Results tagged ‘ Justin Upton ’
Hitting coach wants better mechanics from Fowler
Rockies hitting coach Carney Lansford heard that center fielder Dexter Fowler visiting Las Vegas with Jason Giambi, Troy Tulowitzki and others for offseason workouts. He saw a stronger Fowler arrive at Spring Training.
Now he is looking at Fowler’s .114 batting average through his first 14 Cactus League games and wondering if there is a connection.
“He lifted a lot this offseason, got a lot stronger, so he’s trying to hit the ball farther, which is a huge mistake for him,” Lansford said Tuesday morning. “I don’t mind him lifting. I just don’t want him changing mechanics from what he did the second half of last season.”
Fowler added a leg kick to his swing in the middle of last season, during a demotion to Triple-A Colorado Springs. He returned with improved timing and put up strong second half numbers. But Lansford and manager Jim Tracy have noticed that the kick wasn’t the same. Corrections are being made in hopes of avoiding a slow start, something Fowler has suffered through the last two years.
“He was picking [his foot] up too far, and his hands were not in the right spot, either,” Lansford said. “He’s going back to where he feels comfortable with his hands. He’s actually starting to swing the bat better. We’ve got nine days left. It would be the perfect time to get right, going into the season.
Fowler had another rough day at the plate Monday against the Angels, but Tracy said his swing was bettr and he hasn’t carried his offensive struggles to the field.
Usually the leadoff hitter, or No. 2 hitter on days Tracy experiements with Marco Scutaro in the top spot, Fowler hit eighth Tuesday afternoon against the D-backs. Eric Young Jr. batted leadoff and started in left. Jonathan Herrera, fighting the numbers game for an Opening Day roster spot, is hitting second and Scutaro is batting third.
ROCKIES LINEUP
Eric Young Jr., LF
Jonathan Herrera, SS
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Ramon Hernandez, C
Todd Helton, 1B
Jordan Pacheco, 3B
Tyler Colvin, RF
Dexter Fowler, CF
Jeremy Guthrie, RHP
ROCKIES RELIEF PITCHING
Rex Brothers, LHP
Josh Roenicke, RHP
Rafael Betancourt, RHP
Keith Weiser, LHP
Zach Simons, RHP
D-BACKS LINEUP
Gerardo Parra, LF
Aaron Hill, 2B
Justin Upton, RF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Ryan Roberts, 2B
Henry Blanco, C
John McDonald, SS
Patrick Corbin, LHP
D-BACKS RELIEF PITCHING
Craig Breslow, LHP
Joe Paterson, RHP
Bryan Shaw, RHP
Mike Zagurski, LHP
Brad Ziegler, RHP
Also, the Rockies are using right-handed pitcher Guillermo Moscoso in a Minor League game.
De La Rosa leaves with middle finger blister
Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa left Saturday night’s game against the D-backs in the top of the sixth, leading 3-0, with a blister to the middle finger of his pitching hand.
De La Rosa held the D-backs scoreless and struck out five, against three hits and a walk, in 5 1/3 innings at Coors Field. He also drove in a run with a fourth-inning single. De La Rosa threw strikes on 54 of his 87 pitches. No immediate announcement about the nature of the injury was made.
Last year, De La Rosa missed 12 starts with a torn sheath of a tendon on his left middle finger. De La Rosa also has dealt with finger blisters in the past.
It adds to a difficult start of the season for Rockies pitching. Ace Ubaldo Jimenez struggled with neither fastball velocity nor command of any of his pitches in Friday’s 7-6, 11-inning loss to the D-backs. A cut on his right thumb cuticle, a problem that flared once during Spring Training and cost him a start, was a culprit. It is unclear if he will make his next scheduled start, Thursday against the Pirates at PNC Park.
After throwing a pitch to Justin Upton with one out in the sixth, Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger visited the mound, and manager Jim Tracy removed De La Rosa and replaced him with Matt Belisle with little conversation.
As the Rockies left Spring Training in Scottsdale, Ariz., their backups in case a rotation member had to miss a start were right-handers Greg Reynolds, John Maine and Clayton Mortensen.
Maine won 17 games for the Mets in 2007. He looked ahead of schedule this spring in his recovery from a shoulder surgery last June. Reynolds fought shoulder and elbow issues last year and did not appear in the Majors. Mortensen came in a trade with the Athletics before Spring Training.
Tracy sees positives in Corpas’ return
Righty reliever Manuel Corpas, who missed the second half of last season with elbow issues, walked two and gave up a hit but didn’t surrender a run in his return to the mound, in the fifth inning of Monday’s 11-1 Cactus League-opening victory over the D-backs at Tucson Electric Park.
Corpas, who hasn’t regained the form he showed as closer for the 2007 National League Champion Rockies, finished on a high note, by working Justin Upton into a double-play grounder.
“He was missing, but in missing he was missing down in the zone,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “They were not non-competitive misses, but they were balls down out of the zone. The area where we want the ball to be was correct, but the command of the area, the ocntrol of the area, was not exactly where we’ve seen Manny Corpas be in the past.
“He’s aware of it. He’ll get there. But what I liked about it was he kept his shoulders back, real broad, when he needed to make a pitch, and got a double-play ball, inning over.”
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