BSN Exclusive: Rockies shed light on their new identity

DENVER – For 150 years, it has been understood that in order to consistently win baseball games, it all starts with pitching. But for 25 years in Colorado, the Rockies have been known for their famous sluggers.

Debating the Top 10 position players in Colorado Rockies history brings up names known around the nation like Walker, Helton, Bichette, Galarraga, Castilla, Cargo, Tulo, Blackmon and Arenado.

When it comes to the men who have taken the mound with the most power over the final outcome? Ubaldo… Jorge… Francis?

From the fans out in the stands to the movers and shakers up in the front office, to the guys in uniform, nobody around this organization has seen a team that is specifically built around run prevention to the degree that the 2018 squad is.

And, therefore, nobody is quite sure what to expect from it.

Take DJ LeMahieu’s statement to BSN Denver, a sentence that would have seemed straight out of science fiction a mere three years ago: “Our pitching is kind of taking the pressure off our offense. We haven’t been stringing a ton of huge innings together. We’re on our way there.”

And then this…

“It doesn’t surprise me at all. The way they’ve pitched isn’t anything like ‘Oh my gosh, they’re pitching out of their minds’ you know? They’re just pitching really well. And when you have quality starters one-through-five and they get hot at the same time, it’s gonna make for some winning streaks.”

The Rockies’ best run of baseball this season saw a six-game winning streak that came right in the midst of a stretch of 13 out of 14 quality starts. And like LeMahieu said, there was nothing especially mind-boggling, or even surprising, about it.

“It’s progressively carrying on,” says top-of-the-rotation starter Jon Gray. “We’re feeding energy off each other. If I see someone go out the night before me and throw a really good game, I’m super motivated to go out and do that or better the next day. I think that’s what we got going on. Everyone’s competing with each other, we’re on the same page. We’re talking about each other’s games and how we match up with lineups. I think we’re getting the best out of it that one.”

The guy that just so happens to pitch before him in the rotation, Kyle Freeland, is on a streak of getting into the seventh inning in five straight games, all quality starts.

“He’s super competitive,” Gray says of the lefty. “You’ll never catch him not competing. He’s gonna give everything he has and leave it out there which is what I love about him. Even if you look at his delivery, it looks aggressive, it looks like he is attacking every time. I think that’s what you have to have here. If he’s working the bottom corners and the heater up and in, he’s tough to hit.”

This shift in team identity has been noticed by at least one of its two star players.

“It’s been fantastic,” says Nolan Arenado. “Those guys have been competing, throwing strikes and they’re just giving us a chance to win. And I think we’re taking advantage of that right now. Hopefully, we can sustain that throughout the whole year. The pitching has done a great job and it’s a credit to them.”

But how good they have been is only a small part of the equation says the team captain.

“They’re pitching good, but some of these guys that can be even better than what they are,” continued Arenado. “They’re good, but they can be better. That’s a good thing to know. I think we don’t need to put that pressure on them. Let’s just let them keep doing their thing. Just keep going out there and competing.”

Even for the men at the helm of the movement, the end results are still taking some getting used to.

“We’ve seen a lot of games lately that are like 3-2, 2-1… those are becoming more of a thing,” Gray said. “When you have games like this, it feels like momentum is on your side the whole time. You don’t feel like you are going back and forth. I just feel like it keeps momentum behind us.”

When asked to pinpoint exactly what has led to a Rockies pitching staff that, while they’ve still had ups-and-downs, has managed to put forth more consistent quality efforts than almost any other in franchise history. Gray answers with one on-field reason and one that may run a bit deeper.

“I think we’re doing a good job not walking a lot of guys,” he said. “We’re attacking people and making work their way on.”

That’s good for just about any staff in baseball but definitely must be driven home over and over again for this young group with wicked stuff that can sometimes start to lose trust in it.

But the final thing he said represented a true turning point in the history of this franchise. Whether or not it bears out for a postseason run in 2018, and as innocuous as it may sound, the truth of it is showing fans of major league baseball something they’ve never seen before; a team at altitude that wins with run prevention.

How?

“We take a lot of pride in being Rockies,” says Gray.

That’s a huge step in the right direction.