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.

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Spring Training Game 23: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Reds 10, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

Hits

Um...

Well, no one got hurt. And everyone remembered their uniform.

Misses

John Maine

Whatever mystery was left in the Rockies 5th starter derby was gone about three batters into today's game. Maine was brutal... to put it nicely. His velocity was down according to people on scene. His command left a lot to be desired. He committed an error on a throw. Awful.

Sadly, it actually fit right in with several other performances by Rockies starters this week, only they weren't pitching for a job.

Sloppiness

Three more errors defensively. Some more icky base running. They should be playing much sharper baseball at this point. You can understand it when everyone is getting their feet under them and just getting work in. We're less than two weeks from opening day now, it's time to work out the kinks and play solid ball. Hopefully we see the beginning of that tomorrow.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales/Reds broadcast

First real discouraging outing this spring for the man Reds radio described as one of the most dominant lefties in the game. Eh, well, he should be, and maybe he will be, but come on guys.

The funny thing is, knowing Reds broadcasters (mostly the Brennamans) as well as I do, I know they didn't say that because they didn't do their homework. They know who Morales is and the numbers have to be right there in front of them. They just go out of their way to dress up everything the Reds do. 

Yeah, all home team announcers do that to an extent. The Reds guy take it to levels that are laughable.

Five players reassigned to minor league camp

Among them were Ben Paulsen and Charlie Blackmon, who represented themselves VERY well this spring. All Rockies fans should be impressed and encouraged by both.

Hernan Iribarren had a better than average spring. Didn't run the bases particularly well, but I'm not sure the Rockies view that as a negative.

Pitchers Claudio Vargas and Sean White will likely go to Colorado Springs. White might be one of those relief arms you see come up in September... or he could be released tomorrow.

Spring Training Game 22: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 9, Brewers 7 (boxscore)

Hits

Todd Helton

No hits for Helton, but two walks and he scored all the way from first base on a Ty Wigginton first inning double. Things are looking far more positive for him at this point than I anticipated - health wise and offensively - even with the move to Scottsdale easing the spring travel.

Ben Paulsen

Paulsen recaptured the lead for Colorado with a two-run single in the 7th inning. Regardless of the level of pitching he's faced most of the spring, you have to be impressed with his production. He'll be an interesting guy to follow in the minors as the season progresses.

Misses

Greg Reynolds

First three innings: 1 H

Last three innings: 8 H, 6 ER, 2 K

Well, maybe there's a future for Reynolds in long or middle relief. This probably is/was his best chance at cracking the Rockies rotation, and now it's gone.

Esmil Rogers, come on down. John Maine, you're on standby.

Jorge De La Rosa

Continuing the theme of Rockies starters getting clunkers out of the way this week, De La Rosa allowed seven hits, five earned runs, walked one and struck out four in four innings against the Angels High-A squad. Not pretty, but not overly concerning.

Foul Tips

1st Inning

Much like the Greg Reynolds situation for Colorado, injuries to Zack Greinke and Shawn Marcum left the door open for Brewers prospect Wily Peralta to make the opening day roster. That door likely closed today. Peralta recorded 14 less outs than the Brewers were hopeful he would. Within the first eight batters, he allowed five runs, six hits and walked one.

It was brutal for Peralta, but it was good to see a full lineup of main roster Rockies feasting on a nervous young pitcher. Unfortunately, much like we saw several times last season, the offense started hot and then was completely shut down by Tim Dillard and others until the 7th inning.

Matt Reynolds

Reynolds notched his first scoreless inning in 1-2-3 fashion. That has to be quite a feeling of relief... lame pun intended.

Spring Training Game 16: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 3 (boxscore)

Hits

Ben Paulsen

Another nice game for the impressive 23-year-old. His 6th inning two-run triple (4th this spring) was the difference in tonight's game. His spring average now sits at .474. He's driven in nine. He's playing acceptable defense at first. Just a solid ballplayer that continues to take advantage of his chances to impress.

Dexter Fowler

This will be the last time I list Fowler among the hits. He's having a terrific spring. That's all that needs to be said anymore.

Misses

The FSN Scroll

Seriously? It's annoying, distracting, pointless and useless. Make it go away.

Foul Tips

Greg Reynolds

We saw the good in Greg Reynolds tonight: Five mostly solid innings of two hit, two run ball.

We also saw the bad: Falling behind in counts and an inability to finish out at-bats and innings.

And then the ugly: The complete lapse in concentration that allows Henry Blanco to go deep on you.

While I've been mostly encouraged by what I've seen from Reynolds this spring, it really is troubling that he can't get over some of these hurdles that are holding him back. It makes you wonder if it will ever happen, and that's not a feeling you never want to have (or should have) about a #2 pick.

Spring Training Game 12: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 8, Angels 1 (boxscore)

Hits

Jhoulys Chacin

Chacin backs up De La Rosa's exceptional start from yesterday with a decent one of his own (4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K). Aside from DLR's hiccup last week and Paulino's disaster, Rockies starters have been on point in the early going. Hopefully we'll be saying the same thing four weeks from now.

Cole Garner/Ben Paulsen/Charlie Blackmon

A combined 5-for-6 with a HR (Paulsen), 4 RBI and 3 runs in limited time for these young guys this afternoon. Again, none of the three will make the opening day roster (barring injuries), but each has taken advantage of their chances to play and impressed on an almost daily basis.

The star of camp, Jordan Pacheco, actually cooled off with a 0-for-3, 1 BB performance. Maybe he was just allowing his buddies to have a little spotlight.

Jose Morales

Morales is quietly having a good spring and is almost a lock to be Chris Iannetta's backup come April 1st. He's not going to have a first half that comes anything close to Miguel Olivo's last season, but it's not far fetched to believe he will outproduce what Yorvit Torrealba gave the Rockies during his stay. I'll take that.

Hernan Iribarren

Iribarren is another guy that's taking advantage of his playing time. He helped break today's game open with an RBI during Colorado's 7-run 8th inning and is hitting a cool. 350 on the spring. The only real problem I've noticed so far with Hernan is his baserunning (picked off), so I guess he fits right in.

Misses

Nothing really stood out as a miss today. I could nitpick a couple things like Seth Smith misjudging a flyball or Iribarren getting picked off again, but we'll save all that for June.

Foul Tips

Dexter Fowler

No hits for Fowler but he did reach base twice via the base on balls. That's another good sign from where I sit.

John Maine

Congratulations to Maine for getting out there and throwing a couple scoreless innings. He dealt with a little traffic, probably wasn't as sharp as he would prefer, but all in all it had to feel good to retire some major league hitters and see 0's on the board.

Spring Training Game 7: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Rockies 10, Royals 9 (boxscore)

Hits

Carlos Gonzalez

Pretty good hitter when he's locked... which is apparently all the time. The sound off his bat is second to no one in either league.

Jason Giambi

The ball was making a nice sound off Giambi's bat as well. Two doubles, two RBI. I get the feeling he's going to help the Rockies a lot this season after struggling to gain comfort in his role most of 2010.

Jordan Pacheco

What? Only 1-for-4 today? What's the matter with Jordan?

Kidding. That one hit was a 2-run double. He also stole a base and gunned down the speedy Alcides Escobar on a SB attempt. He's the unquestioned star of camp through the first week of games.

Misses

Esmil Rogers

Felipe Paulino is now the clear favorite for the 5th rotation spot after Esmil's bleh outing today. You can live with the four hits he allowed, but it's the walk and the two hit batters in just three innings that lead to extensive damage, short outings and taxed bullpens.

The good news is he has time to find his release point and get that consistency down, but not as much time as a guy like Chacin or De La Rosa, who already have their roster spots locked up.

Claudio Vargas

Nothing to see here. Triple A roster filler at best.

Greg Smith

Smith had his second uneven performance is as many appearances. He may not even get past the first cut down.

Foul Tips

Franklin Morales

Another scoreless outing for Morales despite a Mike Aviles triple, which is encouraging. Obviously there's a big difference between showing poise now and showing poise in April or August, but it's a start.

Also, the more Rockies fans hate on this kid the more I pull for him. There's no better feeling than silencing critics. That's the feeling I want for Franklin. I also want him to make the Rockies better, so that kinda goes hand-in-hand.

Ben Paulsen/Charlie Blackmon

Paulsen and Blackmon continue to contribute something positive whenever they're afforded the opportunity. That's all you can ask for of these kids. Great attitudes that fit the Rockies mold perfectly.

Spring Training Game 5: Hits, Misses & Foul Tips

Giants 7, Rockies 5 (boxscore)

Hits

Todd Helton

Helton vowed to swing better today after a rough afternoon on Wednesday. He delivered on his promise, lining out to right in his first appearance and doubling in his second. So that's good.

Jordan Pacheco/Ben Paulsen

Another day. Another hit. Another RBI. Another dollar for Pacheco.

Paulsen has also been impressive in the early going. Today he contributed two hits (one triple), a run, and two RBI.

Despite the admirable attempt to comeback from a 7-0 deficit, this was a difficult day to find many true positives, so forgive me if these hits weren't all that exciting.

Misses

Jorge De La Rosa

Jorge allowed the first run by a Rockies starter all spring. And then he allowed the second, third and fourth. The damage included a solo HR by the light-hitting Darren Ford and a monster home run to straight away center by the heavy-hitting Buster Posey.

The bad news? It could have been even worse if not for a line drive that was snagged by Ty Wigginton that resulted in a 5-3 double play, and a full out diving grab by Willy Taveras. De La Rosa just didn't have it today.

Huston Street

Sounded like Huston struggled putting a couple hitters away today and it cost him. He struggled with that at times last season, and boy did that not only cost him but it cost the Rockies big time. Street's progress this spring will be worth monitoring. It he can't find that put away slider that made him so dominant in 2009, things could get a little too interesting in Colorado's 9th innings.

Hector Gomez

Upped his spring error total to four with a throw that sailed over Ben Paulsen's head, allowing San Francisco's 7th run to score. I don't think we'll ever see this once promising prospect make his big league debut at Coors Field.

Foul Tips

Felipe Paulino

A decent line (3 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 3 H, 2 BB, 2 K) for the guy whose chances to become the Rockies 5th starter seem to increase with every update on Aaron Cook's shoulder. I've been impressed with Paulino the times I've seen him in the past. Granted, most of those were against Colorado while they were struggling and the Cubs while they were Cubbing, but I really think he can help the Rox if indeed he ends up starting.

Camp Caution

Troy Tulowitzki was the latest to leave a game for precautionary reasons after hitting himself in the foot with his bat on an awkward swing. The official diagnosis is a bruised right heel.

The Rockies are correctly taking a more cautioned approached this spring. A sign of a team that is confident and positioned for success. While some fans (too many fans) are treating this like the regular season, freaking out about scores and looking to trash talk other fans, the rest of us (including the Rockies) are holding our breath with each tweak, sprain and infection.

Sure that makes spring training a lot less fun, but that's fine with me, because the regular season is a lot more fun than it used to be. That's a trade every fan should be willing to make.