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Arenado’s Team Purple pounces upon Story’s Team Pinstripe in intrasquad battle

Patrick Lyons
Patrick Lyons
July 15, 2020
Arenado’s Team Purple pounces upon Story’s Team Pinstripe in intrasquad battle

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Patrick Lyons

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ColoradoFanOxford

ColoradoFanOxford

July 15, 2020

Patrick, thanks for the summary. You and Drew are best baseball coverage around! (Question: is Tracey R going to “sit out” covering this year…I love Cowboy).

Did anyone indicate if Freeland’s issue were release point or if the balls were coming primarily on certain pitches? And were the balls close misses or Uke’s “just a bit outside”? Also, if Fuentes in line to break as part of the core 26? Seems like the large number of utility infield guys (who can also play OF) put him on the outside looking in. Hoping for any undrafted guy to truly make it in bigs, even as regular backup.

ColoradoFanOxford Replying to ColoradoFanOxford
Patrick Lyons

Patrick Lyons

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July 15, 2020

That is an interesting question to which I do not know the answer. While I can’t speak for him, I do know that there is ultimately zero reason for any media member to be at the ballpark. In the past, it was critical for building relationships with not only the players, but the Rockies’ staff all around the stadium. Now, everyone is sequestered to a given area and communication with players/coaches is strictly through Zoom, even though we’re in the same building.

As for Freeland, I know he’s been working on keeping his back side over his legs more to create more drive to the plate. It’s one of the reasons why he’s removed the hanging flamingo leg from his windup. He also appeared to have moved towards the third base side of the rubber which could radically change some of the angles hitters have grown accustomed to seeing.

Personally, Fuentes was a lock to make the main 26-man roster coming out Spring Training. There was a limit to pitchers (13) which meant there would only be four bench spots for position players. With so many left-handed bats in the lineup already, it seemed logical he’d make the club after a solid spring. Plus, Rodgers was unavailable at this time, so it seemed even more critical to have McMahon playing a bulk of the time at second. Coupled with no universal DH in March, Murphy needed to stick at 1B.

It might sound crazy, but I didn’t think Hilliard would make the club back in March. The odds were against him from the start and his early play was lackluster at the plate. He simply needs to cut down on strikeouts. Also consider that he would have been a fourth outfielder, at best as Dahl and Blackmon would have started six days a week. Tapia has no options so the only logical choice would have been to start Hilliard at AAA in order to give him regular playing time.

Thanks for reaching out, Chris! Keep the comments and questions coming!!

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