3 keys to Blackmon’s turnaround at the plate | MLB.com
What a relief it has been to see Charlie Blackmon hitting like himself again. If the Rockies are going to finish digging out of their early hole they will need the offense, and they will need Blackmon for the offense to tick.
Blackmon is a thinking man’s hitter, and this article from Thomas Harding lays out how he has adjusted to snap an early season slump. Most interesting is that Blackmon has noted how he was pitched and how defenses shifted against him, and that has motivated him to make sure he can drive the ball the other way. If baseball is a game of adjustments, this is another example of why that suits Chuck Nazty.
Rockies’ Jon Gray on a quest to funnel his frustration into focus | Mile High Sports
The mental approach of Gray was widely discussed going into this season. It’s hard for us to measure how his mentality factored into those blowup innings in previous seasons. All we know for sure is they happened.
Luke Zahlmann offers some interesting quotes from Gray about how he is focusing on the positive this season and trying to slow things down when he feels himself getting frustrated. The results are mostly there in 2019. Gray has a 120 ERA+ and 9.1 K/9 mark through seven starts. Hopefully he can keep it up and be a stabilizing presence in a rotation that suddenly needs one.
It’s been a bumpy ride so far for the young starting pitchers on the Rockies. Nick Groke takes a look at one problem: they’re giving up lots of home runs. And get your Coors memes out of here, because it’s just bad pitching. Take a look at Antonio Senzatela’s mistakes against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday if you want to see a couple examples.
27 Best things about the Mike Fiers no-hitter | Athletics Nation
Baseball, man. Mike Fiers has two career no-hitters. That’s fun. That’s one more than the Rockies have in their franchise history. Alex Hall provides a very fun look at what Fiers accomplished this week.
On the farm
Pat Valaika is making quite the case to be the poster boy for a “quad-A” player. He might look overmatched in the big leagues, but boy is he hitting in Triple-A. He hit his eighth home run for the Isotopes in their win. Sam Hilliard (PuRP no. 11) continues to hit for power, as he hit his 10th home run of the season.
Elsewhere in the minor leagues, Grant Lavigne (PuRP no. 6) hit a home run in Asheville’s win. That’s always a good sign for a top prospect who has been unsteady so far this season.
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 6, El Paso Chihuahuas 2
Double-A: Reading Fightin Phils 3, Hartford Yard Goats 1