Some Rockies-centric Links (2.28.23)

Here’s what I’m reading and listening to this week.

This is Rockies Pitch, a newsletter about the Colorado Rockies. Please consider subscribing and sharing this link with a friend.

---

There was a lot of baseball news last week.

First, like a lot of baseball fans, I spent the weekend watching Spring Training baseball and thinking about the new pitch clock. (Spoiler: I still like it.)

But the new rules have generated a lot of commentary.

Codify @CodifyBaseball

The average length of an MLB game in 1978? 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan

Time of game for Padres-Mariners: 2 hours, 29 minutes. Time of game for Rangers-Royals: 2 hours, 33 minutes. This is spring training and a minuscule sample. But it's hard to understate how drastically the pitch clock is going to change baseball.

• Here’s an early viral moment that showed the umpire being utterly ruthless in rules enforcement (as he should!):

  Jeff Passan @JeffPassan

  Bottom of the ninth. Tie game. Bases loaded. Full count. The dream scenario. And ... Cal Conley didn't get set in the batter's box with 8 seconds left on the pitch clock. Umpire calls an automatic strike. At-bat over. Inning over. This is the new reality.

• Corey Brock looks at the players’ perspective while Patrick Saunders spoke with Kyle Freeland about the adjustment. (Freeland has also only begun using PitchCom, so he’s got a lot going on right now.) Jesse Rogers writes that games averaged 2:29 minutes during the opening Spring Training weekend, down from 3:01 in 2022.

• We also learned that AT&T SportsNet has told their affiliated professional teams (including the Rockies) that they will be handling their own broadcasts this year. Read more about that here from Maury Brown and John Ourand here. Looks like Rockies fans will probably be streaming games via MLB.

• The broadcast landscape appears to be changing rapidly. Ryan Spilborghs announced that he would be doing an Apple TV+ weekly broadcast.

  Ryan Spilborghs @spillygoat19

  I’m excited to join @AppleTV on Friday nights for baseball coverage. Getting the privilege to watch @MLB and be a part of a broadcast is a passion I didn’t know I was going to love. I just wanted to play ball. Not going anywhere, love my @Rockies @ATTSportsNetRM @MLBNetworkRadio

  

  Purple Row @PurpleRow

  Congrats to @spillygoat19! (Just tell us you’re not leaving your Rockies coverage on AT&T SportsNet….) https://t.co/2Vbhw1w5zL

• The Rockies are now 3-0 in Spring Training games, which means absolutely nothing because these games tell us very little about how a team will perform during the season. Still, let’s take a moment to appreciate this Kris Bryant bomb from yesterday’s game against the Athletics.

  Colorado Rockies @Rockies

  KB's bat is boomin'

• My dad texted me this Stephanie Apstein piece about some MLB jersey thefts. If you read nothing else I recommend, make it this. (Yes, there’s Rockies content.)

• Thomas Harding has selected his Rockies “dark horse” — and it’s probably not who you think it is.

• It’s time to start previewing MiLB teams. Kenneth Weber looks at the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies.

• Baseball America has firmed up their top prospects list for the Rockies system. Biggest surprise? Jordan Beck is tenth.

• Speaking of prospects, ten of them recently attended a horse show — and learned some lessons about the Rockies’ pitching philosophy.

Minor League Baseball @MiLB

You might need to start measuring these #Rockies prospects' fastball velocities in horsepower. A group of young Colorado arms visited the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show on Saturday night: atmlb.com/3kyzelJ

• This is one of the more interesting pieces I read this week — it’s from Andres Mitre, and it’s about the correlation between large analytics staffs and winning. (The Rockies do not fare well.)

• Adam Ottavino’s post-retirement career seems to be coming into focus, and it involves coaching.

• Tyler Kinley is generally a fascinating interview subject, so I appreciated his conversation with Drew Goodman.

Joe Kelly’s new book, A Damn Near Perfect Game, comes out today, and you can read my review on Pitcher List. (I’ve got some thoughts for Rockies fans that didn’t really fit the review, but I’ll share them later.)

Look for a new Rockies Pitch on Friday, and, in the meantime, enjoy some Spring Training baseball!

Thanks for reading —

Renee

@ReneeDechert (Twitter) ★ @ReneeDechert (Mastodon) ★ @Renee.Dechert (Instagram) ★ @ReneeDechert (Post)