Scottsdale, Ariz. -- The Colorado Rockies' big league team may have had the day off on Wednesday, but there was quite a bit of baseball going on at the club's Salt River backfields, including a round of intrasquad scrimmages across all minor league levels. The biggest scrimmage of the day was a tilt between the presumptive Triple-A and Double-A squads, with Jordan Lyles and Shane Carle getting extended looks on the mound.
Lyles faced the Double-A lineup, while Carle went up against the Triple-A lineup, and I was there to watch a portion of the scrimmage as I meandered about the backfields doing player interviews and scouting videos. Lyles gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks in his start, lasting 4⅓ innings and striking out four hitters, according to the Denver Post's Patrick Saunders. I only saw Lyles' first three frames, and I was filming (as you'll see below), so I can't confirm the scorecard on that pitching line.
I can confirm that Carle struggled; the righty got hit around pretty good by the Triple-A lineup opposite him, and he faced 16 hitters through just his first three innings. Carle has just one Triple-A start to his name thus far, though, and he's already been reassigned to minor league camp. Thus, while he's somebody to keep in the back of your mind moving forward, he is a virtual lock to start the summer in Albuquerque and still has a bit of time for development before he hits the big leagues.
In the above video, watch Lyles face hitters in his first three innings of intrasquad work from Wednesday afternoon. It's particularly interesting to watch this angle on a pitcher like that, who we so often see shown on TV cameras pitching from the opposite angle in center field.
Lyles was throwing 91-93 mph throughout the game, according to the Rockies' radar guns behind the plate. As you can see, he showed a big, tight curve ball that tied up several of the minor leaguers during his appearance.
Something that stood out about Lyles throughout the game, especially when readily comparable to the field full of mostly minor leaguers around him, was the deliberate pace he took throughout. Not a fast worker by any means—or rather, just slower than the very quick pace of most of the minor league pitchers I've seen this spring—Lyles clearly was intent on slowing the game down.
That's no doubt due to his experience and level, but also may be inadvertently caused by the pacing pressure baseball has been putting on minor leaguers the last several years. Being in the big leagues, Lyles missed those initiatives, and, for better or worse, hasn't built up the same habits as minor leaguers working quickly on the mound.
Want more spring training video? Click here and subscribe to our YouTube channel.