Friday On The Rox: The Organization's All Stars

“Friday On The Rox” is BSN Denver’s weekly highlights from baseball, and other stuff! It’s our favorite links, articles, gifs, Vines, stories, pictures, tweets, or really anything that we like that we saw in the world from the week. Of course, we’ll make it Rockies-centric.

Tyler Maun of milb.com and the Purple Dinosaur Podcast released his “Rockies Organization All-Stars” on Wednesday. This is how he lined them up:

Catcher, Dom Nunez, Single-A

First baseman, Collin Ferguson, Rookie/Low-A

Second baseman, Forrest Wall, Single-A/Low-A

Shortstop, Trevor Story, Double-A/Triple-A

Third baseman, Kevin Padlo, Low-A/Single-A

Outfield, David Dahl, Double-A/Low-A

Outfield, Raimel Tapia, High-A

Outfield, Jordan Patterson: High-A/Double-A

Utility, Jonathan Piron, Rookie

Right-handed starter, Antonio Senzatela, High-A

Left-handed starter, Sam Howard, Single-A

Relief, Jason Gurka, Double-A/Triple-A/MLB

For Tyler’s reasoning please click here.

If I had to pick three Rockies minor leaguers who were the best in 2015 I’d pick Patterson, Story, and Senzatela.

Patterson is a 23-year-old outfielder who is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League as an infielder. He split the year between High-A and Double-A. Combined he hit .297/.364/.543 with 17 HR, 75 RBI, and 18 SB.

Story is the Rockies top shortstop prospect, he split the year between Double-A and Triple-A. This year he hit .279/.350/.514, with 20 HR, 80 RBI, and 22 SB. The 22-year-old will likely get his first taste of the big leagues sometime in 2016.

Senzatela is still in the low minors but the last two seasons he has been great. This year at High-A the 20-year-old threw 154 innings with a 2.51 ERA and a 9-9 record. His 1.065 WHIP and 8.4 K/9 this year are very encouraging. Next year he will get a chance in the high minors, with the potential to reach Triple-A.

Links:

Seattle Times / Matt Pentz // Seattle Mariners name Andy McKay as director of player development

Andy McKay had been the Peak Performance Coordinator for the Rockies for the past three years. He had an emphasis on the mental aspects of the game, and he is a Division II national champion as a player/coach at the University of Tampa, he also coached in the Northwoods and Cape Cod Leagues.

USA Today /// Don Mattingly won’t return as Dodgers manager in 2016

This is big for the Rockies as the Dodgers have reigned supreme in the NL West for the past few years. It will be a very interesting offseason in LA with Zack Greinke expected to opt-out coupled with the club’s disappointing finishes over the past few years despite their astronomical payroll. Both the Padres and Dodgers are looking for new managers.

MLB.com / Thomas Harding // Blackmon all business on field, less so off

The 2014 All-Star who arguably had a better 2015 talks to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding about his offseason. The fan favorite and owner of some of the best facial hair in the majors shows off his personality.

Purple Row / Matt Gross // The Rockies 40-man roster crunch will continue to play out in the coming weeks

One of my favorite reads Matt Gross runs us through the Rockies 40-man roster which will have some moves coming. He also writes about the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.

Purple Row (Fanpost) / Cameron Goeldner // If baseball is dying, it can be blamed on players like Sam Dyson

One of my better friends, Goeldner, absolutely nails it with this perspective on Jose Bautista‘s bat flip in Toronto.

“For baseball to keep moving forward, it needs Jose Bautista and Yasiel Puig and the bat flips and excitement they bring to the game; it needs players like that, who show the emotions that are associated with being a baseball player; emotions that anyone who has ever played the game at any level can relate to.”

Rox Pile / Andrew Dill // New York Mets Passing on Troy Tulowitzki Was Blessing in Disguise

Dill argues that what the Mets were offering the Rockies for Troy Tulowitzki wasn’t as good as what the Rockies got for him.

MLBTR / Jeff Todd // Offseason Outlook: Colorado Rockies

“The Rockies shipped out mega-star Troy Tulowitzki this summer,” Todd writes. “In the midst of another miserable campaign, does his departure portend more changes to the big league roster?” Todd lends his perspective on what the Rockies options are this offseason.

Notes:

One of the Rockies’ top pitching prospects Kyle Freeland rebounded from his first poor start in the Arizona Fall League with a solid second start. He threw three scoreless innings, giving up five hits and walking three. Here is a story on it.

Rockies’ prospects Alex Balog, Robbie Perkins, and Correlle Prime are going to play in the Australian Baseball League this winter (summer in Australia). There could possibly be more players announced, so stay tuned.

Twitter’s Top Ten:

https://twitter.com/clubtrillion/status/656659295048736768

A wall of grass currently sporting a better UZR than Jorge Soler

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 21, 2015

The ivy is AWESOME. Just like the Green Monster and Tal's Hill and all the other weird ballpark things. If you don't like it, you're wrong.

— Paul Swydan (@Swydan) October 21, 2015

The manager with a lead, getting close to the World Series, with a franchise not cursed by a farm animal, is the one that’s angry.

— Dave Cameron (@OneDaveCameron) October 21, 2015

NSFW Hall of Famer names, ranked: 5. Candy Cummings 4. Three-Finger Brown 3. Pud Galvin 2. Heinie Manush 1. Cum Posey

— Justin McGuire (@JMcGuireMLB) October 19, 2015

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsLive/status/656969854323306497

Kyle Kendrick's highest Game Score in 2015 was 69, that was recored on April 6th. He induced a season high 9 swinging strikes in the game.

— Jake Shapiro, but festive 🎁 (@Shapalicious) October 21, 2015

https://twitter.com/purpledinocast/status/656532300633497601

https://twitter.com/joe_felice_/status/655965490485919744

Best Tweet

My all-time Rockies team:

Bichette
Ellis
Neagle
Gonzalez
Hawkins
Arenado
Zeile
Iannetta

— Chris Chrisman (@chrischrisman) October 23, 2015

Music for the weekend: Before we get to the music, make sure to come out to the BSN Denver party tonight at Broadways Tavern.

Silversun Pickups new album “Better Nature” came out just a few weeks ago, one of the headline songs Nightlight is a solid banger. Here is the live performance of that song, they also had a great full-set live performance on the one and only KEXP which you can find here.