Rockies place 4 in MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects list

Happy Saturday Rockies fans!  As I sit here trying to recover from a week-long trip to our nation's capital, I cannot help but start to get optimistic about spring training, which is less than a month away.  Even with the recent news that Tyler Anderson will not be ready to pitch from the outset, there is a lot of young pitching talent that will keep us interested as the 2015 Colorado Rockies assemble their best 25 for the upcoming season.

Gray headlines Rox prospects in top 100 - mlb.com

Gray, Butler, Dahl, and Freeland are not only on MLB.com's top 100, they are all in the top 70.  That is a strong statement in itself, but don't forget this list doesn't include Anderson, Story, Hererra, Tapia, or McMahon (you can substitute Nunez, Wall, etc. depending on your personal favorites).  The trick for the Rockies to become contenders again will be to develop the young pitching talent fast enough to join their aging everyday stars before they have to start completely rebuilding their lineup.

Should Gausman and Paxton throw more high fastballs - fangraphs.com

While neither of the pitchers mentioned in this article play for the Rockies, the idea is one that the Rockies need to think about for all of their pitchers.  If you limit yourself to half the strike zone, then batters have an easier job.  I realize high heat can land in the seats at Coors, but when used for effect and surprise, I think it can help our team.

A Father's Baseball Experience - rockieszingers.com

A nice article on Rockies Zingers by Jeremiah Penaflor about a personal history with family and the Colorado Rockies.

Which MLB teams are blazing new trails in scouting - fangraphs.com

An interesting read about international scouting in some of the smaller baseball countries throughout the world. Miles Wray has already written an article about the major international countries and team's work in pulling talent from them.  It is good to see the Rockies mentioned in this article as I think that they have to attempt to strike gold in some of the smaller countries due to their smaller financial backing in pursuit of international free agents.

The link between MLB teams and specific countries - fangraphs.com

Another article on FanGraphs dealing with international scouting that shines some good light on the Rockies' progressiveness in searching for talent.  This is an area that I think they need to pursue, as it gives them a potential advantage over teams like the Reds, who refuse to spend money in this area of the game.

That is all for now, have a good weekend and try not to let all of the Super Bowl hype blow you away.