Sunday Rockpile: Now all of America is learning how dreamy Chris Iannetta is

by Rox Girl on Mar 22, 2009 9:36 AM MDT in Rockpile

Troy Renck predicts that Chris Iannetta will be in the All-Star game this season thanks in part to his performance on the big stage of the WBC with Team USA. We had a discussion earlier in the off season about who would represent the Rockies in the Midsummer Classic now that their two most reliable All-Star caliber players have departed, and Iannetta was my choice there as well, but he's going to have to do it against the stiff competition of a few big market teams that have the fanbases to stuff ballot boxes and a Pittsburgh team that might not have any viable All Star candidates besides Ryan Doumit this season. If he makes it on to the squad, he'll be a very special boy indeed.

Don Baylor's work with the team's hitters is apparently already paying dividends with Ryan Spilborghs, who has been on a tear this Spring thanks to adjustments that Baylor taught him. Our well wishes and admiration go to Spilly, as he doing this while dealing with the loss of his beloved mother, Essie.

As for the other new member of Hurdle's bench staff, a "class act" by Rangers manager Ron Washington resulted in Jim Tracy's son Chad getting to play against the Rockies, and consequently in the Rangers getting some serious damage in yesterday's win when Chad launched a grand slam off Jhoulys Chacin. Next time an opposing manager feels so inclined to be so "classy", let's hope the gesture is confined to off field courtesies.

The great news in that last link to Patrick Saunders' notes is that Jorge De La Rosa's velocity was consistently 93 to 94 mph, added to his zero walks on the day and this becomes very significant. With both JDLR and Morales reaching those velocity levels, I don't think a lot of fans realize how dominant Rockies pitchers could be this season. There's a lot of fretting over slots four and five in the rotation due to too much focus on Spring ERA's, but the outlook seems to be getting rosier as we get closer to April. To answer Tracy Ringolsby's question, Rockies pitching should be considerably better in 2009 than a lot of people seem to realize. Now if we can be sure our defense can help them out.

Jack Etkin writes about how other Rockies fared in a minor league game yesterday. Ryan Speier, Clint Barmes, Todd Helton and Yorvit Torrealba all got some solid results it looks like.

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Iannetta is going to be a record breaker when he is through.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Pete_Incaviglia

No doubt the records will start to fall in a few years.

by brian8065 on Mar 22, 2009 10:21 AM MDT reply actions

He'll probably pass Incaviglia in, hits, 2B's and RBI by the time his career is over,

Definitely walks, but that 206 HR standard may be tricky, I guess it depends on how much longevity Chris has.

by Rox Girl on Mar 22, 2009 10:41 AM MDT up reply actions

He will hit HR's

Remember last season when he hit won against the back wall beyond the bleachers. Only the very good do that. He is going to hit a lot of home runs.

He hit 18 last year in 333 at bats. He will get (hopefully) 550 at bats this year. I predict he will hit in the mid 30’s.

What is great about him is his discipline.

by brian8065 on Mar 22, 2009 11:09 AM MDT up reply actions

I just don't know how quickly that power will fade when he starts to decline

Inky already had nearly half of his career homers entering his age 26 season (100 exactly), Iannetta only has 24 thus far. Over these next four seasons he’s going to have to hit 146 (36.5 a year) to catch up with where Incaviglia was at entering his age 30 year. That would be incredible, and I certainly hope for it, but I’m not expecting it to happen. Of course, Iannetta may be able to make up some on the back side of thirty when Incaviglia fell off a cliff, but being a catcher throws that into some doubt as well.

by Rox Girl on Mar 22, 2009 12:02 PM MDT up reply actions

McKenry/Rosario?

When McKenry or Rosario is ready for MLB, would it not make the most since to keep Iannetta in the lineup somewhere, like 1B?

Dex knows.....

by The Lodo Magic Man on Mar 22, 2009 12:14 PM MDT up reply actions

I'm more optimistic than Rox Girl

I’m more optimistic than Rox Girl
I’m more optimistic than Rox Girl
I’m more optimistic than Rox Girl

by brian8065 on Mar 22, 2009 12:32 PM MDT up reply actions

Totally agree

with your point on the spring ERA focus. Charlie77 gave an example of some stats yesterday that made me want to look at stats for some other guys out there.

Matt Cain 7.16 ERA
Zack Greinke 8.27 ERA
Cliff Lee 18.90 ERA
Scott Baker 8.31 ERA
Mark Buehrle 9.00 ERA

I understand that most of these guys are established and have fewer questions surrounding them than De La Rosa or Morales – but nobody is worried about their high ERA’s.

"Better move your rental cars, I am about to take BP."
-Glendon Rusch

by Hizilla on Mar 22, 2009 11:24 AM MDT reply actions

I’m more optimistic than Rox Girl

I don’t know how good our rotation is but I think we are being a bit too optimistic, however I can’t plan us for being optimistic. My secret hope is that we get some dominant starters from our minor league talent i.e. Chacin, Reynolds, Weathers & Hynick. I hope these players are not rush to the big league stage only to fail…i.e. Pete Incavigila

So in short I hope we lead the NL in ERA, if not NL West in the lowest team ERA.

FYI, spring training sucks.

by lizardlad01 on Mar 22, 2009 12:41 PM MDT reply actions

Unrelated/OT

But I am ecstatic at how much baseball I get to watch today. Rockies are on TV – FINALLY, and US-Japan could be epic tonight.

"Better move your rental cars, I am about to take BP."
-Glendon Rusch

by Hizilla on Mar 22, 2009 12:49 PM MDT reply actions

This is the game I've been waiting for

Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum

by Andrew Martin on Mar 22, 2009 2:12 PM MDT up reply actions

Troy Renck predicts that Chris Iannetta will be in the All-Star game this season thanks in part to his performance on the big stage of the WBC with Team USA.

Erm…. I think that might be a bit optimistic.

We are truly in the presense of greatness here…-- unnamedDBacksfan

by DbacksSkins on Mar 24, 2009 9:28 AM MDT reply actions