-ed- Thanks to a lot of regular conversation on the Twittersphere, our own Andrew Fisher was able to develop a rapport with former Rockies' farmhand, Craig Baker. Craig graciously offered to come offer some insight on his minor league career and discussions about said career in an effort to give us all some insight into an often overlooked area. Baker was one of the last cuts in the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 PuRPs lists. --AMart

Hello, my name is Craig Baker. I was a fourth round pick of the 2006 draft and former minor league pitcher for the Colorado Rockies.

Much like most other professional baseball players, I began my baseball career at the ripe age of six years old. After trying my hand at most other sports, I soon realized the only thing I was good at was throwing things in a general direction, and every now and then, catching something headed in my direction. I can't speak for everyone else, but I usually gravitate toward the things that I am good at rather than embarrass myself, so I chose baseball.

After progressing through the youth leagues and high school baseball, I was able to "take my talents" to Cal State Northridge. Some of you may know about "CSUN", but for those of you that don't I will sum up my college career in a single word: dismal. Luckily for me, I was able to piece together a respectable enough junior season to escape the death clutch of CSUN and join the Colorado Rockies organization.

I started my career with the Tri-City Dust Devils in Pasco, Washington (2006). Upon arriving to Pasco- I was informed that I failed my physical with micro tears in my UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament, aka "Tommy John"). There, I wallowed in self-pity and worked the Rockies rehab regimen, never seeing game action. In my first spring training, I was told that I would be the number one starter in the Dust Devils rotation the following season.

Being that Tri-City is not a full season team (referred to alongside rookie ball as a short season team), they are required to attend extended spring training in preparation for their upcoming season. Sometimes a player is sent to a full season team from extended spring training to fill in for injuries, released players or other such events.

I had heard horror stories about how miserable extended spring training was so I did everything I could to get out of there with the Asheville squad. Extended Spring Training, for those that do not know, is the time from when regular spring training ends (full season teams "break camp", or leave for their respective cities) until a couple weeks after the amateur baseball draft. The Tri-City roster is mostly made up of players that went through extended spring training or were recently drafted by the Rockies (occasionally a free agent signing).

Basically, players are summoned to early mornings and hot afternoons of practice. You play meaningless games a few days a week, against other organizations (only the Diamondbacks back in the Tucson days), sometimes more than 9 innings to get your pitchers innings. The real delight of these games, is the fresh batch of Latin pitchers brought in throwing harder than most big leaguers, with none of the control said big leaguers have.

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ed: Recently, Purple Row was given the opportunity to have an interview with Rockies' 1st round (45th overall) pick, SS Trevor Story. As he is the man, he spends time around Casper, and we were hoping that maybe the two could meet and have a conversation, Andrew Fisher did the honors of performing this interview. As it stands, Andrew was only available for an email conversation, so here we are. Without further ado, Trevor Story - AMart

PR -  You were drafted 45th overall, a "first rounder," but as compensation for losing Octavio Dotel in free agency, you were taken in the "sandwich round." What is your sandwich of choice?

TS - I like the classic cheeseburger with mustard or ketchup only. 

PR -  How would you describe your personality and core values, on and off the field?

TS - I would describe myself as a determined and confident young man on and off the field.

PR -  Scouting reports on draft day suggested your strength came from a defensive game that could translate to the big leagues, but your bat would hold you back. What do you feel about such reports, and how would you describe your game?

TS - Well, being a shortstop, my first priority is defense. The offensive criticism honestly motivates me to prove my bat. I know I can swing it and it will show soon.

PR - How do you approach your at-bats?

TS - I go to the plate with a mindset to just hit something hard early, looking middle away. If I get deep into the count, I shorten up and look to cover the whole plate and put the barrel on the ball.

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I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to appear once again on the Pauley and Wheelz show for KCSF AM 1300 the Sports Animal, a Colorado Springs based radio station. In the 10 minute clip linked below the jump, we discuss (among other things) the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, Colorado's lack of other deadline activity, and the potential for an Ian Stewart trade this off-season.

You'll no doubt notice that the opinions I use in this interview regarding the trade don't necessarily jive with the opinions I espoused in today's Rockpile. There are a few reasons for this:

1. Radio is a very different medium than the blogosphere. I'm trying to be clear to a broad range of fans, so I didn't bring concepts like surplus value or WAR projection into any of my points.

2.I treat these interviews as if I'm representing Purple Row as a whole, so I tried in this interview to give input that better reflected what I saw as the opinion of Purple Row rather than purely my own take. As a whole, I think that the community is of the opinion that this move was good to replenish Colorado's pitching depth, so I went with that opinion on air.

3. I really do like Pomeranz and White as prospects -- I just think they're very risky to project as having significant MLB success.

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Through a promotion sponsored by Pepsi Max, Purple Row was granted an ten-minute interview with former San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn. Gwynn, who retired following the 2001 season after posting a career 132 wRC+ (including never having a season below 100 - full or otherwise) and accumulating a lifetime 67.9 WAR, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer who garnered 97.5 percent of total votes. Tony will be in Cooperstown this Sunday for this year's induction ceremonies, which include Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven, and Pat Gillick. Sincere thanks to Tony (who was as classy of a guy as I possibly could have talked to), Pepsi Max, and Jeff Aberle (who passed the interview opportunity along to me).

Bryan Kilpatrick: Hi Tony, how are you doing this morning?

Tony Gwynn: I'm good, how are you?

BK: Good, I'm Bryan from the Colorado Rockies' SB Nation blog Purple Row, and I just have a few questions I want to ask you this morning.

TG: Okay.

BK: First off, I understand you're involved in a PepsiMAX program which is taking 30 all-time great players and deciding an all-Field of Dreams team. You're with some pretty impressive company there.

TG: Yeah.

BK: Tell me how that's going for you.

TG: It's going good. It's exciting to have the opportunity to work with zero-calorie Pepsi Max on this Field of Dreams promotion where, from now until August 31st, fans will get a chance to go online at MLB.com/PepsiMax and vote for an 11-man dream team of major league legends. It's a ballot of 30 guys, which I'm one of, and fans will have an opportunity to vote for what they feel is the MLB dream team. And, for each ballot cast, fans will have their name entered for a chance to compete against the team in their local community with their family and friends. It's a really cool promotion. Guys were talking this morning about how competitive this thing can really get, (laughs) because you're talking about major league players playing baseball and even though we've been retired for a while, that intensity and competitiveness just always seems to come out. It's a neat idea and one that I think fans can identify with, and us as former players can definitely identify with. So, it's really cool to be nominated and be a part of this thing.

BK: That is cool. That's an unbelievable opportunity for fans to be able to have - to play against a group of legends among those 30 guys. I don't see you losing to anybody, regardless of how long you guys have been out of the game.

TG: (laughs) That's funny because that's what they were talking about. Fans will get to vote among three guys in each category except for of (6). I was looking at the list this morning...Dave Winfield, Ken Griffey, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Jim Rice, and myself. So, like I said, having your name on the ballot is awesome and fans will have the opportunity to vote for the 11 they feel like are the best guys and then hey, strap it on and let's go get it. Fans are excited and players are excited so this will hopefully be a great opportunity for somebody to see how us former guys got it done.

BK: Yeah, good luck to whoever wins that competition.

TG: (laughs) Exactly.

Read the rest of the interview after the jump.

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In the aftermath of Dave Krieger mentioning my Wednesday Rockpile in his Denver Post article, I received multiple interview requests from local radio stations. On Friday afternoon, 1300 AM the Sports Animal in Colorado Springs was gracious enough to allow me to discuss the Rockies on the Pauley and Wheelz show.

In the 12 minute segment, I discuss the importance of Dexter Fowler and Ian Stewart to the team, the team's options at the trade deadline, Juan Nicasio, the backup catcher swap, and Colorado's chances in the 2nd half.

It was a great opportunity to do my first radio interview, and I'm very grateful to Matt Pauley at 1300 AM for allowing it to happen -- hopefully I'll be able to spread the gospel of Purple Row throughout the state!

Jeff Aberle Radio Interview

This week, Bucs Dugout manager Charlie Wilmoth and I swapped questions about the Pirates and Rockies as part of the series preview. I regret to say that we both ran over and posted SIX questions.

How dare we. 

The Rockies open a 4-game set with Pittsburgh today.

1. Clint Hurdle at the helm. In his time with the Rockies, I felt he was more a developmental manager than one who could shoulder actual expectations. How does he fit with the young Pirates?

Clearly, it's too early to tell, but he's much more dynamic than John Russell was. The fans have really taken to him, although a honeymoon period is typical with a new manager. (At the Bucs' winter carnival a few months ago, he really wowed them with his repeated use of the word "butt-thumping" and by talking about how he hated losing, which kind of tells you how early in the getting-to-know-you process we are.) The Pirates have also appeared to play fundamentally better baseball so far this season, but that's in a five-game sample.

2. Neil Walker/James McDonald: The Real Deal, or playing over their own heads?

Walker's power is legitimate, but last year he batted .296, and I have questions about whether he can hit for that kind of average on a consistent basis. If he doesn't, his rate stats will come down somewhat. Also, while he's a plus defensive third baseman, I'm not sure about his range at second. He deserves a pass for his defense there last season, since he was learning the position on the fly, but I'm not yet sure he has the quickness to play there long-term.

As for McDonald, one never knows with young pitchers, and he needs to work on being more efficient and pitching deeper into games. His stuff is excellent, however, and the strikeout rate he posted after arriving in Pittsburgh last year was no fluke.

3. What's the next step for Jose Tabata's development?

He already has good on-base ability and plays solid defense, so the next step is to develop more power. That will hopefully happen as he matures.

4. What's the ETA on Jameson Taillon?

The Pirates won't rush him, and they're holding him back in extended spring training right now so that he doesn't pitch too many innings this year. He'll head to Class A West Virginia in a few weeks or so, and we'll see how things go from there. It's tricky to predict if and when he'll arrive in the majors before he even makes his first professional pitch, but hopefully he'll pitch well and force the Pirates' hand sooner rather than later.

5. How long does Ryan Doumit wear the Pirates uniform?

The Pirates have been trying to trade him forever, but for some reason, no one is particularly interested in an injury-prone catcher who can't play defense and isn't good enough to start for the Pirates. Chris Snyder's recent injury provides Doumit with an excellent opportunity to show what he's got, and he has responded so far, making several good defensive plays already in the young season.

6. Where's the ceiling for Pedro Alvarez?

Mo Vaughn? David Ortiz? A star power hitter who finishes his career as a huge dude with no defensive value, basically. Alvarez looks likely to be a good major leaguer, but there are a wide spectrum of outcomes for his career. His conditioning will probably always be an issue, and he'll almost certainly wind up at first base at some point. Also, he has to work on controlling the strike zone. He'll always be a high-strikeout hitter, which is fine, but last year he had 119 strikeouts in 386 plate appearances. He's also very streaky and has long stretches where he looks lost at the plate, and hopefully this season (he has eight strikeouts in five games so far) doesn't mark the beginning of another one. I would much rather have a David Ortiz than, say, a Mark Reynolds.

I was contacted earlier this week for a short interview with Bloomberg Sports to preview the Colorado Rockies 2011 season. Just a few short questions about breakout players, Troy Tulowitzki, things of that nature. At the end of their video, they promote their fantasy sports tool as well.

Click past the jump for 5 glorious minutes of Q&A.

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As you know, MLB Network is putting on their "30 Clubs in 30 Days" segment this month, and tonight at 5PM MT, the Rockies will be the team featured by MLBN. As part of the series, MLB Network approached Purple Row about doing an exclusive segment with Harold Reynolds.

Obviously, we were pretty excited about this. What MLBN had us do was submit a 3-4 questions that Harold Reynolds could read over and answer for us via video.

The questions submitted involve some veteraniness questions, Tulo and Ubaldo, and how the Rockies fare in the NL West. His answers might surprise you a bit!

Without further ado, Mr. Harold Reynolds of MLB Network:

Make sure to tune in tonight on MLBN at 5PM MT to watch the Rockies' day for 30 Clubs in 30 Days - if this video is any indication, we're in for some interesting stuff.