It’s been a little more than a week with the newly implemented pitch clock, but the Colorado Rockies are averaging two hours and 30 minutes as their time of game.
For a team that’s already at the physical disadvantage of playing 5,280 feet above sea level, something may actually be on their side.
“It’s going to be good on our bodies, especially playing here,” Kris Bryant said of the quicker games. “Anytime you can get off your feet for an extra 30 minutes a day and put that out over 162 games, I think you’re going to be feeling a lot more fresh at the end of the year.”
Three stints on the injured listed in 2022 left him with a final tally of 42 games played. Signed to a seven-year, $182 million contract, it was a major disappointment for the organization, its fans and Bryant himself.
This year, reducing the amount of time spent on his feet could be invaluable to a player who has missed a combined 239 games since the start of 2018. Considering it were those same feet that caused him to miss the final 60 games with a bout of plantar fasciitis, the less time standing around in the outfield on uncomfortable cleats, the better.
Apr 4, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Kris Bryant (23) rounds third base to score in the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Teammate Jurickson Profar has only experienced the new rules for five games — literally, as he missed the entirety of Spring Training after participating in the World Baseball Classic with Team Netherlands and dealt with issues entering the United States in late March due to visa issues — but he’s noticed a major difference.
“I like it. The games are going by really fast,” the Curaçao native said of the impact. “Usually you’re very tired after games. I don’t feel tired yet.”
Friday night’s 10-5 loss came loaded with three home runs, eight walks and 29 total hits and, yet, it managed to wrap in two hours and 38 minutes.
The patterns of baseball in 2023 are the same as the ones a decade ago for players and fans alike. Go back half a century and it’s still identical. The rhythms, however, are quite different for the professionals who’ve played this game, sans clock, since they were children.
The rules have been outlined for the pitch clock, but there are growing pains. Despite an entire Spring Training with these rules in place, hitters are being rushed to get ready, pitchers are wanting to throw before the batter is set with their eyes up, and umpires are adjusting to the clock and maintaining an awareness of it at all times.
Apr 7, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Kris Bryant (23) makes a catch for an out in the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
“I think there’s certain things that players and umpires alike are still trying to figure out,” Bryant said of the new rules. “But I think so far, so good.”
The proof is in the pudding right now for the 31-year-old in his second season with the Rockies. Bryant has opened 2023 with an eight-game hitting streak, longest to start a season in his nine-year career and tied for the longest streak in MLB with José Abreu of the Houston Astros and José Ramírez of the Cleveland Guardians.
Did Bryant need this kind of start to his season after all the frustration his first year with Colorado wrought?
“I think it’s very easy to kind of press early on in the season, just because there’s a lot of zeros up on the scoreboard and you don’t want them to be zeros,” he explained. “Everybody wants to just get off to a good start, but it’s a long season. There’s so many games. We play way too many games and there’s a lot of opportunities out there, so no need to press for me.”
Apr 6, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Kris Bryant (23) is introduced before the game against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Batting .344 (11-for-32) with two doubles and three runs batted in, Bryant is looking confident at the plate. That first home run at Coors Field is still missing from his resumé, but he’s finding holes and reaching base with his bat. The positive impact of this affects more than just his player page on Baseball Reference.
“It will eventually provide dividends because he’s gonna get on base, he’s gonna take the pressure off a lot of hitters,” manager Bud Black said of Bryant’s presence in the lineup. “I think he’s gonna give you a good at bat. He’s gonna take his walks. He’s gonna get hits. And other guys watch other good players and it will rub off that way.”
As Black also pointed out, Bryant was at the front of the rallies during the first two wins of the season in San Diego, creating traffic on the bases for Charlie Blackmon, who followed up with his own hits, and allowing C.J. Cron to do his job in the cleanup spot. When the initial series against the Padres wrapped, Cron was selected as the National League Player of the Week.
The pitch clock hasn’t helped Colorado in the win column, especially considering they’ve won once in the last week, but the benefits of keeping Bryant healthy for 162 games could pay major dividends.
“If the trends going that way where we’re 30 minutes less, you play that over a full season, that’s probably like days that you’re off your feet instead of just hours or minutes,” Bryant shared. “So I certainly think that could have a big impact, but at the same time, the games are quicker paced. There’s really not any chance to catch your breath, so it’s a balancing act so far. I think we’re all responding to it pretty well.”
Apr 6, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Kris Bryant (23) holds his bat as he steps in to the batters box in the fifth inning against the Washington Nationals at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The home run total was low (5), but the doubles (12) were plentiful in 2022. He finished with a .306 batting average during his 160 at bats and was tops on the team with a .475 slugging percentage among the 14 Rockies who also played at least 42 games. It was a small sample size last April, but the ability to be a hitter was apparent for Bryant.
“Going through the process of free agency, that was on my mind as well,” Bryant said of the benefits of hitting with the Rockies’ large outfield. “I feel like certain hits as a hitter, you’re not satisfied with them. But if you can do it over a 10-year career, like the hit I got today. A blooper to center. I’ve done that a lot in my career. In Chicago, those gaps there are much smaller, so they weren’t falling as hits. Then you come here when you’re battling with two strikes and you can kind of do that in the back of your mind knowing that there’s a good chance that that could be a hit. It fits me and I’m totally okay with hits like that.”
When Colorado signed Michael Cuddyer to a three-year deal in December 2011, the outfielder had never batted above .284 during his 11 season with the Minnesota Twins. In his second season with the Rockies, he won the 2013 NL batting title with a .331 average in his age-34 season.
Bryant, who hasn’t batted above .282 since his third season with the Chicago Cubs, is probably the best candidate to bring the batting crown back to Denver for the first time since Blackmon in 2017.
It might be a tall order to predict such success for a player coming off the worst season of his career, but this is still a player who won the Rookie of the Year, MVP and helped end a 108-year World Series drought within a two-year span. We’re also in a completely different world.
It’s the pitch clock era and things are different. For the team with attitude at altitude, something may finally be going their way.
