GRAND JUNCTION — On this very special episode of the BSN Denver Colorado Rockies podcast, Drew Creasman sits down with Grand Junction Rockies pitching coach Ryan Kibler. Kibler, a former pitcher in the Rockies system, has been molding young arms at their earliest levels of professional baseball for the last four years and is now starting to see some of that hard work paying off at the MLB level.

We talked about the early development of those players he worked with who are now Major Leaguers, including some things that may have hurt Eddie Butler early on, how and why Carlos Estevez was able to go from an afterthought to an MLB Closer so quickly, and how rewarding it is to see Jon Gray succeeding and all of these guys still on the path of bettering themselves.

Then we discussed his newest project: first-round draft pick Riley Pint. Kibler beamed over Pint’s stuff and mentality as much as I’ve ever seen him beam over a pitcher and that includes Gray and Kyle Freeland.

Finally, we wrap things up with a little praise for a few of Kibler’s old teammates, Ryan Spilborghs and Cory Sullivan and the job they’ve been doing as broadcasters.

If you find yourself even the least bit interested in the finer aspects of pitching mechanics and pitching development (especially the mental side) then you don’t want to miss this one.