Thursday, March 15, 2012

Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 14 vs. Chicago

Hits

Jhoulys Chacin

Chacin had another strong outing today, tossing three shutout innings (only 44 pitches). He was scheduled and certainly positioned to go longer, but a "small" blister on his right index finger put an end to his afternoon. He'll get treatment for that and should be fine for his next scheduled outing.

Wilin Rosario

The Rockies top catching prospect locked and unloaded his second monster home run of the week. The first was a 400 foot plus shot off San Diego lefty Alex Hinshaw on Monday. Today's was a two-run blast off former Rockie Rodrigo Lopez. Rosario's raw power is unquestionable, so it's really just a matter of adjusting to better pitching and staying disciplined. It sounds like he's making noticeable improvement in both areas so far.

Jordan Pacheco

Hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the sixth that ended up being the difference. Think he's having a decent spring so far? I'd say so.

Misses

Ben Paulsen sent to minor league camp

It's not so much a miss because Paulsen is leaving camp (we all knew that was going to happen eventually), it's a miss because Paulsen is leaving camp before the manager's kid, Chad Tracy. That kinda sends the message that Tracy is higher on the team's depth chart, and that's a message I'm not comfortable receiving at this point. I guess he has some more time to prove me wrong (losing a popup in the sun today was a bad start), but I'd rather see Paulsen get some more meaningful reps to help prove me right.

You can read the full list of first round cuts over at the Denver Post.

Spring Training Hits & Misses: Game 13 vs. Arizona

Hits

Juan Nicasio

As Bob Apodaca told the guys on KOA before the game, it's time to stop looking at Nicasio as a comeback story because that story is pretty much complete. Now it's time to evaluate him as a pitcher, and as a pitcher, Nicasio was rock solid tonight allowing only one unearned run on three hits over four innings. The only little blemish or concern was his inability to put a handful of hitters away, which elevated his pitch count. But that's quite a minor thing at this stage. Overall a very impressive and encouraging outing.

Carlos Gonzalez

His first inning three-run home run off Josh Collmenter will get the attention, but I was happier to hear his RBI single off left-hander Wade Miley. The Rockies need CarGo to get back on track against southpaws in 2012, so any progress/success there is worth mentioning. Also, it's safe to assume he's going to keep the bat companies busy again after tonight's original piece of lumber was unable to survive the punishing contact of both hits.

Jonathan Herrera

Three more hits for the pesky utility man. Is it even worth mentioning anymore, or should we just assume Herrera is handling his business in March?