers.

A few home runs, lots of runs scored a team USA lineup is good, but it's one of those games

and it's one of those moments I think in the camp that's that gives you a little bit

more jolt of energy gives you a little bit of that more of a competitive that's a real

baseball type of type of injection that you're, you know, Rockies now it's been what two

weeks now of spring training games.

It's camp.

It's, it's the process.

It's a routine of all that stuff.

But when you do something like this, even though it's a scrimmage, you still see the

guys that are going to be on the field for team USA.

You still, you still see the guys that are in that dug out across from you plus it, you

know, with the international competition and that kind of the world baseball classic,

especially being heightened in popularity.

I think this is a good little energy booster for the Rockies and for teams in spring training.

It just, just is one of those things where it's obviously not, it doesn't matter in the

end of the day.

It's, it's practice for both teams, but it's one of those ones that gives you a little

a little extra juice, just a little extra energy.

And I'm certain for, if you're, if you're a young guy, if you're a Rockies prospect and

you're taking the field in tomorrow's, I should take today's game against team USA.

You're going to remember that one.

That's when you were on the field with a bunch of greats when you were, when you were part

of the process.

You know, you might not be on team USA, you might not be part of it, but play on a teeny

tiny role and at least, you know, sharing in a small part of that experience.

So I just think the, I continue to enjoy the world baseball classic.

I continue to think it is, it is really great that players are getting the opportunity

to go and play and be a part of it.

And it was cool when the Rockies had players a part of it.

It was cool when Kyle Freeland was pitching on the big stage.

It's going to be really cool to see SENSA and, and, and, and, uh, Tovar, you know, play

on, on the big stage and, and saying what the, all the other guys that are out there,

I'm just, it's, this is a, it's an, I, I think that it is a, a really good way to set

the tone for the season here, the world baseball classic.

I think it's going to be fun and, uh, Freeland, good place for him to get started.

I mean, hey, uh, talk about a lineup to get your first, your first look at your first,

uh, your first reps against here.

So hopefully freeze got that control and, uh, is able to, uh, raise a couple of eyebrows

here in this, uh, spring training matchup, taking on team USA, uh, just a little bit

more here, a little bit, uh, Kyle Freeland, just talking about his, uh, just contract,

what's, what's different and some comments from Warren Schaefer, just to put a little,

uh, put a little more context behind the reason to the slow start to the spring here.

Time will tell Freeland said who earns a $16 million this year to end a five year,

64 and a half million dollar deal, but as a vesting option for 2027,

it's $17 million if he reaches $178 pitch this season.

There's some stuff that we're adding to my routine, stuff that I'm going to continue

to do in the training room.

Hopefully it's going to pay dividends throughout the season, keeping me healthy and keeping

my back and hips feeling good.

It's in general, keeping the tea spine open and having good mobility.

And with that, there are exercises I can do in the weight room and training room to

allow me to keep that mobility.

Freeland's calm response to the early health setback gives him a chance to reach

season goals.

And here's what Warren Schaefer said here.

I'm not worried about free at all.

He's looked good during his last two pens, looks normal.

And, uh, here's something, uh, from here, uh, as Kyle Freeland now talks about his

work on pitch testing and, and, and, uh, pitch adjustment that we've heard from a

lot of, uh, a lot of guys, uh, in camp for the Rocky so far.

We're working hard trying to get something that I'm comfortable with that can

profile off my fastball.

Freeland said, there's a lot of good stuff.

I'm excited to see it in the game, uh, just, uh, just a little bit here from,

from Harding on, on the injury front, just to put a bow on that and talk to a

little bit about that was either end the last week or on Monday this week.

Injury news involving key players is generally positive.

Tyler Freeman, low back strain took live batting practice on Sunday and it's

expected an in game action this week.

Brent and Doyle is scheduled to resume baseball activity this week.

So good signs, good news there and, uh, be interesting to see how Kyle Freeland

tackles the team USA lineup as, uh, spring rolling on, getting closer and

closer to not only the world baseball classic, but opening day as well.

Hey, uh, also another piece here, of course, Thomas Arding doing a lot of,

uh, a great work for the Rockies here in spring training.

Had a couple of, uh, a look here as this was an intriguing headline is this,

this metric indicates these two prospects could be ready for the majors here.

Uh, and it's talking about TJ Rumpfield and Charlie Condon here.

Uh, but, uh, so here's, here's the settings setting the stage for it.

Theoretically, there is a place on the Rockies opening day roster for right

and left handed hitting first baseman.

But one of many reasons the Rockies fortunes have created in recent seasons

as players were pushed into the majors, ready or not, mainly because of a

lack of depth, but neither Rumpfield nor Condon is on the major league 40 man

roster and a new front office has been building depth.

If nothing unforeseen, good or bad happens, the Rockies don't have to carry

both first timers.

The evaluation will go beyond the fact that both hit three home runs in

February spring training games.

It's quite possible that the choice between Rumpfield and Condon comes down

to velocity as in how fast they've progressed through the minors.

Uh, there's another velocity that matters that the Harding mentions, but we'll get

to that later. Here's, here's what he just says a little bit about the, the

journey for both of these players here.

Rumpfield's development is taking time.

He was a 12th round pick, uh, 12th round Philly's pick in 2021 out of Virginia

Tech, who was dealt to the Yankees in November of that year.

The Yankees ability to acquire major leagueers allowed him to develop into a

hitter that posed an 825 OPS was 16 homers in AAA last year.

Uh, acquired in a trade this winter for righty reliever and how should

be Rumpfield, who turned 26 on a 17th, learned to embrace his struggles more

than his stats.

And what I love about this upcoming quote here is, uh, this is, this is a

baseball mindset.

This is, this is a baseball players mindset and a baseball players

approach to not only, you know, the game, but I'm sure life as well.

Here being able to fail in the minor leagues is a huge part of it.

Said Rumpfield, learning how to hit velocity is trial and air, learning

things that work and don't work, you need to be able to fail.

Fail in the batting cages without judgment or embarrassment, get something

to fall back on an environment where it is really hard, maybe on a machine

with the ball coming real hard, something that would never happen in a game.

And, and that's what I mean, that's

dealing and managing failure is one of the most important traits you can have

as a ball player.

It is, it is, it is an insanely difficult sport and insanely difficult

concept to wrap your brain around as a competitor to be great as a baseball

player.

You fail constantly.

You fail every game.

You strike out, you go, you only get one hit or, you know, you, you only get

one via the walk, you overthrow first, you walk a couple of batters and get punished

for it.

Baseball has so much failure in it, but it's how you bounce back from that failure

and it's how you bounce back quickly and how you manage that each individual

scenario that appears how each pitch is different.

That's, it's what makes it so fascinating.

It's, it's what makes baseball so unique compared to the other sports where

obviously it's a team effort, it's a team game.

It takes a lot further for the team, but, but you have, I just don't feel like

there's, there's, there's, in other sports, have nearly the variance on what

can happen on each individual pitch and how that'll impact the game.

There's so much that changes, you know, basketball, there's, there's,

there's so much change of possession.

There's so much flow there.

Football, there's, there's, there's your offense, your schemes, your, your,

your, it could be advantages in other ways.

Baseball, any little thing can happen and you play so much and you play so

frequently, there's, there's just, there's no way to escape the

variance. So I just like hearing that.

Harding also manages here, it talks about Condon's rise here and getting

through the fall league and after and dealing with the injuries here.

Here's what Condon has says about this.

I've obviously got clear goals for what I've set out to do this spring.

Condon said, none of that has to do where I end up in wind spring training is

said and done. I keep beating the same drum, playing the same baseball as I

always have. I let everybody figure out where I'm headed after that.

An important measure of a player's readiness, one of the Rockies can afford

to hone in on more than in the recent past is the ability to hit major league

velocity. The average four seamer pops in at 95 miles an hour.

Here's what Harding took a look at some of the numbers here.

Let's take a look at both players on fastballs, put in play that were 94

miles per hour or greater. Rumfield in the 25 regular season, 314

batting average, 471 slugging percentage, Charlie Condon, 280 average,

440 slugging, 2026 spring training before Sunday. So obviously, it

doesn't factor in Monday's game. TJ Rumfield, one for two, 500,

Charlie Condon, two for three. It's still early for pictures and hitters and

pictures plans don't resemble the regular season and what the picture is

trying to accomplish and scouting opposing hitters until the final 10 days.

That's why even in 2016, when then Rockies prospect Trevor story was

hotter than the desert sun, feet were pressed firmly to the brakes until

his power continued to the final days. Both Rumfield and Condon have gone

deep against a decent velocity. Rumfield against 92.4 miles per hour,

Condon, the opposite way to ride against 92.7. Rummy has been on

stuff. He's on the fastball. Rocky's manager Warren Schaper said he's

been swinging the bat well, moving well in the box. Rhythmic with Charlie,

I see an improvement on a daily basis. The first couple of games I saw him

laid on the heater with a very quick adjustment of late. At San Francisco,

his home was off velocity. Rumfield found his confidence in the Arizona

fall league in 2022 when he hit 400 with a home run in seven doubles and finished

with a 1.059 OPS and 17 games. I was like, maybe I can do this professionally.

Rumfield said, then 23 was my breakout, 2022, 2022,

average, but 17 homers and 58 RBI in high A and double A. Around 80 games in,

I dislocated my shoulder, but I had the best season slugging wise, and I put

more emphasis on trying to slug. If all continues, Rumfield looks in

solid shape. Last year in the minors, he had acceptable splits,

844 OPS against right handing pitching, 744 left on left with plenty of

previous years of played appearances. A right handed hitting first

basement component makes sense with Blaine Krim, currently nursing left OB

strain and utility man Tyler Freeman recovering from a back strain as

possible candidates. So I just think that I think that this is, it's a

fascinating, fascinating little, when you're looking for the small details,

when you're looking for the little things, when you're looking for things to

watch, how they handle, how they look at the dish is

important here at spring, how they handle these pitches, and that these are

encouraging signs. And I, I was really, we were focused on first base, but

man, even a little bit surprised about about how the first base competition,

how exciting the first base competition has been so far in the

performances that we've seen from both condom and Rumfield.

It's been, it's been cool to see and it'll be cool to see as it go as the

spring continues. And like Harding said, the really important stuff to look for

is how things look when things start getting a little bit more real

in the last final days of spring training. All right, we're overdue for a

break. Let's take a break and come back to talk about utility players,

a little bit more from the Thomas Harding piece and more all on today's show.

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Hey, I just wanted to read one more quote from this Thomas Harding piece talking

about a Charlie Conn and then TJ Rumfield.

And this is what the this is just a closing take on Charlie Condon,

which is another good thing to remember as there are going to be guys that put

on some strong performances. There are guys going to be close calls and they're

not going to make the team. But here's here's just the closing bit here.

In the big picture, if Condon doesn't break with the Rockies, the development time,

most likely a AAA albuquerque only stands to make him better when the

chance comes. But what if Condon proves a quick study in

hitting against velocity and how it can make a major league career?

It would make him yet another inspiring in parentheses, Trevor story.

If you're on the fastball, it's going to give you enough time to be ready to

adjust to breaking pitches said Condon, who is also receiving outfield work to

increase his appeal to the big league club. You can see mistake pitches a lot

easier to they're always going to have good chase pitches and get you out on

them. But you are ready to put good swings on the mistakes. You see good fastballs

in the major and the minor leagues. These are there are guys with really good

stuff. But here the difference is it's more consistent. Just like everything

that we're talking about, right? Consistency is key. And if the if Condon is

consistently mashing, he's going to force his way up to the to the major league

roster. It's going there. There is going to be a point where if he's still

mashing, he's got to get up and he's got to we got to see what he's doing at

the at the major league level and get him up there. Rotate him in with rum field,

get rum field into the DH categories, get rum field days off, get Charlie

Condon in the outfield, playing right field as you continue to rotate those players

through there. If you mash, you're going to get on the field. At least that's

what my dad always taught me. If you can hit the ball, they're going to find a spot

for you on the field. And I think that kind of leads pretty

well into the next category here or the next category, the next topic here.

The Rocky's got a lot of utility players on their roster. They got a lot of

guys that can that can play a bunch of different positions. They have a lot of

guys that will bounce around that will play multiple positions.

And I'm curious how you react to that as the Rocky's fan. Do you see that as a

a, do you see that as a, hey, depth? We got a lot of guys that can do a lot of

different things. And as the grind of the summer and the grind of the season goes

through injuries, this, that or whatever, we have, we have more options than we've had

in the past major league level options than we've had in the past to address those situations.

Or are you a little hesitant that these guys haven't found their quote-unquote position.

They're one where they're the best. They're the, or a top level second basement, top level third

basement, top level, whatever, or a gold lover or something like that.

I, we talked a little bit about how Warren Schaefer really wants to lean on the depth and how

he's talked about wanting to lean on the depth. I think not only does the roster construction match

kind of where the Rockies, the, the philosophy of the Rockies, we're, we're using this

offseason and, and building up that depth and giving themselves more options than they've had

last year and in previous years. But I think that this is a, I think this roster, when you have

the groups, you know, you got your Castro's, you got your Freemans, you got your Julians,

you got your McCarthy's, you got, you know, got, you got, who else do we got going on here that

we got, you got Cole Kerrig as well. There's, there's, there's so many guys that can, you know,

bounce around. If, if it, if it hits, if it works, right? Like, I'm just, if we're, if we're

focusing on how the, this could be the positive, the Rockies will be a team that, that, that will

have a lot of answers and a lot of options when they eat every day, every game. Oh, hey, we like

the, especially now, if they're going to be really diving more into matchups, they're going to be

looking into analytics, they're going to be looking into margins, having the ability to

pick in place and move and change and shift in game, could be an interesting, could be an

interesting tool and resource for the Rockies here. And I think it's also an opportunity for,

for guys to, it's, if, if, just like we're talking about if you hit well, you're going to be on

the field, if you're able to contribute, no matter the position, you're going to find yourself

on the field, right? Or you're going to be in that conversation as, as, as for the starting spot.

And I, I think that's what, that's, that's the, the upside of this here. I do have a little bit

of hesitations that, you know, it's, you, when I feel like there's maybe a negative connotation

against utility players because they, they do bounce around or, or maybe they, they, they come

off the bench or they play every six day or something like that. But I, I think there's tremendous

value if these players perform. I mean, that's, that's the, the, the stuff that, that, that's going

to be a question mark here. But purple row here has got quotes from Cole Carrick talking about

being engaged and excited about, you know, playing multiple positions here. And, and talking

about the, the vibes, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's just a, I, I think, I think it's going to be

interesting for Warren Schaefer as he's going through games when he's looking at his lineup cards,

what he can do, what matchups he can go with, who he can go with in certain situations. And it

will be interesting to see how much the Rockies do sub during the, the games or, or move things

around. But I, I do think that if there, there is something to be said when you have that,

we've seen in the past, the Rockies, the Nolan Aeronautos, the Troy Tuluitsky's, the, the, the,

the DJ Le May Hughes, the Todd Heldens, when you have these elite level players at those positions,

and you just can count on them. That, that's obviously huge. But I think the Rockies have

the important positions, the most important positions locked up with their small core of,

of guys that need to be in those positions, guys that we need to be able to count on.

Ezekiel Tovar at shortstop, Gold Glove caliber defense, slugging potential there. He,

a very important position. That's one of your leaders, right? There are one of your best players

is in that position. Hunter Goodman, catching. You have that set up right there. Catcher, you have

a catcher that contributes. Very, very important. And then center field, especially a course field,

you have Bretton Doyle, where you have the question marks about the, the offense, sure,

but the defense is good enough to, to, to change the game. So be able to surround those three guys

specifically with guys that can play different positions, different looks, different mixes.

I think that's, it could lead to some really interesting stuff.

Despite the fact that they have the, their, their utility players,

instead of, hey, I'm a second baseman. I'm a first baseman. If you, the more positions you can play

and the more success and, and, and, and the more contributions you give to the Rockies at those

positions, the better chance, not only you're going to see the field, but the better chance you're

going to have at helping the Rockies win ball games. All right. Let's take a break. Read some of

your comments and put a bow on this one right here. Unlocked on Rockies.

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live the dream of the Rockies fan to get there. All right, let's see here. Alan, we are talking about

the tough weekend here. I agree. Dolanters fastball has, I think we actually read this one yesterday,

but Dolanters fastball looking a little hittable for the big leagues, which is surprising to me,

such as such a fastball. Isn't that crazy? That a 99 or a 98 miles an hour fastball just just

piped. They're they're turning on. It seems easy to hit. Yeah, right. Be paying in my pants,

getting in the box there. Scout says not a fan of the automated balls and strike system.

Baseball is a human game. Stop trying to eliminate the human factor from the game.

Soon we can have MLB the show. Email us each year schedule and just simulate the game.

As much as I don't I want human umpires to stay forever.

But I want human umpires and sports and teams to have to use that technology to come together.

So far, it is it is not impacted the it is not negatively impacted the experience for me.

But man, is it going to imagine when a team finally loses on a challenge for the first time in

the regular season? It is going to be a huge, huge deal. Um and Rosen says ballpark

glass deal is nuts. If I live close to the stadium, I'd do that in a heartbeat. Yeah, how would you not?

I mean, I understand how would you not be like, if you if you're downtown and you want to watch

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just even a night at the ballpark with some friends might be close to half of what that cost is

there. So why not see? I just think taking advantage of the value is one benefit of

of of a team that ain't so good and get tremendous value. And there's going to be a lot of great

teams going through a course here this year. All right, folks, that's going to do for today's

episode of Lockdown Rockies. Thank you so much for making us your first listen of the day.

For your second listen of the day, go check out Lockdown MLB and back to the bullpen over there as

well, the new show on Lockdown MLB. Plus we got you covered with Lockdown Broncos, Lockdown

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