I think Dennis Haysbert said it best:
Bats, they are sick. I cannot hit curveball. Straightball I hit it very much. Curveball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar, rum. He will come.
And then it was followed up by Kevin Costner:
You don't need a quadrophonic Blaupunkt! What you need is a curveball! In the show, everyone can hit heat.
With catchers, everybody is willing to make excuses for batting troubles. Wilin Rosario happens to have a cannon on his right shoulder, so that alone might keep him on top of many people's lists, but I know that other people are really worried (or just never bought into Rosario). Patrick Saunders doesn't help much with his postgame notes:
Catching prospect Wilin Rosario continues to be confounded by curves. He whiffed in the seventh on a bender, giving him three Ks in seven at-bats this spring.
It's early in the Spring yet. He's really young. He's not dialed in yet. Small Sample Size.
All of these are totally valid rebuttals, and are also the reasons I'm not more vocally in opposition of Rosario's potential impact. I like to think he could have a floor of Miguel Olivo and a ceiling of... uh... someone better than Miguel Olivo. I feel as if he's on a short leash, though, given the Rockies recent purge of anything below the most primo of work ethics.
Never fear though, for this is why the Rockies have Ramon Hernandez:
Catcher Ramon Hernandez was able to steer Pomeranz back into a groove.
"I had a talk with Ramon and we were able to work through it," Pomeranz said.
Rafael and I have a joke going that we should take a drink every time we read about how Ramon Hernandez is a mentor for Rosario and a calming influence on a young pitching staff. I mean, he IS, it's just funny to read it everywhere. I'm glad we have him on a 2-year deal, frankly, because I'm terrified of trying to find another catcher should Rosario not quite cut it and Bryce Massanari isn't everything I think he is for some reason.
But Spring marches on, and the stories will continue to pile up as long as there are games to play and Rockies fans salivating for the crack of the bat in LoDo. Until then, we'll just keep watching meaningless stat lines and wonder if this is the sign of the apocalypse for Rosario or just growing pains. Also, we can worry about which of our inauspicious 5th starter candidates will inexplicably find themselves with the starting job. I mean, SOMEONE has to, right? Right?