Rockies’ Nolan Arenado opens up about “frustrating” 2019 season | Mile High Sports
This obviously was not what Arenado had in mind for the first season after he signed a long-term extension to stay with the Colorado Rockies. And while it seems obvious on the surface that the problem lies with the pitching, Arenado offers a more nuanced position on things here.
For example, Arenado observes that at times it seemed like the pitching was bad when the hitting was good, but then the hitting would be bad when the pitching was good. That was definitely something that felt true as the Rockies plummeted down the standings. There are other interesting nuggets in this article from Aniello Piro, among them that Arenado acknowledges the gap between the Rockies and the “really good teams.” Hopefully the front office will do the same.
Speaking of the weirdness that has been this season, Andy McCullough talked to Chuck Nazty and took a look at those ridiculously crooked home/road splits this season. Besides all of our shared frustration with how Colorado hitters are viewed, Blackmon also discusses the toll it takes on his body to go on road trips and then come home.
This piece has a lot of interesting information about the differences between altitude and road parks, including some scouting report-type comments from Dodgers pitchers. What’s clear is that Blackmon’s pitch recognition in Colorado is exceptional. I bet it is on the road too, but the difference in what the pitches do is enough that it takes a few games to adjust, and by the time he’s adjusted it’s time to go home.
This is a topic that has been explored before, and it never makes you feel great about the future for the Rockies. For now, it will be interesting to see how Blackmon does on the road as he makes these adjustments for the rest of this season.
He certainly has the results. But as Nick Groke writes about here, the question of his underlying talent as a hitter has been discussed lately. Does he swing look like a good hitter? Certainly by pitcher’s standards. And Nolan Arenado at least makes the case that Márquez is elite at keeping his head still. That’s something.
Your 2019 local MLB announcer rankings | Awful Announcing
The Rockies booth checks in at 25. That’s about right, mostly because Drew Goodman tries to turn every half inning into a sports talk radio segment. It’s one thing to fill the down time of a baseball game. It’s another to have it sound like the game is getting in the way of your eventually unrelated conversation about shifts or old locker room stories or whatever, night after night.
Another thing that is correct here is that the Giants booth is second and the Padres booth is the top ranked crew. As an out of market fan, I watch both of those announcing crews every chance I get.
On the farm
Triple-A: Round Rock Express 4, Albuquerque Isotopes 2
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 7, Portland Sea Dogs 2
High-A: Lake Elsinore Storm 9, Lancaster JetHawks 4
Low-A: Rome Braves 13, Asheville Tourists 8
Short Season-A: Spokane Indians 3, Boise Hawks 1
Rookie: Billings Mustangs 3, Grand Junction Rockies 2
DSL 1: DSL Cardinals Blue 8, DSL Rockies 7
DSL 2: DSL Colorado 4, DSL Giants 3