Sunday Rockpile: New Rockies Justin Morneau, Brandon Barnes, and Jordan Lyles already contributing to wins

Patrick Saunders gets things kicked off this morning with an excellent and in-depth piece on the Rockies pitching philosophy of utilizing and developing low contact, sinkerballers like Tyler Chatwood and Jordan Lyles. Some great stuff from pitching coach Jim Wright in that piece.

Saunders also has an article summarizing what many Rockies fans were thinking to themselves Friday night as Jordan Lyles, Brandon Barnes, Charlie Blackmon, and Justin Morneau were not just key factors but amounted to the reason the Rockies won the ballgame. The trade of Dexter Fowler, for all the screaming about it this off season, is at least paying some early dividends. Charlie Blackmon was not a new addition in the off season but he is the guy who was handed the reigns to both center field and the lead-off spot and managements trust in him was also a factor in trading Dexter Fowler. So far, he has not betrayed that trust.

We are already starting to hear the "no one predicted this" talk about the Fowler return and the organizational philosophy, but our readers here at Purple Row know better.

One more from Saunders on Carlos Gonzalez' slump and Jhoulys Chacin's return.Chacin is likely to need one more start in Triple-A.

Thomas Harding at MLB.com has this fascinating piece for anyone into the intricacies of pitching.He discusses angles and confidence with Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino.

Our friend Eric Garcia McKinley over at Rockies Zingers has some really great stuff on how the Rockies are shifting less than other teams (though maybe not as much as you might think) and how this may very well be to their benefit.

Another friend of PR, Zach Marburger, talks about the change in Charlie Blackmon's game from previous seasons to this one, namely his discipline and contact rate. I loved this quote:

In 151 games across three seasons, Blackmon was worth about .1 WAR. This year, in just 23 games, his WAR sits at two. Blackmon's already been more valuable to the Rockies this season than in his previous three seasons combined. Luck can't explain a jump like that.